Not much else seems to be helping keep down college costs, so maybe this will: a three-year college degree.

It's an idea that's never really caught on, at least in the United States, but it may be gaining traction with the economy in deep recession.

On Tuesday, Hartwick College, a liberal arts school in Oneonta, N.Y., became perhaps the most high-profile school yet to announce it would offer a broad range of students the opportunity to finish a bachelor's degree in three years, saving a full year of tuition and fees (which run $42,705 there this year).

It's probably not a solution to the national problem of surging college costs. Faculty may object and worry about standards. And at big public universities, it's already hard enough to get into all the classes you need. Sometimes students are lucky to get through in five years.

Still, the economic troubles seem to have generated more buzz around the idea.

At the American Council on Education's annual meeting earlier this month, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. and a former university president, pressed college presidents to offer three-year degrees.

Three years is the norm for undergraduate degrees in Europe, and a handful of U.S. colleges offer variants of a three-year program, including Judson College in Alabama, Manchester College in Indiana and Seattle University. Others, such as Bates College in Maine, offer highly qualified students some three-year options. And of course, at many schools, students with a large number of Advanced Placement credits may be able to graduate early.

Hartwick says its program is distinctive, because it won't require online courses or summer school (so students can still do internships). Students will take an expanded course load each semester, plus courses during Hartwick's January term. Only a handful of majors are excluded.