Chris Morisse Vizza, cvizza@jconline.com

Students in Purdue University's Brian Lamb School of Communication are the first to have the option to earn a bachelor's degrees in three years.

President Mitch Daniels announced Monday that the school won a $500,000 incentive award for developing a program that will allow students to complete the same courses as their peers within 36 months.

"This is another way to make college more affordable," Daniels said.

"Purdue needs to think innovatively to help young people get the full value out of their education experience."

Five proposals for three-year degrees were submitted after Daniels issued the challenge in an open letter published in January.

The communication school's plan stood out in part because the three-year degree is available to students in general communication; public relations and strategic communication; mass communication; corporate communication; and human relations.

"It's not just one course of study, but five," Daniels said. "They created this flier that mapped out very clearly, for the benefit of the students, a clear road map and guaranteed these courses will be available.

"And they calculated it out. They thought about the cost savings."

The program requires students to take a heavier course load during four semesters, and to take courses during two summers.

Students will take 18 credit hours during the spring semester of their first year, the fall and spring semester of their second year, and the fall semester of their third year.

They will take 15 credit hours in the fall of their first year, and the spring of their third year.

Students will be required to take nine credit hours during the first and second summers, then graduate in May of the third year.

The savings is $9,290, roughly the cost of one year of in-state tuition, said Marifran Mattson, professor and head of the Brian Lamb School of Communication.

The program is realistic, and graduates will receive the same level of education as their four-year peers, she said.

"It does place more responsibility on the student to take that number of credits," Mattson said. "But I don't think it's set so high that it's not achievable.

"I have no doubts they will meet the challenge."

Three-year students will have time to take internships or study abroad, experiences that Mattson said are important for a graduate to obtain a job.

Daniels said he's excited about the fact that graduates will enter the workforce sooner and boost their lifetime earnings.

Mattson said she and Josh Boyd, undergraduate studies director, were thinking about developing a three-year degree when Daniels announced the competition and the $500,000 prize.

The money will be used to track student progress, build a support network and market the program to students on and off campus, Mattson said.

"We want to become a destination major and encourage undergrads to consider the Brian Lamb School to be the school you want to go to for communications," she said.

Students can opt for the three-year degree immediately or wait until the end of the 2015 spring semester, Mattson said.

The three-year degree will not work in every academic area, Daniels said. For example, pharmacy and engineering co-op programs will remain five-year programs.

How quickly the concept will spread is yet to be determined, Daniels said.

"We'll see what the student interest is and how well subscribed it is," he said.

"It will probably be one year before we form a judgment ... see what happens, what percentage of students make it in three years."

This is the first announcement in Daniels' two-pronged effort to make higher education affordable and maximize students' time on campus.

He is expected to announce next week the winner of Purdue's first competency-based degree, a program that allows students to progress at their own rate as they demonstrate mastery of specific skills.