Universities Weblog

(Source: Sampson Community college)It's a common path: Go to a community college for a year or two, figure out what you want to be when you grow up, and transfer to a four-year college once you do. In the meantime, you're saving money. Well, now you might not have to transfer. That's right—some community colleges are offering bachelor's degrees, and many more are planning to.

Is this just a classic case of mission creep, or is the trend actually beneficial to students? Consider this from the New York Times:

The shift at Miami-Dade [College] is part of a broad rethinking of the role of the community college. So far, four of Florida's 28 public community colleges have begun programs to grant baccalaureate degrees, mostly in teaching and health care. About 1,600 students are expected to earn their four-year degree from state community colleges by mid-2007, according to the Florida Department of Education.

The state joined about a dozen others, including Arkansas, New Mexico and Nevada, which over the past decade have begun to allow two-year colleges to award bachelor degrees. And other states, including Arizona and California, have considered adopting similar changes largely because of increases in population, shortages of funds to build new four-year colleges, and the rising cost of tuition, educators say.

Traditionally, community colleges have educated those who cannot afford to study elsewhere. The open enrollment policies and more flexible class schedules appeal to students who work or have families, and help to train the local workforce.Of course, not all agree this is a good idea.

[...]Barbara Townsend, a professor of higher education at the University of Missouri at Columbia, is among educators who oppose the shift. She said in an interview that community colleges would inevitably become more like universities, and that it could lead over time to the end of their mission as a low-cost alternative for students and an institution for helping local employers train their workforce.

"The community college was the greatest education invention of the 20th century," she said, "but it may be coming to an end in this century."Coming soon to a "community" college near you: doctoral programs.

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