Future college students now have a clear plan for how they can earn a bachelor’s degree in three years, potentially saving thousands of dollars in tuition, room and board and allowing them to enter the workforce earlier.

Universities in Ohio were required by state law to show students how 10 percent of their degrees could be completed in three years. By 2014, 60 percent of programs must meet that mark.

“Giving students the option of earning a bachelor’s degree in three years instead of four or more years will help them save money while encouraging the completion of their college education,” said Ohio Chancellor Jim Petro.

“Time can be the enemy of many students entering a college or university, and a shortened time frame to obtain the credit hours needed to earn their degree, in addition to the savings, will make these students available to employers more quickly,” he said.

Most plans, which are posted on each university’s website and cover a variety of career fields, call on students to complete some of the degree requirements before they enter college by enrolling in class while in high school or testing out of courses through Advanced Placement assessments. Once in college, students will need to take larger course loads than their peers who are on a four-year track and enroll in summer sessions.

“These are things that students can do right now if there was a very highly motivated student,” said Herb Dregalla, Wright State University’s interim associate provost.

“It is important to understand that the student has to be in good academic standing,” said Willie Houston, Central State University’s associate vice president for academic affairs. The plans do not allow time for students to take remedial classes, for which they do not earn college credit, or drop out of courses.

Three-year degree paths do not lessen the requirements of an academic program. There is also no demand on universities for a certain number of students to graduate early.

Very few students currently earn their degree in three years — about 1 percent at Miami University, 2 percent at the University of Cincinnati and 2 to 3.4 percent at Ohio State University, according to those schools.

About half of the students who enter higher education in Ohio never graduate, Petro has said.

Students who could complete their degree early sometimes choose instead to take time to study abroad, complete internships or pursue a second major or combined bachelor’s and master’s degree.

But the new three-year pathways are it more clear to students what their options are.

“This is making it a little more visible that you can do this,” said Carolyn Haynes, Miami University’s interim associate provost.

“There’s a location on our website that shows how this could be done, so it’s not a student guessing, ‘I think I could do that,’” Dregalla said. “The real bottom line is that it’s something that students could do right now.”

For more information, go online to ohiohighered.org/3-year-degrees.