Colleges Expanding by Degrees

You can’t get a doctoral degree at most California State University campuses, but beginning in the fall you will be able to earn one at Canada College in Redwood City or Miramar College in San Diego.

The two community colleges are among a growing number that are partnering with universities to offer bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degree programs on their campuses.

The movement was prompted in part to more efficiently and economically educate people in such fields as teaching, nursing and high tech that have drastic shortages of talent.

Junior colleges in Florida, which are leading the movement to extend the academic reach of community colleges, will offer their own bachelor’s degrees beginning this summer.

Other two-year schools, including some in California, are launching four-year and advanced-degree programs on their campuses through partnerships with universities and colleges. Without ever leaving the community college campus, students will be able to earn degrees ranging from the traditional associate of arts or science to a doctorate in such fields as education or electrical engineering.

Designers of the collaborations say they are filling a void in career preparation that universities cannot. Community colleges--already adept at educating the poorest, most diverse and most geographically restricted students--are able to swiftly change curriculum to match the needs of business, educators say.

“This is the inevitable next natural evolution of the community colleges,” said Steve Wallace, president of Florida Community College in Jacksonville. “Our mission is not to give associate degrees. It is to meet the education needs of our communities. The workplace has become infinitely more sophisticated, and we have to respond.”

But some educators say not so fast.

Pat Callahan, president of the San Jose-based Center for Public Policy in Higher Education, said policymakers nationwide have debated whether four-year programs at community colleges will adversely change the culture of the two-year schools.

“I’d start by saying leave the degree conferral to the UCs and CSUs,” Callahan said. “I’d let the community colleges do it only as a last resort.

“Will the community colleges jump on the prestige bandwagon and start looking for presidents and faculty to build it into a university?”

David Wolf, head of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, said two-year campuses have their own crises to juggle without adding more students to their swelling rolls. States such as California have a firm three-tiered system with clearly defined missions. Giving community colleges the right to award bachelor’s degrees or beyond could fuzz the focus, he said.

“If a community college really begins to take on the four-year role, inevitably that college becomes a university,” Wolf said. “You can’t really be both.”

Wolf conceded that in some situations it is appropriate or necessary for a community college to offer higher degrees. The commission just approved such a program in the Northern Marianas in the western Pacific, he said, because the nearest four-year institution is thousands of miles away.

Closer to home, Canada College in Redwood City is starting a similar program because of freeway traffic rather than nautical miles.

Although Canada, which is 20 minutes from its partner San Francisco State, is not isolated, “our students are place-bound because of traffic,” said college President Rosa Perez. “Have you ever tried to make the drive to San Francisco State and find parking?”

This week, the college is launching a postgraduate teachers certification program, modeled on the Florida prototypes.

Gov. Gray Davis earmarked $1 million to upgrade Canada’s labs to university standards.

In September, Canada students will be able to work toward a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in partnership with San Francisco State or in business administration in association with nearby College of Notre Dame.

In some cases, courses will be taught by professors from the four-year schools. Other upper-division classes will be taught by community college faculty.

Although academic institutions everywhere are protective of their reputations, San Francisco State President Robert Corrigan said he had no second thoughts about lending his school’s name to programs taught by community college faculty who will double as university professors.

“It wasn’t a stretch for us,” Corrigan said. “We hope to become the model for other Cal States and community colleges.”

Cal State Chancellor Charles B. Reed, who previously worked in Florida, supports the collaborations between two- and four-year schools, Corrigan said.

Los Angeles community colleges experimented with the idea four years ago. Pierce College in Woodland Hills was set to offer a business bachelor’s degree program in conjunction with Golden Gate University, but no one enrolled, said spokesman Mike Cornner.

Officials at the University of California have not entered into similar agreements, spokesman Chuck McFadden said, but will monitor the success of the Cal State arrangements.

At its next meeting, the UC Board of Regents is expected to vote on its version of a partnership with the two-year institutions, a dual admissions proposal that would guarantee a place at a UC campus for community college transfers who applied before their freshman year at a two-year college.