The issues to consider regarding bachelor's degrees at community colleges

Illinois community colleges are beginning to advocate for the right to offer applied bachelor degrees. Is this an idea that's found its right time as a response to the needs of employers and place-bound students? Or is it an unnecessary mission expansion that wastes tax dollars while harming other higher education institutions?

To sort out the answers, let's take a closer look at job market data and the experience of other states that already allow community colleges to award bachelor's degrees.

What is being proposed? The proposal calls for giving community colleges authority to grant the Bachelor of Science in Nursing and applied bachelor's degrees in health care and technology fields. That's it. Community colleges are not interested in granting degrees traditionally offered by universities in fields like the humanities or the liberal arts and sciences.

What does research suggest about the need? There will be 55 million job openings in the U.S. through 2020, and 35 percent of them will require at least a bachelor's degree. Among the fields requiring high levels of post-secondary education are health care and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). In the STEM related jobs, employers are increasingly requiring a bachelor's degree for entry or promotion.

In nursing, for example, about 44 percent of health care employers require new nursing hires to have a bachelor's degree in nursing. For many community college students who are place-bound the bachelor's degree requirement may become a stumbling block.

What does the experience of other states suggest? Twenty-one states now allow community colleges to offer some form of four-year degree, up from 10 states just six years ago. It's a trend that's been propelled by changes in technology, work requirements, and the soaring cost of higher education.

Research by Florida and Washington shows for their states that students receiving community college delivered bachelor's degrees are more diverse and tend to be older than those who graduate from state universities.

At the same time, the research from these states shows no significant impact on public university enrollments. However, it does show an overall increase in the number of four-year degrees, especially new degrees serving students who otherwise might not be able to earn a bachelor's degree.

Would this proposal increase my taxes? If College of Lake County gained the authority, and decided to grant applied bachelor's degrees, we would do so in a fiscally responsible manner. The college is tax-capped, and our tax revenues are needed to fund existing programs. We would need to fund bachelor's degrees by setting up a separate tuition rate.

Would all Illinois community college districts offer bachelor's degrees? Not necessarily. In fact, some may never wish to offer four-year degrees. At CLC, for example, we have strong partnerships with the University Center of Lake County and other local higher education institutions, so we may not have a need to offer bachelor's degrees, even if granted the authority to do so.

How would you decide to offer a four-year program of study? First, there should be a need not met already with existing bachelor programs. Second, any bachelor's degree programs at community colleges would be driven by local workforce needs. Just like our existing two-year career programs, we are interested in building and supporting programs that lead to employment in fields with livable wages.

Dr. Jerry Weber is president of the College of Lake County. For further information online about the baccalaureate proposal, go to http://www.communitycolleges.org/.