Community College 4-Year Degrees-A Potential Solution for Disparities in Education
The announcement from California’s Community Colleges system on their decision to start offering bachelor’s degrees comes as a huge symbol of relief for low and middle income students throughout California. The pilot program was signed into law on September 28 by California’s governor, and would offer 4-year degrees in 15 college districts in California that aren’t available in the UC or CSU systems. The article by Sam Hayes from U.S. News explains that pilot programs like these are trending across the country, with more community college systems looking into 4 year bachelor’s degrees in certain vocational studies.
This proposal would make 4 year degrees only about $84 more than associates courses—a significant step lower than the average tuition for a bachelor’s degree. That is incredibly interesting when thinking about return on investment in higher education. Owen and Sawhill’s Should Everyone Go To College delves deeper into the idea of ROI, explaining that not every bachelor’s degree is a smart investment. This is absolutely true, and depends a lot on the type of student. A low income student anticipating tens of thousands of dollars in debt is probably not well-served in taking on that debt, unless their major essentially ensures that they will be able to pay it off relatively quickly. On the other hand, often an associates degree will not pay off for those who try or succeed in attainment; as we’ve discussed in class, too often these community college students end up in jobs outside of their field of study and make significantly less than their 4-year counterparts. A more affordable bachelor’s option would ideally have significantly more ROI’s.
The proposal would also be meaningful when considering student mobility and location. In lecture, we have discussed the disconnect between students looking to attend school locally for financial or family reasons and having limited options. Often, prospective students may only have a community college option in their area, leading them to look into for-profit 4 year bachelor’s degrees. Have a bachelor’s available at community colleges could deter students from looking into for-profits and could start eliminating some education deserts that exist, especially in low-income areas with high minority populations.
There are several other factors to take into consideration. This proposal addresses some important economic considerations of pursuing a bachelor’s degree, but does leave some potential issues. In the Oreopoulos and Petronijevic piece Making College Worth It, the authors break down why we continue to tell young people to pursue higher education. We continue to unilaterally tell students to attend institutions of higher education, often without asking whether that works for that particular student. College is often looked at as more than an economic investment. The question then arises of the worth of these 4 year bachelor’s degrees from community colleges. Are these going to hold the same weight in job searching as bachelor’s from large public institutions? It seems to me there is a possibility that these degrees will not hold as much weight and may not be worth the initial investment. If that’s the case, community colleges may begin to increase the tuition for these bachelor’s programs as an incentive for enrollment. You then run into the same problems that the larger publics have. The other possibility is that these flop right off the bat because students think that if they’re going to pursue a 4 year degree, they should do it at a larger public and not a community college. The key is getting the ROI right on this one—price and payoff have to be considered in order for something like this to be a success.
Retweeted by Professor Goldrick-Rab
Other articles cited:
Owen & Sawhill Should Everyone Go to College?
Oreopoulos & Petronijevic Making College Worth It
Class lectures
