Washington state leads the way in offering community college bachelor’s degrees as a model for other states

Traveling up the coastline in Washington state, certain students aspire to obtain a bachelor’s degree for professions like teaching and nursing but lack a nearby four-year university to pursue. Luckily, they have an alternative option: earning that degree from a community college.

California has taken strides to adopt this concept, passing a law three years ago that permits the state’s community college system to endorse up to 30 new bachelor’s degrees annually, not only associate degrees and certificates. Despite this, some officials and advocates feel that the colleges have untapped potential due to restrictions on their offerings. 

The pivotal point, as highlighted, is to make bachelor’s degrees accessible to students bound to specific locations—those constrained to attending college near their homes due to work or family obligations. This reality has come to fruition in Washington state, where community colleges in rural areas can offer virtually any bachelor’s degree, provided they demonstrate regional workforce demand and student enrollment interest.

“Even in isolated communities, residents should have the opportunity to pursue higher education,” expressed Constance Carroll, president of the California Community College Baccalaureate Association.

In California, community colleges are restricted to offering four-year degrees in fields not covered by the state’s four-year universities, limiting the creation of degrees in critical areas such as education and nursing, despite shortages in these sectors. Overturning this would necessitate legislative modification and likely encounter resistance from California State University, which is hesitant to lose potential students to community colleges amid fluctuating enrollment levels across its campuses.