According to John Rice, director of institutional advancement at Great Basin College “community colleges that offer four-year degrees aren’t necessarily trying to fit the mold of a university. They are designed to quickly respond to the needs of their community; those needs are often connected to workforce development.” Beth Hagan, Spokeswoman for the Community College Baccalaureate Association agrees with Rice by stating that “many people fear four-year universities will become less desirable, but this is not the case; many community colleges target specific groups of people. The degrees being conferred across the United States are applied degrees that are not the venue of the university such as nursing and teaching education degrees where the universities are not able to meet the demand” said Hagan (et. al Nallelie Vega February 3, 2010). What is it that opponents of Hagan’s and Rice proposal fear most; off- hand I would say is that it’s the lost of prestige that accompanies degrees obtained from four year colleges. However, what opponents do not seem willing to admit is that the socio-economic cost of those degrees often turn out not to be worth the paper their written on. Despite, the vaunted hoax of degrees granting million dollar incomes to their possessors; most often, those possessing four to eight year degrees find themselves burdened beneath inescapable debt instead of large paychecks.
According to Dr. Schneider in a Wall Street Journal article written by Mary Pilon (Feb. 2010) “the estimated actual lifetime-earnings advantage for college graduates is a mere $279,893.” Dr. Schneider included tuition payments and discounted earning streams, putting them into present values. He also used actual salary data for graduates 10 years after they completed their degrees to measure incomes. He further stated that, even among graduates of top-tier institutions, the earnings came in well below the million-dollar mark. In other words; parents and former college students either break even or barely make a profit from their college investment. So, what good is a four year degree? Perhaps, instead of the emphasis being upon prestige and mythical earnings, the emphasis should be upon practical job skills and successful entry into the U.S. labor force. What should be asked of opponents who are siding against this policy is if whether or not they are attempting to utilize the resistance against community colleges carrying bachelors’ degrees as a means of enforcing and maintaining racial, gender and class privileges at the expense of the country’s work force and its productivity.
The benefits of allowing community colleges to carry bachelors’ degrees is that since it’s a policy that is spreading throughout various states, if successful, it could be utilized as a means of establishing a national standard of education throughout the U.S; the D in Michigan becomes the same D earned in California. This socio-economic advent in education could lead to states setting the same level of standards for degrees which emphasize those practical skills obtained in fields such as Nursing, Social Work, Law Enforcement, etc. This could also lead to community colleges who offer bachelors’ degrees in various states to set a standard price per credit unit that would be similar to each other; Michigan’s community colleges would demand the same price per credit unit that is offered in California; thus preventing students in other states from flocking to more attractive states whose state colleges demand lower fees per credit unit for similar programs, or for spots in programs that do not exist within their own state colleges; thus, competing with that state’s indigenous student population – populations whose skill and educational levels, if left undeveloped, will become a bane to their own states as opposed to assets.
In short; once these potential students are displaced by students from neighboring states they are much more likely to become welfare dependents and a strain upon their states social welfare system. Another problem with students from other states competing with the indigenous population of other states for training and educational opportunities is that because non-indigenous students possess neither familial roots, nor long term personal history within those states they don’t possess an innate alliance to those states; thus, there is no guarantee that those students will remain loyal to those states as citizens and not return to their states of origin leaving those states in which they obtained their training with an increased welfare population and a decreased workforce of skilled, educated labor as it depletes its economic resources. According to an article written by Wonseon Kyung (Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 67, 1996 In-Migration of College Students to the State of New York Journal) “The interstate migration of college students influences college admissions policy, student body composition, and ultimately the labor force of a state; student migrants also tend to work in the state where they obtained their higher education, thus they become an educated labor force for that state as noted by Abbott and Schmid”. Based upon this article which was written 14 years ago it is not farfetched to perceive how student migrations from state to state could negatively impact a state’s indigenous population in the areas of education and training, employment and social services. The impact of community colleges carrying bachelors’ degrees could result in decreasing student migration and ease the rate of unemployment in states that migrating students may view as more desirable due to lower rates and better programs.
If properly funded, community colleges possessing bachelor degree programs that develop entry level professionals for the U.S work force would reduce waste in state educational funding by making it unnecessary for those seeking 4 year degrees to apply for government or private loans set aside for educational advancement. By allowing community colleges to offer 4 year degrees to individuals seeking to possess them for professional career advancement, or entry into the workforce such individuals are prevented from being buried in debt and risking unemployment due to possessing poor credit ratings; thus, they are prevented from being caught in a catch 22 situation. In other words, those fired, or laid off from professional positions sought 4 year degrees to regain employment or professional advancement; however, because they may have gone into debt to obtain their degree; while living off of welfare, credit cards, etc — They have now generated a negative credit report which can be utilized by employers as a legitimate means of denying them employment; thus, despite obtaining a post secondary degree they remain locked out of the U.S workforce and become a burden upon their states social service network as their credit rating further declines. This situation can cause an individual to remain permanently locked out of the work force and existing upon the fringes of society.
Another aspect to allowing community colleges to offer 4 year degrees is that this would weed out, diminish and dispose of diploma mills that undermine the value of 4 year degrees issued from legitimate academic institutions. No individual attempting to build their professional career upon a 4 year degree is going to utilize an illegitimate or shaky institution to do so; especially not those institutions whose credits are unaccepted by other colleges or universities. Thus; this action would assist legitimate community colleges and universities to initiate and maintain a successful war of attrition against post secondary institutions that despite possessing a shaky history and lack of complete credentials are still able to legally offer potential students 4 year degrees. Because potential students require financial aid in order to apply to these institutions, but not viable grade point averages that would allow them entrance into traditional 4 year institutions, large numbers of potential students seeking to gain 4 year degrees in order to obtain even entry level employment will risk going into serious debt to pay the tuition and entry fees needed for acceptance into these institutional diploma mills. Thus; diploma mills deplete state and private funding necessary for developing a skilled and educated U.S workforce. By allowing legitimate community colleges to offer 4 year degrees to those seeking employment, community colleges assist in protecting educational funding and unknowledgeable consumers from diploma mills; while assisting in creating a skilled and educated workforce.