Dive Brief:
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills Friday that will allow the state’s community colleges to expand the four-year degrees they can offer.
- Beginning in 2028, each of the California Community College system's 73 districts will be able to offer up to a dozen new bachelor's degrees. The 66 four-year degrees already offered or slated to be offered at the system’s institutions will not count against the district’s overall program cap.
- The number of bachelor’s degrees that CCC districts can offer will be tied to the share of their students who earn a credential or transfer to a four-year institution — a last-minute change by lawmakers that drew opposition from the community college system. The lowest performing districts will be limited to two new bachelor's programs.
Dive Insight:
Under the laws signed last week, CCC districts can propose up to three new bachelor's programs a year starting in 2028. Districts will be required to justify each program by showing it would meet a local workforce need.
State law currently bans community colleges from granting a bachelor’s degree if a similar program is already available at one of the institutions within the California State University or University of California systems.
Under the new legislation, community colleges will be able to offer programs similar to those at Cal State campuses unless they are in the same district. In that case, a community college district could offer a four-year degree similar to one available at a nearby Cal State campus if that university program has accepted fewer than 75% of its transfer applicants over three consecutive years.
Cal State is required to make transfer applicant acceptance rates publicly available by the start of 2028.
But a community college could only duplicate a program offered by a University of California campus with written permission. And the new legislation still bars CCC from offering an online bachelor's degree if either Cal State or UC offers "substantially similar" online programs.
Both the Cal State and UC systems initially opposed the legislation before reverting to a neutral stance following revisions to the initial language, according to local news outlets.
In a turnabout, CCC Chancellor Sonya Christian told lawmakers in August that her system must oppose the legislation over the changes to the bill, including the restrictions based on student outcomes.
The new legislation will place community colleges in tiers based on how their student outcomes compare to the system’s statewide averages. Under it, a community college district could improve its student outcomes but still be penalized if the statewide average changed, Christian said in a letter published by CalMatters. She said that could hurt rural and historically underserved communities in particular.
"A college could have a clear workforce need, students who need a local and affordable bachelor’s degree option, and the capacity to offer a strong program, but still be limited because of where its district falls in the statewide ranking," she told lawmakers.
The battle over bachelor's degrees at California community colleges has been contentious and long fought.
Supporters of four-year programs at community colleges argue they help address workforce shortages and open up such programs to location-bound students and those who otherwise would not have earned bachelor's degrees.
Cal State in particular has clashed with CCC over four-year degrees, saying they could siphon students away from its 22 campuses. The argument came as Cal State faced prolonged structural budget deficits and declining enrollment at some institutions.
A 2023 report from the University of California, Los Angeles’ Civil Rights Project found the two- and four-year systems don’t have much competition for the same students.
“Concerns of program duplication in the higher education market are greatly exaggerated, since community colleges have continuously served different student communities than the CSUs and UCs, and can help address the undersupply of qualified workers in certain industries,” the report said.
