CLC Trustee Richard Anderson to lead ICCTA discussion on bachelor's degrees and community colleges

As part of an Illinois Community College Trustees Association (ICCTA) conference March 13-14, College of Lake County Trustee Richard A. Anderson will present the findings of a state-wide committee examining a proposal to allow community colleges to offer applied bachelor's degrees. Anderson is the chair of the ICCTA's ad hoc Baccalaureate Degree Study Committee, which has been looking at the issue over the last several months.

On Jan. 30, Illinois community college presidents approved a recommendation urging that the community college system be allowed to offer baccalaureate degrees for nursing and other applied career programs in fields like technology. The recommendation recognized that offering these bachelor's degrees would be optional based on the workforce needs of each college's service area.

At the ICCTA conference, Anderson will facilitate a two-hour seminar on the proposal and present a report to the organization's Government Relations and Public Policy Committee.

"This is an exciting time for community colleges," Anderson said. "We're at a point in the evolution of the community college movement when a very compelling case can be made for community colleges having the option to offer applied bachelor's degrees. Not all colleges will want to go in this direction, but for many, being able to offer applied bachelor's degrees would meet a very real need in their communities."

A vote on whether to endorse the bachelor's degree proposal will be taken at the conference by the organization's Board of Representatives on Saturday morning, March 14.

The ICCTA endorsement would lead to the organization actively advocating for the authority to grant bachelor's degrees, Anderson said. However, he also noted that being able to grant bachelor's degrees would require action by the Illinois legislature.

Locally, College of Lake County students have the option of pursuing bachelor's degree completion programs through the University Center of Lake County, located on CLC's Grayslake campus. Even so, CLC trustees believe it makes sense for community colleges to have the option of offering applied bachelor's degrees.

"We discussed the issue at our Feb. 24 meeting," Anderson said. "Given that community college students are often place-bound, our board's consensus was that being able to offer applied bachelor's degrees is an option community colleges need to serve their communities."