15 community colleges in California selected to offer four-year degree programs

In a new push towards education reform, 15 community colleges in California have been chosen by state officials to offer four-year degree programs starting as soon as next year.

Officials with California’s vast community college system gave initial approval to the campuses, after 36 schools and districts said they would apply for a chance to offer baccalaureate degrees. Nearly 20 other states allow community colleges to offer four-year degrees.

California community college officials will give final approval to the typically two-year schools in the near spring. The selected campuses cannot teach four-year programs that already are being offered at other nearby state (Cal State and University of California) schools, and they also cannot provide four-year nursing degrees.

The new degree programs will be regularly evaluated by state officials, and are scheduled to end by July 2023, although they could be renewed depending on the system.

Proponents of the degrees say the programs could provide the state with thousands of needed workers in technical fields at a much lower cost. A four-year degree at a community college would cost about $10,000 in tuition, roughly half the cost of attending a Cal State campus, according to current estimates.

State Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego) wrote the legislation creating the pilot program. “We’re just not turning out enough well-trained employees with bachelor degrees to meet California’s workforce needs,” Block said. “The private for-profit colleges have kind of tried to move into that niche and some of them do a good job, but a lot of them just leave students in debt without getting the skills they need.”

With the recession increasing demand for space in the public Cal State and UC systems, many campuses have increased their admission standards as well as tuition to ensure that high school graduates can still find spots at their local university.

In addition, a coalition of community college administrators and supporters “worked very hard to support the bill,” said Constance Carroll, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District.

“To see the fruits of our labor with the 15 approved programs was the icing on the cake,” she continued.

All the campuses and programs approved by the state this week include: Antelope Valley College (airframe manufacturing technology), Bakersfield College (industrial automation), Crafton Hills College (emergency services and allied health systems) Cypress College (mortuary science), Feather River College (equine industry), Foothill College (dental hygiene), MiraCosta College (bio-manufacturing), Modesto Junior College (respiratory care), Rio Hondo College (automotive technology), San Diego Mesa College (health information management), Santa Ana College (occupational studies), Santa Monica College (interaction design), Shasta College (health information management), Skyline College (respiratory therapy), West Los Angeles College (dental hygiene).

San Diego Mesa College, for instance, will offer a health information management program to train students to work with electronic health records and technology issues at hospitals.

“This is a jobs bill more than it is anything else,” Carroll said.

At Cypress College in north Orange County, officials have said they hoped to expand their mortuary science program by the spring of 2017. Cypress College has the only such program south of Sacramento—the other closest public university offering a bachelor’s degree in mortuary science is in Oklahoma.

“We are very pleased,” said Jolena Grande, the president of Cypress College’s Academic Senate, which represents faculty members.

Glendale Community College also applied to offer a baccalaureate degree in real estate appraisal, but was not chosen. School president David Vicar said it would have met a “valuable regional workforce need,” and would recommend applying again if the state expands the program.

The pilot programs for selected colleges will start no later than the 2017-18 school year, and will end in 2023 unless extended or make permanent by the state legislature. An interim report on the program’s progress is due in July 2018.

“We’re thrilled to have this opportunity,” said Community College Board of Governors board president Geoffrey Baum, a former president of the Pasadena Area Community College District.

(With reports from Los Angeles Times, San Bernardino County Sun)