The University of Oklahoma will offer a bachelor's degree in social work requiring 90 credit hours instead of 120 starting in fall 2027.

OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. confirmed the accelerated program in a Sept. 10 interview with the OU Daily, published Thursday, Sept. 15. He said additional 90-hour degrees are in the works.

"It will either be a good idea and flourish, or it'll be a bad idea and we'll end it in the future, but never leave any students stranded," Harroz told the OU Daily.

The 30-credit-hour reduction would let students finish a year earlier and enter the workforce sooner. Harroz said the university needs to rethink traditional degree structures to reach more students, particularly those who are cost-conscious or first-generation.

He cited a first-generation social work student he met at Boyd House who told him she was "very financially conscious" and that if she could complete the degree in three years, the extra year was not worth staying.

Eight programs approved, social work first to launch

OU's Board of Regents approved reducing credit hours from 120 to 90 for eight degree programs on Jan. 29. The programs are social work, applied artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital manufacturing, healthcare information systems, software development and integration, integrative studies, and interdisciplinary studies.

That approval was contingent on the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education signing off. The state regents approved a framework for evaluating accelerated bachelor's degrees in June, as the Norman Transcript reported.

Social work is the first program to clear the state regents' process. Harroz confirmed it will launch in fall 2027. Asked whether more proposals are coming, he said: "There'll be more."

OU Senior Vice President and Provost André-Denis Wright said in a Jan. 29 press release that the 90-credit options would let students "graduate one year earlier so they can enter the workforce sooner." A June OU press release identified social work and cybersecurity as the first two programs moving through the state regents' review process.

If fully approved, OU would become the first R-1 research university in the country to offer 90-hour bachelor's degrees, according to the university.

Record enrollment adds urgency

The push comes as OU reports its sixth consecutive record-breaking first-year class. The university enrolled 6,437 first-year students this fall, according to the OU Daily's coverage of Harroz's State of the University address. OU is targeting 40,000 total students by fall 2027, and 27% of its current students are first-generation college students.

No timeline has been announced for when the remaining seven 90-hour programs might receive state regents approval or begin enrolling students.