State law prohibits California's community colleges from offering bachelor's degrees. To increase access to higher education, particularly in rural communities and for high demand disciplines, the state should implement a pilot program allowing approved community colleges to award bachelor's degrees.

Consistent with California's 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, the state's education code specifies that the primary mission of community colleges is to "offer academic and vocational instruction at the lower-division level for both younger and older students, including those persons returning to school. Public community colleges shall offer instruction through, but not beyond, the second year of college. These institutions may grant the associate in arts and the associate in science degree." [1]

Residents in rural regions of California have relatively low university participation rates compared with residents of urban and suburban parts of the state. A December 2002 report issued by the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) examined the postsecondary education opportunities available to "Superior California" residents. As defined in that report, "Superior California" included the six rural counties of Lassen, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity counties. The report noted that while the community college-going rate of high school graduates from the region was comparable to the statewide average, the proportion of high school graduates enrolling in the state's public universities was only half the state average. The report went on to explain:

The reason for this is clearly the distance from public four-year institutions. It has long been a principle within higher education-and with regard to countless other public services-that "proximity is destiny." From the commission's college-going rates surveys over the years, the principle of higher attendance rates in the vicinity of college and university campuses has been affirmed repeatedly. This also explains why attendance at community colleges is similar to statewide averages; there are three community colleges near the major population centers. [2]

University-going rates for high school graduates in other rural California counties mirror the trend observed in the Superior California counties and is detailed in CPEC's most recent Student Profiles report, which contains data on college and university-going rates for all counties. [3]

On February 10, 2004, Assembly Member Bill Maze introduced Assembly Bill 1932 to establish a pilot program authorizing two community colleges-Porterville College and the College of the Sequoias-to award bachelor's degrees in specified fields. The bill would establish an advisory committee to develop and recommend a framework for the implementation of the pilot program. [4]

Nationally, several community colleges and some states have begun experimenting with community college bachelor degrees. Five states-Florida, Idaho, Nevada, Texas and Utah- already permit selected community colleges to offer bachelor's degree programs. For example, the Great Basin College in Elko, Nevada, offers bachelor's degrees in elementary education, integrative and professional studies, electrical instrumentation and management technology. [5] In Canada, community colleges offer bachelor's degree programs and grant bachelor's degrees in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. [6]

The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has recognized "this new type of baccalaureate as an emerging development in higher education." Proponents argue that the "community college baccalaureate is a major step forward into a true 21st century learning environment, offering degrees in specialized vocational fields when senior colleges and universities do not have such programs or do not choose to allocate resources to such degrees." [7] In the 1990s, the Community College Baccalaureate Association was organized with its stated mission "to promote the development and acceptance of the community college baccalaureate degree as a means of addressing the national problems of student access, demand, and cost." [8]

A recent analysis of states with community college bachelor degree programs found the primary reasons for offering these programs are to address workforce needs, respond to economic pressures from employers, increase access to populations underserved by traditional bachelor degree-granting institutions, and maintain college affordability. [9]

In 2001, the Florida legislature expressed the following statement of intent as it granted St. Petersburg College, a public community college, authority to issue bachelor's degrees:

The Legislature intends to create an innovative means to increase access to baccalaureate degree level education in populous counties that are underserved by public baccalaureate degree granting institutions. This education is intended to address the state's workforce needs, especially the need for teachers, nurses, and business managers in agencies and firms that require expertise in technology. [10]

In 2003, as it expanded the number of public community colleges authorized to grant bachelor's degrees, the Florida legislature stated:

The Legislature recognizes that public and private postsecondary educational institutions play essential roles in improving the quality of life and economic well-being of the state and its residents. The Legislature also recognizes that economic development needs and the educational needs of place-bound, nontraditional students have increased the demand for local access to baccalaureate degree programs. In some, but not all, geographic regions, baccalaureate degree programs are being delivered successfully at the local community college through agreements between the community college and four-year postsecondary institutions within or outside of the state. It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to further expand access to baccalaureate degree programs through the use of community colleges. [11]

Some alternative models are available to address the bachelor degree needs of rural areas of the state. The city of Stockton receives bachelor degree-level instruction through the California State University, Stanislaus at an off-campus site. California State University, Fullerton maintains a branch campus in El Toro. Partnerships between community colleges and California State University campuses have been established to deliver upper-division instruction at or near community college sites. These models could also be implemented in other rural regions, if resources were available.[12]

Establishing new and creative bachelor degree programs at community colleges is a strategy to increase college participation rates for local residents who are unable to relocate because of family or work commitments. [13] To address the needs of rural communities and the state's need for additional bachelor degree-trained individuals in high demand disciplines, community colleges should be permitted to award bachelor's degrees. This would initially be done as part of a pilot project to approve community college participation in the program based on the following factors:

• The need for the bachelor's degree program in the region served by the community college as identified by the regional workforce development board, local businesses and industries, local chambers of commerce and potential students.
• How the proposed bachelor's degree program would complement other programs and courses offered by the community college.
• How the proposed bachelor's degree program would address specific regional or state workforce needs.
• Documented demand for additional bachelor's graduates in the program proposed.
• Additional costs of delivering the proposed bachelor's degree program.
• Admission criteria that would be used by the college in selecting students to be admitted to the bachelor's degree program along with the number of students to be admitted to and served by the program.
• Whether the proposed bachelor's degree program would unnecessarily duplicate the degree programs offered by other postsecondary education institutions in the region-both public and private.
• Whether the proposed bachelor's degree program and its curriculum is comparable in terms of quality and rigor to similar programs offered by other bachelor-degree granting institutions.
• Ability of the community college to support the bachelor's degree program including the adequacy of the college's facilities, faculty, administration, libraries, and other student support and academic resources.
• Plans for securing accreditation for the proposed bachelor's degree program.
• Plans for evaluating the success and effectiveness of the bachelor's degree program.

The Governor should work with the Legislature to create a pilot program allowing approved community colleges to offer bachelor's degrees. Under the pilot program, individual community colleges interested in offering a bachelor's degree would submit a proposal for approval by the Secretary of Education, or his or her successor.

The purpose of this proposal is to provide community colleges with the flexibility and authority necessary for them to address the bachelor degree needs of their local communities. The state is not mandating that individual community colleges or community college districts participate in this pilot project. Their participation would be completely voluntary. The state should not provide additional resources to community colleges to offer bachelor degree programs. Community colleges that elect to participate in this pilot program would be required to support these programs from existing revenue sources. As such, community colleges approved to offer bachelor's degrees under the pilot would have no direct fiscal impact on the state's General Fund.

The state might incur minor costs associated with the approval and evaluation functions outlined above.

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