Community Colleges get approved for bachelor's degree programs

Read more about it here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article7780146.html

Basically though, to summarize it, community colleges(i.e. not your typical 4 year 20k for a year) in california have approved a 4 year curriculum to attain a bachelor degree in 15 different fields. California isn't a pioneer in this, being something like the 22nd state to actually do something like this, but its nice to see that it is a trend catching on. Not only are they(in this case) degrees not offered by the UCs or CSUs.

I personally think its great because it is going to make education that is NEEDED for getting jobs more widely available to the public--and frankly, that's just what we need. The system definitely needs to be expanded and picked up by more states, but this is a nice step in the right direction.

My thoughts on this really stem from the fact that our society is "over educated". That's really a horrible word for it because I don't think anyone can be too knowledgable but I do we seem to have reached a new standard in what education is required to get somewhere, and have what appears to be a saturation for the level of people there.

What does a Bachelor degree really get you? Honestly, as someone who went to university and paid a lot well.. community colleges can "have it". I'm neither happy nor annoyed that a community college can hand out a bachelor degree because it's essentially typical for someone to have one now haha. You really need to go beyond a bachelor's degree to get anywhere if your degree is in (most) science, or arts.

What I am curious about is if these people with a bachelor degree from a community college can translate that degree to a Masters at a university? I will probably have to look more into it...

Saki said:

My thoughts on this really stem from the fact that our society is "over educated". That's really a horrible word for it because I don't think anyone can be too knowledgable but I do we seem to have reached a new standard in what education is required to get somewhere, and have what appears to be a saturation for the level of people there.

What does a Bachelor degree really get you? Honestly, as someone who went to university and paid a lot well.. community colleges can "have it". I'm neither happy nor annoyed that a community college can hand out a bachelor degree because it's essentially typical for someone to have one now haha. You really need to go beyond a bachelor's degree to get anywhere if your degree is in (most) science, or arts.

What I am curious about is if these people with a bachelor degree from a community college can translate that degree to a Masters at a university? I will probably have to look more into it...

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That is quite a good question! I'll see what I can dig about furthering said degree translating into a Master's. I think it is good thing though, because of the exact reason you said: "it's essentially typical... to have one now." I don't agree with that sentiment that you need x document proving you can do y and it has to come from z organization, but that's sadly the way that the world at large works. It's nice to see though that they are taking steps to make x document more widely available. Not everyone can afford to attend a more expensive university because they/they're parents weren't able to get a strong enough job to support the kind of costs associated with it, and as a result, it create a cycle that leads to nowhere. Hopefully and idea like this can break the cycle and just improve the level of education of people so that they can actually get a CAREER as opposed to a JOB.

ANARCHit3cht said:

That is quite a good question! I'll see what I can dig about furthering said degree translating into a Master's. I think it is good thing though, because of the exact reason you said: "it's essentially typical... to have one now." I don't agree with that sentiment that you need x document proving you can do y and it has to come from z organization, but that's sadly the way that the world at large works. It's nice to see though that they are taking steps to make x document more widely available. Not everyone can afford to attend a more expensive university because they/they're parents weren't able to get a strong enough job to support the kind of costs associated with it, and as a result, it create a cycle that leads to nowhere. Hopefully and idea like this can break the cycle and just improve the level of education of people so that they can actually get a CAREER as opposed to a JOB.

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It's interesting because where I live everyone can afford a Bachelor's degree because we are all allowed to go into debt. I guess "afford" isn't the best term but for me my parental income is/was under the poverty line so I was provided a loan for almost all of my schooling costs, I do have to live on a strict budget and currently I also work part time, but yeah. It would have been nice to pay less regardless, but I don't regret my education. I've had a good education at my university for sure! No idea if I could get the same thing at a community college, not because I think lowly of them but because I truly do not know haha. I imagine that education is a tad different between USA and Canada though~

I suppose it's nice that community colleges may one day soon be offering Bachelor's degrees to people, but the problem is that the value of a Bachelor's is depreciating like Saki said. 40 years ago a Bachelor's was all you needed to get a career started; employers were happy that you had a 4 year degree. Nowadays they won't even look at you if you don't at least have a Bachelor's, and the guarantee of getting hired is minimal. I think that the majority want you to have a Master's or least a BS/BA and be super amazing these days. At least that's how it seems to me.

