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Community colleges traditionally offer postsecondary programs that are two years or less in duration, including the freshman and sophomore years of a bachelor’s degree, specialized vocational-technical programs, remedial education and community service education. But changing demographics, economic concerns and community and business expectations are now exerting pressure in some locations and in some fields to add an additional mission to traditional community college roles — providing access to the baccalaureate degree.

Some people believe the need for new and different types of baccalaureate education, such as technical degree programs, will outpace traditional four-year colleges and universities’ capacity to provide it. The burgeoning number of high school graduates (the graduating class of 2008 is expected to be the largest in history), the continuing rise in the number of adults returning to continue their education and the increasing number of jobs requiring training beyond an associate’s degree also are contributing to the increased demand for baccalaureate degrees. According to some, the community college, with its convenient location, historically low costs, flexibility and history of meeting community needs, is an obvious alternative for meeting these demands.

Community colleges are typically responding to these community pressures in one of two ways. Many two-year colleges are joining with university partners and offering specialized upper-division baccalaureate completion programs through a "University Center" located on the community college campus. Other community colleges have sought a change in mission and authorization to offer their own baccalaureate program in selected high demand programs.

Community Workforce Needs
Community colleges, by definition, are very focused on being responsive to community needs. When educational access or labor shortage issues arise there is a natural inclination on the part of community colleges to want to jump in and help solve the problem.

Pressures are further exacerbated in states where there are large regions without adequate service by four-year institutions. Rather than go to the expense of building new four-year colleges, some local officials have proposed converting community colleges into a new hybrid postsecondary model that will also meet growing needs for access to a baccalaureate degree. Many of these communities value the perceived status of having a four-year college in their communities and the option for local students to be able to earn a degree while remaining close to home.

Some communities not only need access to baccalaureate programs in general, but access to teacher education programs specifically. Like large urban areas, many smaller, rural communities are experiencing severe teacher shortages and find it difficult to recruit and retain new teachers. The attraction of a "grow your own" teacher education program that can prepare local residents to teach in the public schools has encouraged some community colleges, like Great Basin College in Elko, Nevada, to seek authorization to offer their own baccalaureate teacher education program.

Meeting Students’ Needs
Fueling these trends in many communities are dramatic shortfalls in the number of qualified teachers available to meet projected hiring needs over the next decade. Paraprofessionals already employed in the schools and other local residents are being encouraged to return to school to complete degrees in order to meet looming shortages. But these non-traditional students are often better served at community colleges because of the following factors:

• Geography/Access – Many non-traditional students balancing family and work responsibilities along with their schooling find it difficult or impossible to commute long distances to finish their degrees on a four year campus located away from their communities.
• Time – Working students are often unable to attend four-year institutions during the day when many conventional universities, which have traditionally catered to full-time students, typically offer classes.
• Cost – Non-traditional students who are often ineligible for much financial aid find the higher tuition and fees charged at universities a significant burden.
• Age – Older returning students often feel out of place in a classroom setting geared for younger students.
• Preparation – Having been out of school for years, many returning adults require refresher courses or tutoring support more typically found at a community college in order to be successful in their college coursework.

Community colleges are much more likely to offer evening and weekend courses and have faculty attuned to the community and accustomed to meeting the needs of non-traditional students. Community college faculty, whose primary responsibility is classroom teaching, are typically also more available to students than faculty at traditional universities who must balance research and writing responsibilities. All this adds up to a very different academic environment in the two types of institutions.

This expansion in the community college mission has not been without controversy. While some see the extension of the community college into baccalaureate education as a natural and desirable evolution, many other educators and state officials express concern that community colleges don’t have the resources to embark on this new mission or that there may be unintended consequences. From both inside and outside of the two-year college community many fear that by adding the baccalaureate degree, community colleges will dilute or even abandon the essential focus of their open-door mission and will exacerbate conflict and competition with existing baccalaureate institutions.

Adding baccalaureate degrees, however is only one indication of a larger phenomenon of change. Over its 100-plus year history, the community college mission has evolved from a junior college model that provided the equivalent of grades 13 and 14 as an extension of the high school, to a comprehensive mission that includes technical and vocational programs, state-of-the-art training for business and industry and developmental education – in addition to university preparation.

The trend operates in the other direction as well, with baccalaureate-granting colleges and universities adapting to market demand by offering associate degrees. Charter colleges, e-colleges and proprietary colleges are also blurring traditional postsecondary lines. And traditional assumptions about institutional missions are further convoluted by the emergence of digital technology that allows education to be delivered by multiple institutions across a state.

What is clear now is that policymakers and postsecondary institutions alike will face increasing demands to provide new and evolving means of access to postsecondary education and training in the future.

For further discussion of baccalaureate access at the community college see:

1. The University Center at the Community College
2. Baccalaureate degree programs

Sources and Links

• Walker, K. P. An Open Door to the Bachelor’s Degree.
  http://www.league.org/publication/abstracts/leadership/lab0401.html

• Clark, L. MDCC Allowed to offer 4-year degree. Miami Herald. May 15, 2002.
  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/3263354.htm

• Walker, K.P. The Case for the Community College Baccalaureate Degree.
  http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0602/ijse/walker.htm

• Townsend, B. K. and Ignash, J. M. (2003). Community College Roles in Teacher Education: current Approaches and Future Possibilities. New Directions for Community Colleges, no. 121.

• Garmon, J. (2000). Questions and Answers about the Community College Baccalaureate. CCBA Beacon, 1(2).

• Evelyn, J. Making Waves in Miami. The Chronicle of Higher Education. April, 2001.

• Best Educational E-Practices (BEEP). Providing Four-Year and Graduate Degrees in a Community College Setting. November 1, 2001.
  http://www.spjc.edu/research/beep/Beep14.htm

• Cook, A. (2000). Community College Baccalaureate Degrees: A Delivery Model for the Future? Education Commission of the States. Policy Paper, February.

• The web site of the Community College Baccalaureate Association. This web site also has links to full text articles about community college baccalaureates.
  http://accbd.org

• This issue of the newsletter for the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) deals with teacher education in community colleges, including an article on the community college baccalaureate.
  http://occrl.ed.uiuc.edu/Newsletter/2002/spring2002_2.asp

• A project on access to the baccalaureate by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (ASCU). This initiative, funded by the Lumina Foundation, is meant to help more students earn a baccalaureate degree.
  http://www.pathtocollege.org/

• This is a link to a description of a national study of the community college baccalaureate currently being conducted by Michelle Plecha. It includes a PDF of the state director's questionnaire developed by the researcher.
  http://www.statedirectors.org/surveys/ccbasurvey.html