States offer community college bachelor’s degrees as alternatives to pricey four-year campuses

More states are authorizing community colleges to grant bachelor’s degrees as an affordable alternative to four-year universities.

The Community College Baccalaureate Association estimates that 200 junior campuses offer 767 four-year degrees in 24 states. Common majors include high-demand fields such as nursing, education and construction management.

The Florida-based association now expects Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska and Massachusetts to join the list as more adults seek cost-effective skills to cope with artificial intelligence reshaping the workforce.

“We have a lot of adults who have some college but have never completed a degree,” Angela Kersenbrock, the association’s president, said in a phone interview. “These community colleges are in their neighborhoods, they’re affordable, and they cater to people working full-time jobs.”

In June, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center estimated that 43.1 million Americans had “some college, no credential” in the most recent year of available data.

Ms. Kersenbrock noted that tuition for a four-year degree costs 30% to 40% less at a community college than at a residential public university.

That includes roughly $10,000 to finish a bachelor’s degree at a local commuter campus in Texas, California or Florida.

Hundreds of colleges have closed, merged or purged liberal arts programs in recent years to offset declining revenue, rising costs and low enrollments. At the same time, technology and trade programs are booming as more teenagers question the value of degrees tied to low-paying careers.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, has pledged to sign legislation that would authorize community colleges to offer high-demand degrees in cybersecurity, manufacturing and medical care.

Some academic insiders warn that such proposals could “dumb down” education.

“The growth of four-year degrees at community colleges is not a healthy sign for American education,” Steven Durlauf, a University of Chicago economist specializing in wealth inequality, said in an email. “There is little reason to believe that these degrees will produce high-quality educational experiences.”

Republican lawmakers who introduced a similar bill in Iowa last month flagged a need for affordable programs in education and other understaffed fields in rural areas.

Meanwhile, higher education has braced for a 15% drop in the number of eligible college applicants this year, as the Great Recession from December 2007 to June 2009 inspired fewer people to have children.

Advocates of community college bachelor’s degrees say that’s a major factor driving the expansion.

Gary Stocker is a former private college administrator who founded College Viability to evaluate the financial health of campuses. He estimated that universities have 4 million more seats than students to fill them.

“There are too many colleges in this country,” Mr. Stocker said.

He predicted that more small private colleges will go out of business and more regional public campuses will merge with community colleges as states relocate some degree programs.

“Markets always adjust,” Mr. Stocker said. “We are looking at yet another market force that will drive smaller colleges out of business.”

Affordability crisis

West Virginia became the first state to authorize four-year degrees at community colleges in 1989.

Several states followed, including Florida in 2001 and Texas in 2003. Ohio, Arizona and Oregon authorized similar programs in the past decade.

California, the nation’s largest state, enacted a pilot program in 2014. It has grown to 40 community colleges offering 50 four-year degrees.

The trend has “pluses and minuses,” said Dick Startz, an education economist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“Community colleges sometimes serve communities that are very far from any four-year school,” Mr. Startz said in an email.

At the same time, he said, the quality of academic materials and faculty is “generally higher” for the same courses at four-year schools.

In Georgia, state lawmakers authorized four-year degrees at commuter campuses in 1997. The program has eliminated the need for many students to first earn a two-year degree and then transfer the credits to complete a bachelor’s degree at a four-year campus.

“These offerings have the potential to provide students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to earn a four-year degree the opportunity to do so,” said Timothy Cain, a University of Georgia professor of higher education.

Four-year degrees have likewise become popular at Vincennes University, a two-year campus in Indiana, since they became available in 2005.

Kevin Teasley, who founded GEO Academies in 1998 to help the state’s high school students earn community college credits, noted that two-year campuses charge Hoosiers half as much as four-year schools do for the same classes.

“I think it is a good thing for community colleges to extend and support four-year degree attainment,” Mr. Teasley said. “It injects more competition and holds four-year institutions accountable for what they are charging in tuition.”

Future growth

Most higher education insiders interviewed by The Washington Times predicted that four-year degrees at community colleges will become widespread as campuses compete for a smaller pool of applicants over the next few years.

Jed Macosko, a professor at private Wake Forest University in North Carolina, cited “the limited availability of inexpensive higher education options” for driving the trend. His state does not offer bachelor’s degrees at community colleges.

The professor noted that U.S. universities increased tuition as they expanded from the 1940s to the 1970s, buoyed by a “golden age” of federal research grants.

“Giving students an opportunity to earn these higher degrees without going into debt is an extremely important and welcomed change,” said Mr. Macosko, who applies physics to the study of economic trends. “This is the free market in action.”

According to the Community College Baccalaureate Association, the average age of students enrolled in such degrees is 30. It typically takes them six years to finish a bachelor’s degree at a community college, studying part time while they work.

Ms. Kersenbrock, the association’s president, noted that all community colleges in Florida offer at least some four-year degrees.

“We’ve got a huge shortage of nurses and teachers in this country,” said Ms. Kersenbrock, a former nursing professor and administrator. “And community colleges have been oriented toward responding to workforce needs from Day 1.”