The three-year, reduced-credit bachelor’s degree is gaining national traction, but some in higher education view it as a shortcut, a dilution of quality and rigor. This session reframes that narrative by sharing how the American College of Healthcare Sciences (ACHS) designed a 90-credit Bachelor of Science in Integrative Healthcare and Wellness Coaching using a design thinking framework that embedded quality assurance, workforce relevance, and institutional readiness at every step.

Presenters will provide an overview of the current landscape of reduced-credit degrees, including emerging approaches to how reduced-credit bachelors are structured, followed by a detailed case study of ACHS’s intentional design process. Participants will receive practical tools, including a Readiness Assessment Matrix and Graduate Profile Framework, and leave with a replicable roadmap template for developing reduced-credit degrees that maintain academic integrity while improving access, affordability, and workforce alignment.