2-Year Bachelor Degree Programs [2025 Guide]
By Joy Miller
Edited by Tania Staley & Briana Sukert
Updated on March 9, 2025
2-year bachelor degree programs offer a fast and focused path to earning your degree. These programs compress traditional timelines, saving you time and helping you reach your goals sooner.
No delays. No wasted years. Just streamlined education designed for your busy life. Whether you’re advancing your career or changing fields, these programs combine flexibility and efficiency. Start now, graduate sooner, and unlock opportunities with a respected degree. It’s education made simple, accessible, and designed for your success.
Methodology: Universities are listed alphabetically and chosen based on regional accreditation, offering bachelor programs that can be completed in two years or less, with options for earning the degree online or through a hybrid format.
Ball State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Brescia University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, baccalaureate, and master’s degrees.
California Baptist University is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission.
Central Washington University is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
Champlain College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
CUNY School of Professional Studies is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Drexel University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
George Washington University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Indiana University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kansas State University has been continuously accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools since 1916.
Lamar University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, and doctorate degrees.
Loyola University – Chicago is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).
Missouri State University has been continuously accredited by the Higher Learning Commission since 1915.
Northern Arizona University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Ohio University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Old Dominion University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award baccalaureate, master’s, education specialist, and doctoral degrees.
Pace University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
South Dakota State University has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission since 1916.
Southern Illinois University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The University of Alabama – Birmingham is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award bachelor’s, master’s, educational specialist, and doctoral degrees.
UA Little Rock is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The University of Denver is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The University of Florida is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The University of Illinois – Chicago is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The University of Illinois – Springfield is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The University of Louisiana – Monroe is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, baccalaureate, post-baccalaureate, master’s, and doctorate degrees.
The University of Massachusetts – Amherst is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.
The University of Minnesota is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The University of Missouri has been continuously accredited by the Higher Learning Commission since 1915.
The University of New Mexico has been continuously accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association since 1922.
There are four primary ways to get a bachelor’s degree faster:
Can you finish your bachelor’s in 2 years? Yes, it’s possible, but it depends on your circumstances.
If you can answer, yes, to any of these questions, you may be able to graduate faster.
Getting a bachelor’s degree in 2 years is a real thing. While a bachelor’s degree typically takes 4 years to complete, you can earn your degree faster.
With the steps outlined below, you can greatly accelerate the time it will take to complete your chosen degree.
You will still complete a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year and all the requirements that come with them. You may just do it in half the time!
Here’s the challenge: No accredited colleges advertise 2-year bachelor’s degrees, but that DOES NOT keep you from finishing in 2 years.
Accredited colleges may offer 2-year degree completion programs, but to enroll in a degree completion program, you must already have college credits. If you have enough, the school will help you finish your degree in 2 years.
But if you don’t have any or enough college credits to qualify for a degree completion program, you’ll need another solution to graduate fast. That’s where these steps come in.
Welcome to square one!
You may have no credits. but you can finish faster with these 3 steps.
Yes, you can earn college credit without attending a class.
All bachelor’s degree programs have a list of general education requirements. Instead of taking these classes, you may take exams to prove you already know the material and get credit for it.
You do not have to ace the exams to get college credit. Most schools require a 50% score to give you credit for the class!
How to test out of up to 1 year of college classes:
If you pass several exams this way, you can cut several classes from your schedule.
Here’s an example list of the general education courses you may need and the matching exams that could be taken through the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) to earn credit without going to class.
| General Education Requirements | College Level Examination Program (CLEP) Exam |
| Communication – 6 credits | College Composition – 6 credits |
| Mathematics – 3 credits | College Algebra – 3 credits |
| Life and Physical Sciences – 6 credits | Biology – 6 credits |
| Language, Philosophy, and Culture – 3 credits | Western Civilizations I – 3 credits |
| Creative Arts – 3 credits | Humanities – 3 credits |
| American History – 6 credits | History of the United States I/II – 6 credits |
| Government – 3 credits | American Government – 3 credits |
| Social and Behavioral Science – 3 credits | Introductory Psychology – 3 credits |
| Institution option – 6 credits | Principles of Management – 3 credits
Principles of Marketing – 3 credits |
Do you see that?
You can get ALL your general education requirement credits through Credit by Exam. Your whole freshman year and half of your sophomore year could be done before you even take a class.
Over 3,000 universities accept Credit by Exam, but each college has unique policies, such as minimum passing score, which exams they will honor, and the maximum number of college credits that can be earned by exam.
Be sure to check your destination college’s academic catalog so you are up to speed on their policies before you take an exam.
The most widely accepted exams are College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams, which are honored by over 3,000 colleges, but these other companies also offer exams:
You can usually get 3 to 6 credits for each exam. Most CLEP exams are multiple-choice and completed in 90 minutes!
What have you been up to the last few years? Have you been working and gaining valuable professional and life experience?
Maybe you were working in law enforcement or healthcare, traveling, or piloting a plane. These experiences can potentially count for college credit.
Skills that can translate into Credit for Prior Learning:
As you can see, many different experiences can count for credit, and this isn’t all of them. Be sure to talk to an admissions counselor to see which experiences may count.
Each school has different requirements and guidelines, but these are the typical steps you’ll need to take:
There is no guarantee you will get credit for each portfolio, but each one that is accepted can cut time from your bachelor’s degree.
If you want to finish your degree faster. Selecting a college with accelerated courses is a great way to do so. Many colleges offer 8-week, 6-week, and even 5-week online courses.
Accelerated classes are offered online. Your assignments will likely be similar, if not exactly the same, as on-campus classes: reading textbooks, watching lectures, writing papers, and participating in discussions via virtual methods.
