The number of University of Hawaii freshmen taking 15 or more course credits has increased by 50 percent over the past three years — an improvement the university says will help more students graduate on time and enter the workforce more quickly.

More than 55 percent of first-time freshmen at UH’s four-year campuses — Manoa, Hilo and West Oahu — took on course loads totaling at least 15 credits this fall. That’s up from 38 percent of freshman in 2011, the year UH launched its "15 to Finish" initiative to help boost on-time graduation rates.

"Our long-term goal is to increase the number of citizens with a college degree to prepare a highly skilled workforce and promote the economic vitality of our state," Joanne Itano, UH executive vice president for academic affairs, said in a statement.

A typical bachelor’s degree program requires a minimum of 120 credits, or an average of 15 credits each during the fall and spring semesters to finish in four years.

But "across the nation and Hawaii, the norm has been to take 12 credits per semester, which results in an additional one to three years to complete a degree," the university said in a news release. "The University of Hawaii was the first university system in the nation to put together a comprehensive strategy to encourage students to take 15 credits each semester in order to graduate on time."

UH said universities in 20 states have since adopted similar initiatives.

The push required UH to increase the availability of classes for undergraduates and provide more need-based financial aid. It also offers promotions, including drawings to win a semester’s worth of free textbooks for taking 15 or more credits.

UH said it developed the "15 to Finish" campaign in part because research showed students who took 15 or more credits performed better academically than students taking fewer than 15 credits. A UH analysis found students taking more credits had higher grade point averages and were more likely to enroll in subsequent semesters.

Higher-education experts say students taking 15 or more credits also are less likely to drop out or have high student loan debt.

But the efforts have yet to raise UH’s on-time graduation rates.

At the flagship Manoa campus, 19 percent of students complete a bachelor’s degree within four years, while 56 percent graduate in six years, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics. (Under federal reporting guidelines, the rate reflects only full-time students enrolling as freshmen.)

Nationally, 31.3 percent of students seeking bachelor’s degrees graduate in four years from public universities, while 56 percent graduate in six years.