Since I’m a senior, the time has come to write my column about how stressful college applications are, how I wish everyone would just stop bothering me about where I want to go, and about how I just want to pack up and run away from it all to live in Australia with the kangaroos.

Sike.

I can’t wait to go to college. I’m a reasonably motivated person, I actually have a vague idea of what I want to do when I grow up, and I can’t wait to get to my chosen institution of higher education so I can learn how to do it. Unfortunately, the powers that be are coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas that have the potential to completely crush my groove.

See, college is getting kind of pricey these days. Yearly tuitions at many institutions are rapidly approaching the ridiculous cost of one arm and one leg. On top of that, students are now taking an average of six years and seven months to complete their undergraduate degrees, meaning that students are in soul crushing debt after exiting college. Looking for a way to mitigate the burdens on their graduates, college officials and experts have been debating the merits of (and in some places implementing) a three-year degree program.

The program would save “motivated” students a whole year’s worth of tuition and allow students pursuing graduate degrees a head start. An issue of Newsweek a few weeks ago asked the question “why does it have to take four years to earn a diploma?” Some argue that because students are entering college with as much as a semester’s worth of AP credits, college shouldn’t take that long.

I’ll tell you why it should: if high school has to take four years, then there’s no way in hell college should be reduced by a fourth. In order for college to take that little time, we first have to make high school efficient enough that students are ready to go to college. In that same issue of Newsweek, NYU education professor Diane Ravitch says that “most of the students who are going to enter college in the next few years are ill prepared for college.” But what about all the AP classes, you ask? I can personally attest to remembering almost nothing from some of my AP classes, whether or not I enjoyed the subject.

The three-year degree option also puts pressure on students. I am a competitive person. I don’t like the idea of anyone doing things faster than me. For example, last year, though I knew logically that taking AP Calculus was a bad idea for me, I did it anyway though because I didn’t want my friends to all get ahead of me. Then I realized that I blew at AP Calculus and switched into regular Calc, where I actually learned things. With a three-year option available in college, students who feel the pressure to excel may get themselves into an intense academic situation for which they are not prepared. Remember: a three-year degree requires a level of dedication that leaves little time for extracurriculars and other nonacademic pursuits.

To most parents, saving a year’s worth of money sounds like a spiffing idea, since they probably want to be able to retire before they are 90. Inevitably, the same parents who push their children to apply for a bazillion scholarships will push them to save money with a shorter time in college, though this may not be what the student wants or needs.

America’s high school system may be messed up, but the United States still has most of the world’s best universities. However, moving students through college in three years is not the way to keep these schools strong, though they do need to find new ways to keep up in an increasingly competitive world. School officials should be looking at why it takes so many students more than four years to graduate, rather than trying to get them to do it in three. The three-year approach will not help the students who are struggling, and they are the students on whom the colleges should be focusing.