Ohio community college baccalaureates likely to resurface in upcoming Kasich budget

 

By Kiana Duncan, Nicholas Adkins, and Nicole Ciccarelli

House Bill 474, which would have allowed community colleges in Ohio to begin offering bachelor degrees, expired this past December after failing to garner enough support to move forward in the legislative process. The bill did not get a formal hearing in the House before the end of the 131st General assembly. According to sources close to the issue, it may be coming up again in the most recent budget proposal introduced by Ohio Governor John Kasich.

“The governor said the bachelor degrees will be included in his executive budget,” said Ohio Association of Community Colleges Vice President Tom Walsh, referencing the budget proposal of Kasich’s which will be available within 7-10 days according to Ohio House Representative Kathleen Clyde.

“I believe it contains [a] proposal for two year colleges to be allowed to create bachelor programs,” said Clyde. A similar provision referencing community college baccalaureate programs was taken out of the 2015 budget proposed by Kasich.

Clyde explained that the Republican majority house did have its own agenda it was working to enact which may be part of the reason House Bill 474 was not prioritized, but she makes it clear that this is not a right versus left issue.

“Higher education, in general, has been an area that is less partisan,” said Clyde.

Walsh labelled the election as another reason for House Bill 474 not moving forward. Governor Kasich was running for Republican nominee last year. The state legislature broke in May and was out until November because of the 2016 election. Walsh went on to say that this is an issue Kasich has taken a particular interest in over his term.

“Governor Kasich is big on the idea of providing  flexible low cost pathways to get a post secondary degree or even certificate,” said Walsh. “That really was the push behind [House Bill 474]. It kind of is a package of multiple low cost pathways for students that seek bachelor’s degrees.”

The idea of a community college offering a bachelor degree may seem unusual to Ohioans, but it is something that has been going on since West Virginia first approved Parkersburg Community College (now West Virginia University of Parkersburg) to begin offering baccalaureate programs back in 1989. Since that time, there have been over 20 additional states that have allowed at least some community colleges to begin conferring bachelor degrees.

While some states have taken different approaches to implementing community college baccalaureate programs, many had similar circumstances occur when bills were moving through the channels of their state legislature. The fact that this will now be the third time in as many years that similar legislation has been introduced points towards the likelihood that this may soon be a reality.

“I think it’s definitely a possibility that Ohio joins those other states,” said Clyde.

“Certainly Governor Kasich sees this as an important issue for a low-cost pathway and he will continue to push this,” said Walsh. “Hopefully, the legislature will realize there is value and students would benefit … that otherwise would not have a chance to go on and get a bachelors degree.”

Ohio is home to 14 traditional public universities and 23 community colleges. The average cost of tuition for one of those public universities for the 2016-2017 academic year was $10,266. The average cost for community colleges was $4,535. If tuition costs were to stay stagnant and both types of colleges were to offer bachelor degrees, the difference in cost would be $22,924 over four years.

The argument is not that simple, though. Kent State Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Dr. Todd Diacon points out one of the main arguments against community college baccalaureate programs.

“Community colleges typically get an additional source of funding that we don’t which is from communities, which is why they’re called community colleges,” said Diacon. “It’s a little unfair that they would be subsidized by the communities and by the state and then be allowed to offer the same degrees as we do.”

The loss of incoming students at public universities because of community colleges offering baccalaureate programs is something called “admission creep.”

“There is, I think, some concern from the universities that this will duplicate what they do and potentially hurt their ability to attract and educate students,” said Clyde.

Walsh argues against the idea of admissions creep. The Ohio Association of Community Colleges has been open in its statements that the types of degrees they are looking for approval to offer are technical degrees that are not offered by nearby public universities.

“We don’t want to create a competition with what [public universities] are doing,” said Walsh. “If a community college wanted to offer a bachelor’s degree it has to be an area of an unmet need, an in-demand type of job, where a regional campus within 30 miles would not offer the program.”

Another argument against community college baccalaureates is the quality of the degree and whether or not employers would place as much value on a community college degree as they would on a public university degree.

“It can be very expensive to build up true expertise to say that you’re going to offer a degree,” said Diacon. “I struggle to believe that a community college four-year degree could represent the depth that a 4-year school program would.”

The main argument for community college baccalaureates is that it provides yet another route that students can take in obtaining degrees. Many higher education associations have taken up the “65 by 25” goal, a goal of having 65 percent of American adults with post-secondary degrees by the year 2025. The idea was popularized after former President Barrack Obama set a similar goal of 60 percent by 2020 back in 2009.

“Many community college students are place bound and there is reason they don’t go away, They are working full time, they got families, and kids and if they want to get that degree, it becomes [an] access issue,” said Walsh. “You have to have [a] broad portfolio of options for students to get these degrees.”

Representative Clyde encourages her constituents to contact her should they want to voice their opinion on this matter as it will likely be part of the legislature put forth this year.