Working smarter is always better than working harder. Just ask MBA candidate Lacy Laster, one of approximately 120 students enrolled in the Joint Undergraduate Master's Program (JUMP) at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). "Instead of being in college for another two to three years trying to get a master's degree, I will have completed it within a year after graduating as an undergraduate," she says, "and can enter the workforce at a higher pay much sooner." That's because JUMP allows students to take undergraduate classes at the graduate level during their senior year, thereby doubling the credit they receive and reducing the amount of time needed to earn a graduate degree. "It's like being in the advanced classes in high school," explains David Berkowitz, dean of Graduate Studies. "The classes that you take count as undergraduate credit toward your undergraduate degree and also as graduate credit toward your graduate degree."