Go to UCLA or Stanford if you want to be a hate filled, bigoted, anti-freedom Marxist. Go to a community college if you want an education and a future.
“Feather River College’s plan to offer a baccalaureate doesn’t just help students like Lampe who would have given up on finishing their degrees. It’s a boon to the rural community wrestling with the destruction of the 2021 Dixie Fire without enough qualified conservation workers.
Pilot studies demonstrated a range of positive benefits to both students and their communities, said Constance Carroll, president and CEO of the California Community College Baccalaureate Association. Just over half of the students said they would not have pursued a baccalaureate degree. Their annual income improved by approximately $25,000. They stayed in the state: 94% of graduates of the pilot remained in California.
Community college baccalaureate degrees have exploded nationally in popularity recently, and the pandemic seemed to only hasten its expansion,
The student loan problem goes away. Real education makes a comeback—and rioters can bully themselves. This is a great win for education and students—a loss for Marxism,
Community College baccalaureate degrees are key to expanding college access, panel says
EMMA GALLEGOS, EdSource, 7/20/23 https://edsource.org/2023/community-college-baccalaureate-degrees-are-key-to-expanding-college-access-panel-says/694380
Hayden Lampe’s dream of getting a bachelor’s degree felt out of reach after she graduated with an associate degree at Feather River College in Quincy — that is, until the community college in rural Northern California won approval to offer a baccalaureate degree.
The nearest university to Quincy is 80 miles away, so getting a degree would have meant moving. Lampe put her higher education plans on hold when she found out that rent near the universities she was considering in Reno, Colorado or Oregon was unaffordable. So when Feather River College announced it would be offering a bachelor of science program in her field — ecosystem restoration and applied fire management — she realized she didn’t have to give up on her dream or move from the community she loves.
“All of my enthusiasm I lost came back with a vengeance,” Lampe said. “The approval of this program allows me to stay in this community that I love and I have deep roots in.”
Lampe was part of a panel of experts who discussed the promise of community college baccalaureates and the barriers to expanding these programs in California in a roundtable hosted by EdSource on July 19.
California has begun offering baccalaureate degrees at the community college as a way to make higher education more attainable for students while also helping the state meet its growing workforce demands. The state began piloting programs in 2014 before its expansion was permanently enshrined in state law by Assembly Bill 927 in 2021.
Feather River College’s plan to offer a baccalaureate doesn’t just help students like Lampe who would have given up on finishing their degrees. It’s a boon to the rural community wrestling with the destruction of the 2021 Dixie Fire without enough qualified conservation workers.
Pilot studies demonstrated a range of positive benefits to both students and their communities, said Constance Carroll, president and CEO of the California Community College Baccalaureate Association. Just over half of the students said they would not have pursued a baccalaureate degree. Their annual income improved by approximately $25,000. They stayed in the state: 94% of graduates of the pilot remained in California.
Community college baccalaureate degrees have exploded nationally in popularity recently, and the pandemic seemed to only hasten its expansion, said Angela Kersenbrock, president of the national Community College Baccalaureate expansion. It is offered at some level in 24 states, and there are currently approximately 670 programs around the country, she said.
Some states such as Washington, Texas and Florida began expanding access to these degrees long before California. But Kersenbrock applauded the state for approving up to 30 new baccalaureate programs each year, which she said will provide so many important opportunities to Californians. The first cycle of programs under AB 927 were approved in fall 2022.
A sticking point in expanding these programs are concerns that the California Community College will step on the toes of colleges and universities, including the CSU and UC systems.
Kersenbrock said data from other states with more expanded community college baccalaureate programs has not shown effect on the enrollment of its public and private universities — with the exception of for-profit colleges whose tuition is exponentially higher than at community colleges. (Tuition for a community college degree in California is $10,560 for all four years.)
This reticence about expanding degrees is enshrined in AB 927, a California law that requires that new community college baccalaureate programs do not duplicate programs offered elsewhere in the state.
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