Study up on college changes Tuition, degrees key in plans Judd Slivka The Arizona Republic Mar. 29, 2005 12:00 AM Before long, Arizonans may be able to shop for bargains in tuition at the state's universities and complete four-year baccalaureate degrees at community colleges. Big changes are afoot in higher education throughout the state. On Wednesday, the Senate's Higher Education Committee will consider a bill by Republican Rep. Laura Knaperek that would revamp the community college system, allowing people to earn undergraduate degrees in nursing, teaching, firefighting or law enforcement. The overall goal: Overcome a shortage of qualified professionals in those fields, especially in rural Arizona. Meanwhile, hearings have been held throughout the state this month on a plan to redesign Arizona's universities. Among other things, Arizonans would be able to shop for bargains in tuition, which would vary by campus and program at the universities. The redesign also is aimed at increasing the accessibility of the university to a more diverse group of students. The state Board of Regents will consider action on the proposal as early as August, based in part on the public hearings held over the past few weeks. Source Related: Q& A Related: 2 Proposals
Educational Reform This could be a great model in the works for others to follow. Why? To meet those critical shortages in nursing and other all-important fields. Also being able to shop for lower tuition is awesome! While I don;t live in Arizona it would be nice to be able to complete an undergraduate degree closer to home.(say at a CC) I will watch this with great interest. Thanks for the post. cb3
I am an Arizonan I also am a community college professor in Arizona and I head my colleges' online learning efforts. Lots of changes in the wind... including community colleges offering bachelors in certain areas like nursing, elementary education, fire science, etc... That will be at a community college tuition schedule, so there is savings there.
Arizona State U. was one of the first to offer a masters degree that combined with teacher certification. The Maricopa Community Colleges have been on the forefront of technology development in the community college arena. Arizona has been the consistent leader in charter schools. I'm not surprised that Arizona is now taking the lead in this area as well. Tony Piña (Who spent three great years attending Arizona State University, working at Intel Corp. and teaching for Rio Salado College in AZ)
I think this is going to be great for Arizona. Cogent do you think that local and distance learning enrollment will go up gradually or faster? Perhaps, more so then ever before? As for someone who is looking into DL programs to earn a bachelor's degree; it fascinates me that I could earn a quality education at a fair price. I'm going to research the universities and community colleges in Arizona. Thank you for the information. cb3
Growth Here Well, Tony figured out I'm with Maricopa Community Colleges... haha. And RIO has the greatest enrollment (they are the online community college of our family). My college has online and we are growing at a steady clip. Politics (Rio being an online college) prevents me from growing it TOO fast. But pressure is on us to take the load off of classrooms because space is at a premium. Online classes take NO additional classroom space. yes, we are technological leaders and I'm proud to be part of that. I am a co-chair of Emerging Learning Technologies as part of our Ocotillo initiative. Take a look: http://graphite.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/ocotillo/
I don't know about Arizon, but I find myself envying those people who attend community college in California. Their per-credit hour prices are the cheapest I've seen.
