It's Tuesday, let's get into it.

🌤️ Today's weather: Another beautiful day — sunny and high 70s.

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🗳️ Situational awareness: Columbus City Council has formally unveiled a planned charter amendment that would create a 13-seat council with nine district-elected members and four at-large members.

• Stay tuned for more on those plans.

Today's newsletter is 1,008 words — a 4-minute read.

Ohio higher education leaders are exploring options for three-year bachelor's degrees, including at Ohio State University.

Why it matters: Graduates could enter the workforce a year sooner, while potentially saving thousands in tuition and living expenses.

• The effort is part of a nationwide push to shorten the college experience as students and families increasingly question its value.

State of play: A 120-credit, four-year model has been the standard for most bachelor's degrees for over a century.

• Senate Bill 1, Ohio's sweeping higher education law that took effect in June 2025, mandated the state study the feasibility of offering three-year options.
• The nonprofit Jobs for the Future is convening officials from Ohio and Virginia to discuss the possibility of 90-credit bachelor's programs.
• That includes representatives of the Ohio Department of Higher Education and 10 universities in the state.

The big picture: Ohio now joins roughly a dozen states offering or exploring shorter options. The first ones launched in 2024 in Utah.

• Existing programs typically reduce electives — and costs — while preserving core major requirements.

Follow the money: In-state tuition at Ohio's four-year universities averaged around $13,000 last school year, before room and board, per Signal Ohio.

Reality check: A state report from June says the model is "unlikely to be appropriate for every field," but identified business and tech as fields that showed promise.

• It also noted "continued uncertainty" about how reduced-credit degrees would affect credit transferability, professional licensure, graduate school admissions and employer perceptions.

Zoom in: Planning at Ohio State University is "just getting started," and spokesperson Ben Johnson didn't have any specifics to share as of last week.

• "We're always interested in ways to lower costs and expand access to a world-class, academically rigorous Ohio State education," he told Axios in an email.

University of Cincinnati is eyeing degrees in information technology and professional studies, vice provost for enrollment management Jack Miner tells Axios.

• The latter is an online program that's already popular with "working adults" — a group the state report says could benefit from more "efficient routes to a degree."

The other side: National faculty groups say three-year degrees don't address the underlying issue of skyrocketing tuition and could weaken a traditional liberal arts education.

What's next: Participating universities are working toward offering two 90-credit programs as early as spring 2028.

👋 Andrew and Tyler here, both four-year grads with thoughts on three-year degrees.

🤷‍♂️ Andrew: In my view, college is the most pure example of "you get out what you put in," so I'm OK with some trying to streamline a degree.

• You can't force people to be excited about electives, and I certainly spent my senior year with one foot out of the classroom.

The big picture: Everything else in the world is trending away from "one-size-fits-all."

• College probably should, too.

🤔 Tyler: I'm open-minded about the idea, but not necessarily cheerleading for it.

• I understand the view that electives aren't critical for post-graduation life — having memorized weird rocks in geology, cloud types in weather and climate, even how to score in a bowling class.

Yes, but: It was nice to have a well-rounded education, and those early classes also taught me how to be a good college student.

• That set me up for success in my later years, and it's those classes still paying dividends to this day.
• The extra year also helped me get out of my shell and gave me more time to enjoy activities like marching band and the student newspaper.

🤝 The bottom line: It could be a good option for some students.

• We both agree that we should prioritize making the four-year track more affordable.

📬 What do you think about three-year degrees? Reply and let us know.

🚨 At least 29 Haitian immigrants have been detained by ICE, per a local nonprofit support center, as federal agents increase their presence. (Ohio Capital Journal)

💰 Nationwide Children's Hospital is expanding its footprint, purchasing another 3.6 acres downtown for $7.6 million. (Columbus Business First 🔒)

🍼 A Shelby, Ohio farm is going viral after its staff detailed discovering a capybara's "surprise" baby. (614 Magazine)

Columbus ranks among the top 25 cities in the country for work in a new report from job website Indeed.

Why it matters: The new Best Cities for Work rankings aim to flip the script on lists that prioritize businesses — instead gauging whether a city is a good place to be an employee.

• We rank No. 24.

How it works: Indeed tracked 233 U.S. metro areas with at least 200,000 residents based on six key areas: job opportunity, job quality and security, career mobility, life and flexibility, economic opportunity, and compensation.

Zoom in: Columbus' best attribute is career mobility, where we rank No. 6 of the top 25. Our No. 12 job opportunity ranking helps.

• We're toward the bottom of that group in life and flexibility (No. 21) and job quality and security (No. 22).

The big picture: The top of the list includes expected names like Austin and San Francisco, but also smaller metros like Rochester, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota.

What they're saying: That diversity doesn't surprise Indeed Hiring Lab economist Cory Stahle, who says the list was designed to provide the opposite perspective of business-focused lists of its kind.

• "The takeaway here is going to be what's important to you," he tells Axios. "Sometimes, there are things you can't measure. But as a job-seeker, I think this tool and data are really helpful."

Thanks to Tyler Buchanan for editing today's newsletter.

Our picks:

✌️ Alissa took a breather.

🍅 Andrew is eating virtually nothing but tomatoes right now.

🔎 Tyler is reading more about three-year degrees.