Community colleges renew push for four-year degrees, but universities push back

Harper College and other community colleges have renewed a long-sought plan to offer four-year bachelor’s degrees in select fields, but the effort has again stalled in Springfield amid opposition from universities.

The Palatine-based school first lobbied legislators in 2003 under then-President Robert Breuder, and tried again in 2009 and 2014. Now it is making another push with President Avis Proctor at the helm. She helped develop baccalaureate degree programs when she worked at a community college in Florida — one of 24 states that such schools to offer four-year degrees.

“This is not an attempt for community colleges to become four-year institutions and offer psychology or humanities bachelor’s degrees. This is really tied to workforce needs, such as nursing, manufacturing and early child education,” Proctor said during a recent interview with the Daily Herald Editorial Board.

“If we’re able to be a part of that solution as another tool in the toolbox, that is where I think we can live out our mission being responsive to that need at the local level,” she added.

The proposal was boosted by the endorsement of Gov. JB Pritzker during his State of the State address in February, when he said the plan would help fill the needs of regional employers and create a pathway to jobs for more people.

Since then, Proctor — who will head the Illinois Community College President’s Council starting in July — has made advocating for four-year degrees a top legislative priority during the General Assembly’s current spring session. The House bill that would authorize baccalaureate programs at community colleges, sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl of Northbrook, now has 52 bipartisan cosponsors.

But the legislation got significant pushback from university presidents, and has been stuck in committee since a hearing on the topic in March.

A coalition of university presidents said the bill could lead to duplicating efforts and increasing costs at a time of limited resources.

But they said they’re willing to compromise.

“We are encouraged by negotiations and remain committed to working collaboratively to build a higher education ecosystem that serves all of our students and employers,” the group said in a statement.

The legislation would permit a community college to offer a bachelor’s degree if its board of trustees has identified an unmet workforce need in their region and can demonstrate they have the expertise, resources and student interest to offer such a program.

Local colleges would have to show state officials that their degree programs do not duplicate those of other institutions of higher education in the area, provide workforce data showing demand, verify they have fiscal resources in place, and identify faculty available to teach, according to the legislation.

Tuition and fees would be limited to 150% of a college’s rates for two-year associate degree programs, the bill states.

Proctor and Harper board Chair Bill Kelley — elected in 2003 when the initial lobbying began — cited a study that found community college baccalaureate programs in Florida didn’t poach students from public four-year institutions, but they did from for-profit schools.

“There’s so many of our students who need to stay in their community, cannot afford to go elsewhere, and oftentimes their only real opportunity is to go to proprietary institutions at a significantly greater cost and run up a significant amount of student loan debt,” said Kelley, who is involved in advocacy efforts with the Illinois Community College Trustees Association.

Proctor said she didn’t know how many of the 48 community colleges in Illinois would potentially offer four-year degrees, saying it depends on the local context: what’s needed in the area, how many universities are nearby, and whether the college already has partnerships with universities that allow students to complete a bachelor’s degree at the community college campus.

“I have assured my university partners, based on my experience in Florida, this is a collaborative process,” Proctor said. “This is not siloed that ‘We’re going to go rogue and offer 20 degrees.’ That’s not the case. In fact, I don’t know that we’re going to go beyond a handful.”

Amid fears of duplication and threats to enrollments of universities, negotiations underway in Springfield could carve out certain Chicago city colleges near four-year schools like Chicago State University by adding a distance parameter to the bill, Proctor said.