California's two-year colleges would be able to offer baccalaureate degrees

SACRAMENTO Calif. (Reuters) - California's two-year colleges would be able to offer baccalaureate degrees under a law signed by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, who also rejected extra funding for the state's strapped university systems.

The law, a pilot program approved Sunday by Brown along with other education-related measures, would allow 15 community colleges to expand programs in job-related fields such as automobile mechanics and dental hygiene to four-year bachelor's degrees from two-year associate's degrees.

The change is a response to employer concerns that workers in numerous technical fields need to be better educated. State Senator Marty Block, a Democrat from San Diego, called the measure a "game-changer" in a state where many students cannot afford tuition at four-year universities.

In another closely watched measure, the governor on Saturday used his line-item veto on a budget provision that would have increased funding for the state's two university systems by $100 million.

Some of the classes in California community colleges are offered on line by DL

 

Following Florida's lead !

Hope it's cheaper / and offered online.

 

A few additional points of possible interest:

- Some 20 states already allow community colleges to issue bachelor's degrees (map here).

- California will introduce a pilot program at 15 selected CCs (there are 112 total). Most of the pilot CCs are expected to be located in relatively rural parts of the state, with limited access to traditional universities.

- The CC bachelor's programs will not duplicate those at the CSU or UC systems, so they apparently will not include traditional academic programs like chemistry, history, business, psychology, etc. Instead, they will be career-oriented programs. Some of the possible programs that have been mentioned are: dental hygienist, emergency room technician, health care data manager, automotive technology, and agricultural manufacturing.

- Estimated costs for such programs are "just slightly more than $10,000".

- No word on DL access. At least some of the proposed degrees (like dental hygiene or automotive technology) seem too "hands-on" to be delivered effectively by DL alone.

 

Here is more info on the SB 850 CA:

Bill Text - SB-850 Public postsecondary education: community college districts: baccalaureate degree pilot program.