But, online classes allow you to complete your courses on your schedule. You can log in after work, on your lunch hour, or whenever is convenient, and with accelerated classes, you can take classes even faster.
First, pick a college that offers accelerated classes online.
Many schools will allow you to take three accelerated classes (9 credits) in each 8-week session. This is 18 credits (6 classes) each fall, spring, and summer semester. In 12 months, you could have 54 credits! In a traditional program, you could have 30 credits in a year.
If you think you can handle it and can keep your GPA up, you may be able to get approval to take four accelerated classes each 8-week session. This would be 12 credits each session (24 each semester), which means you could earn up to 72 credits in a year!
So, there are no “official” 2-year bachelor degree programs, but you’re in charge of your education.
You don’t have to follow a traditional plan. Here’s how you can accelerate your degree plan:
Now, take a deep breath. You now have a mapped-out plan to finish your bachelor’s degree quickly and efficiently!
How quickly you can finish your degree does depend on where you start. To help you get your bachelor’s degree in 2 years, we are going to break it down depending on where you are right now.
Whether you are attending college for the first time, coming back to college with a few credits, or have already completed 2 years (60 credits), you can do this.
You are starting at square one. You’ve never taken a college course, but you are going to rock this now!
To earn your degree in 2 years, you need to choose a school that offers 8-week (or less) online classes and allows 9 credit hours each session. Most only allow you to take 6 credit hours per term and that will slow you down considerably.
If you decide to ONLY take online accelerated classes and aren’t going to utilize CLEP exams or Credit for Prior Learning, it will take you 2 years and 8 weeks to complete your degree with this method.
| First-time college student with zero credit hours | ||
| Semester | Semester Length | Number of classes/credit hours |
| Fall 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Fall 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Spring 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Spring 2 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Summer | 6 classes x 3 credit hours = 18 credit hours | |
| Fall 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Fall 2 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Spring 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Spring 2 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Summer | 6 classes x 3 credit hours = 18 credit hours | |
| Fall 1 | 8 weeks | 4 classes x 3 credit hours = 12 credit hours |
| Bachelor’s degree completed: 120 credit hours | ||
Fast?
Yep, it sure is.
But you could potentially knock off one more year, which means you could go from zero credits to done with your degree in 1 year and 8 weeks.
Here are 10 introductory-level exams you can take to earn 30 credits.
If your school accepts all of these, it could knock off a year of general education course requirements from your schedule.
You’ve already completed some college classes, but you still need to finish your degree.
If you already have 30 credits tucked away, you could be done in 1 year and 32 weeks just by taking online accelerated classes.
| Returning college student who has earned 30 credit hours already | ||
| Semester | Semester Length | Number of classes/credit hours |
| Transfer credits | 30 credit hours | |
| Fall 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Fall 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Spring 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Spring 2 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Summer | 6 classes x 3 credit hours = 18 credit hours | |
| Fall 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Fall 2 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Spring 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Spring 2 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Bachelor’s degree completed: 120 credit hours | ||
That’s a decent pace, but do you want to go faster?
You could potentially knock off 30 credits by testing out of classes and submitting Credit for Prior Learning portfolios.
You probably already have transfer credits for some of your introductory courses, but what about these:
If there is any class that you haven’t already taken that is available through the College Level Examination Program (CLEP), go ahead and test out of the class. That is your fastest option to getting credit.
If you take full advantage of online accelerated classes, Credit by Exam, and Credit for Prior Learning, you could start this September and be done by next November (1 year and 8 weeks).
You’ve started, and you are halfway done. Let’s get you through the second half of your degree.
Most likely you have all your freshman and sophomore introductory courses done. Now you are needing the higher level credits. The 300- and 400-level courses.
If you take accelerated classes, you could be done in 1 year and 8 weeks.
| Returning college student who has earned 60 credit hours already | ||
| Semester | Semester Length | Number of classes/credit hours |
| Transfer credits | 60 credit hours | |
| Fall 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Fall 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Spring 1 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Spring 2 | 8 weeks | 3 classes x 3 credit hours = 9 credit hours |
| Summer | 6 classes x 3 credit hours = 18 credit hours | |
| Fall 1 | 8 weeks | 2 classes x 3 credit hours = 6 credit hours |
| Bachelor’s degree completed: 120 credit hours | ||
If you want to be done even sooner, it can be done.
CLEP exams won’t usually give you those higher-level credits, but there are a few exceptions. Here are 2 CLEP exams that can earn you credits for 300- and 400-level courses:
You may also be able to find other exams that qualify for credit. Just make sure they fit your major and school’s requirements.
As you are getting to the end of your degree, the required courses become more specific, but if there is an option to test out of elective credits at this level, do it. It will help you finish faster.
All colleges have a minimum number of classes you have to take with that school to be granted a degree. Most refer to this as a residency requirement.
If your degree requirements still have some wiggle room to test out of courses and you can complete five 300- or 400-level exams, you could be done in 11 months.
Bachelor’s degree completion programs exist, which is what most colleges mean when they say they have 2-year bachelor’s degree programs. They are just accepting your college credits. Most accredited universities will do that for you.
Bachelor’s degree completion programs are meant to help you finish a degree you already started. A degree completion program could work for you if:
Online bachelor’s degree completion programs allow you to finish a degree by transferring your existing credits. They typically offer online and accelerated classes as well.
How you do this is pretty basic:
Even in a bachelor’s degree completion program, you can still use Credit by Exam and Credit for Prior Learning. Talk to your advisor and make a plan!
So, what do you think? In 2 years, you could go from zero to done.
With 2 years of hard work, using a smart, detailed plan of action, you could have a bachelor’s degree. To research accredited programs that offer accelerated classes and Credit by Exam and Credit for Prior Learning opportunities, check out our program finder below!