Kansas Universities Lower Degree Requirements

Kansas University
When I was accepted to the University of Oklahoma, I received a list of all of the classes and hours I would need in order to graduate. I’ve been chipping away at my required hours for four years, and finally graduation is in sight.
With those numbers being your end goal for so long, can you imagine if the requirements for graduation changed while you were a student? What if suddenly a change in requirements affected when you would graduate? For students at universities in Kansas, this is an issue they now have to face.
According to the Associated Press, The Kansas Board of Regents announced on October 21, 2010 that they would decrease the minimum number of hours needed for a bachelor’s degree from 124 to 120. This will affect students, but not necessarily in a bad way. Students now need less education to graduate than they did last semester, which will make graduating easier.
Kansas is not the only state to only require 120 hours to graduate. In fact, 39 other states only require 120 hours.
A staff memo said that the board changed it’s rules in order to match other states because “many students change universities during their college studies, making it important to have consistent degree requirements.”
What do you think? Is it better to require less from students who want to earn their bachelor’s degree? Is this a good change because it will allow more students to earn their degrees in a shorter period of time? Share your thoughts below.