Higher education is constantly wringing its hands over how to make college more affordable. A new brief by the think tank New America proposes a tool the authors say more states could be using: four-year degree programs at community colleges.
Today, 23 states authorize community college baccalaureate degrees, starting with Florida in 2001, according to the report. The brief describes, step-by-step, how to begin one of these degree programs, from deciding what subjects to offer to devising funding plans to weathering the approval process.
Offering four-year degrees at community colleges isn’t a “silver bullet,” said co-author Ivy Love, policy analyst with New America’s Center on Education & Skills, but for community colleges and state lawmakers, it can be “one strategy among many to make the bachelor’s degree more accessible to students, especially students who may not pursue a bachelor’s degree otherwise without this opportunity.”
Bachelor’s degree programs at community colleges are less expensive and can attract students who might not otherwise consider a four-year degree. For example, the report highlights that Florida’s average community college baccalaureate student is 31 years old, compared to 22 years old for public universities.
Even though community college bachelor’s degree programs often serve different kinds of students, one of the major obstacles to establishing them can be resistance from public universities, the authors explained.
In some states, colleges are in “competition for a shrinking number of students,” said co-author Iris Palmer, New America’s senior advisor for higher education and workforce. So, four-year institutions can see four-year degrees as community colleges encroaching on their domain.
“But our research has shown that the programs are for the most part complementary and they actually don’t end up enrolling the same students as the four-year institutions,” Palmer said. “What they end up doing is expanding opportunity for a more diverse set of students…”
