California\u2019s community colleges have been trying for several years to offer more bachelor\u2019s degrees. This year, they put their hopes in two sweeping bills designed to help them do that. But lawmakers made massive, last-minute changes that prompted the state\u2019s community colleges to now oppose the legislation.<\/p>\n
The abrupt change of heart, spurred by new limits on how much the colleges could grow their bachelor\u2019s programs, didn\u2019t influence the outcomes of the bills, Senate Bill 960<\/a> by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, a Democrat from Napa, and Assembly Bill 2694<\/a> by David Alvarez, also a Democrat from Chula Vista. Both passed this week by wide margins in the Legislature and now head to Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n In recent years, Newsom vetoed bills that sought to expand the community colleges\u2019 ability to issue more bachelor\u2019s degrees. Still, Newsom\u2019s office was involved in the revision of the latest bills, Cabaldon said in a Senate floor speech Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time that we\u2019ve been able to engage in productive conversation between the houses and the executive branch,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Combined, the bills introduce new mechanisms for determining when colleges can create bachelor\u2019s degrees and how many they can offer. The new approach has accountability metrics \u2014 colleges would be able to offer an additional two to 12 bachelor\u2019s degrees starting in 2028 depending on their students\u2019 certificate, degree and transfer completion rates. No college district could propose more than three new degrees per year and districts would need to prove that there\u2019s a workforce need in their region to justify the creation of a bachelor\u2019s degree. That\u2019s a claim the state\u2019s labor secretary would step in to validate if the California State University system objects, as has regularly occurred in the pitched policy disputes betwe<\/a>en the community colleges and the university<\/a>.<\/p>\n The rules would apply to new degrees offered after 2028; existing community college bachelor\u2019s degrees are grandfathered in. Today, 49 colleges either offer or will soon<\/a> offer 66 bachelor\u2019s degrees.<\/p>\n Cabaldon called the bills a breakthrough that would bring long-sought clarity.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will give us peace,\u201d he said in a phone interview. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean everybody\u2019s going to agree all of the time, but it does mean the endless war and bickering and fighting and more and more legislation will come to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n Community college leaders said the amendments are too last-minute, too unclear and too complicated, even if they appreciate the effort by the Legislature to wrangle the thorny issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re being asked to \u2026 support a process that is not completely understood or vetted at the last minute, and so that\u2019s just not great policymaking,\u201d said Larry Galizio, president and CEO of the Community College League of California, an association representing community college presidents and board leaders.<\/p>\n Why bachelor\u2019s degrees are contentious<\/p>\n The community colleges\u2019 sudden shift is another turn in an effort that has produced near-constant turmoil.<\/p>\n Historically, the community colleges and Cal State have clashed over which bachelor\u2019s degrees the colleges can teach. A 2021 state law was supposed to establish peace in the realm, but the colleges and Cal State regularly disagreed on a key concept \u2014 degree duplication. That law said the colleges couldn\u2019t create bachelor\u2019s degrees that are already offered by any Cal State or University of California campus, even if a community college is hundreds of miles from the nearest public university.<\/p>\n Colleges and several lawmakers called that an unfair arrangement, since many community college students can\u2019t relocate to a distant university. In some instances, community colleges created those degrees anyway, over the objections of the Cal State system<\/a>, EdSource reported.<\/p>\n Backers and foes of more bachelor\u2019s degrees at community colleges point to competing data.<\/p>\n A recent report found that 29 of the state\u2019s 116 community colleges<\/a> are located at least 25 miles from a public university. Their students are \u201cplace-bound\u201d or can\u2019t easily move from the area their community colleges serve. Roughly 157,000 students attend these colleges.<\/p>\n Some students say they need their local community colleges to offer bachelor\u2019s degrees because local employers want those \u2014 certificates or associate degrees aren\u2019t enough. But under existing law, those colleges cannot provide them because a Cal State 500 miles away offers that degree already.<\/p>\n On the other hand, community colleges post low transfer rates \u2014 just 21% of students who wanted to transfer do so after four years, the state auditor reported<\/a>. This may indicate a broken transfer system that could be remedied if more colleges could offer bachelor\u2019s. Or it may demonstrate that colleges aren\u2019t ready to widen their academic offerings because most also post low certificate and associate degree completion rates.<\/p>\n How the bills address duplication<\/p>\n In response, Alvarez and Cabaldon wrote comprehensive bills this year to allow colleges to create bachelor\u2019s degrees, even if they resemble degrees already offered by Cal State campuses. The community colleges were on board with those versions while the Cal State system was opposed; the system instead wanted more streamlined pathways for students to start their studies at a community college and earn a bachelor\u2019s at a Cal State campus. Others in the system have feared that an expansion of community college bachelor\u2019s degrees would siphon away students and crucial tuition revenue at a time when some Cal States are battling enrollment declines<\/a>.<\/p>\n The new combined bills allow community colleges to propose bachelor\u2019s degrees even if a nearby Cal State offers a similar program, but only if that Cal State program admits fewer than 75% of applicants from that nearby community college three consecutive years. The community college would still need to submit a workforce needs report and be governed by the degree caps also spelled out in the bills. That workforce need could be that employers are having difficulty filling positions that require a bachelor\u2019s degree, the two bills say.<\/p>\n And unlike the current policy, in which there\u2019s no arbiter to settle an impasse between community colleges and the Cal States over duplication, a review by the state\u2019s secretary of labor siding with the colleges would remove the Cal State system\u2019s challenge to the degree. But districts face consequences for being wrong: If the labor secretary sides with Cal State, the district is barred from submitting an application for a similar program for five years.<\/p>\n The community colleges are generally barred from duplicating a degree a UC campus offers.\u00a0 Only written consent from a UC would clear the way for duplication, the bills say.<\/p>\n Why community colleges are now opposed<\/p>\n The newly created caps on the number of degrees community college districts can offer are a problem for the community college system. Districts will be judged by their student completion rates and how those rates compare to the statewide average.<\/p>\n The bills \u201cwould make a district\u2019s eligibility depend partly on how its performance<\/p>\n