The College-in-3 initiative seeks to design, launch, and evaluate 3-year degree programs that are academically rigorous, financially viable, and broadly accessible. Critical to the success of 3-year programs is understanding their scope and shape, providing evidence of their impact on students and institutions, and using this evidence for continuous program improvement. The College-in-3 Exchange has developed a multi-year research agenda to address questions about program scale, impact, and sustainability. The specific research questions are outlined below.

The research serves two interrelated purposes:

1. To measure the institutional context of College-in-3 programs across participating institutions. A study led by Robert Zemsky, Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, will compare selected IPEDS-equivalent variables across 3-year degree programs. Data will be collected on student demographics, retention from first to second year and from second to third year, and financial aid utilization. Institutions will also provide information on the disciplines/fields of their 3-year programs and student enrollments.
2. To assess student learning, program effectiveness and program outcomes, institutions will collect and share with the Cin3 research team information on student learning outcomes and student satisfaction through direct and indirect measures. In the process, Cin3 will assist member institutions in developing evidence-based assessment plans to evaluate student learning. A template for an assessment plan is provided to each Cin3 member institution. They will track the percentage of students meeting specified program learning outcomes and administer surveys to students to learn about their perceptions of their experience in the 3-year degree program. Additionally, institutions will gather data on completion rates, employment, and costs. This study is led by Dr. Carleen Vande Zande.