The other problem is that yes, community colleges are cheaper than 4 year universities, but who says that they won't jack up the price once the Bachelor's thing gets implemented? Not to mention that you may not be getting a quality education. The US education system is not as good as it used to be. I have a BS myself, but I don't really feel as prepared for a career as I should be. It's probably partly my fault really, but only partly.

Community college's offering bachelor's degree's?

Bad idea. Cheapens the degree even more than it already is, not to mention it would make 4-year universities seem like a waste of money.

Wait I thought Obama only mentioned free tuition for community colleges if your grades were good and do community service or something. I never heard of giving out bachelor's.

Alfieri said:

Wait I thought Obama only mentioned free tuition for community colleges if your grades were good and do community service or something. I never heard of giving out bachelor's.

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That's an entirely different matter!

As for other people who are saying it "cheapens" the degree, how do you figure? The curriculum still has to meet the standards set by educational boards just like a 4 year university would. And while I do agree with the fact that it is becoming more and more required, I think that's the perfect reason for it to be available at the community college level.

CarcharOdin said:

Community college's offering bachelor's degree's?

Bad idea. Cheapens the degree even more than it already is, not to mention it would make 4-year universities seem like a waste of money.

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It's a better idea than letting the for-profit degree mills run rampant on student loan debt when the vast majority of their Bachelor's degrees are considered more worthless by employers than Associate's degrees from Community Colleges are.

And not everyone who is smart enough to graduate from your typical 4 year university can afford to attend a 4 year university at its tuition rates, because they're in that limbo zone where their parents are too wealthy for them to receive assistance, yet their parents or themselves are too poor to be able to afford to take out $50,000+ in loans, and they miss out on scholarships because writing isn't a strong suit of theirs, yet they are brilliant at mathematics or engineering.

Besides, 4 year university tuitions pay for more than just the degree you're getting: they pay for all the services offered by the schools plus the research projects the university runs. Bonus stuff that's not essential for your major.

In all honesty, this is probably the truest thing about college ever written:

http://www.blurofinsanity.com/collegewaste.html

It really depends on the kind of degree you are getting. If you're getting a B.S., congrats, it wasn't actually a waste of money.

Otherwise, forget it.

I think this circumvents the real problem, which appears to be affordability of current university institutions in the US. Whether this cheapens a bachelor's degree is yet to be seen. People will assess the worth of your degree based on where you achieved it (i.e. the reputation of your university), and certainly the same will be said for these degrees. It might take time for employers to value a bachelor's degree obtained from a community college vs. a university.

That being said, I don't quite understand the difference between community college and university in the USA as the system varies completely to Australia (we have University - bachelors degrees in art, science, engineering, law - and TAFE - dipolmas and certificates in trades such as plumbing, hospitality, etc.).

CarcharOdin said:

In all honesty, this is probably the truest thing about college ever written:

http://www.blurofinsanity.com/collegewaste.html

It really depends on the kind of degree you are getting. If you're getting a B.S., congrats, it wasn't actually a waste of money.

Otherwise, forget it.

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I feel the need to refute a point made in your link, at least from my experience at university. All of my lecturers (I avoid using the term Professor, because in Australia its a title associated with contributions to research over many years (there are levels between Dr and Professor)) were researchers at the university. When they weren't in class they were in participating in or directing active research in their field. They most certainly perform an important function and are not "failures" by any means.

Lotus the Cat said:

That being said, I don't quite understand the difference between community college and university in the USA as the system varies completely to Australia (we have University - bachelors degrees in art, science, engineering, law - and TAFE - dipolmas and certificates in trades such as plumbing, hospitality, etc.).

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Community colleges are locally/county funded public institutions that only award 2-year/Associate's degrees and some certifications. Usually they're far less expensive (and often smaller too) than universities, which is where you have to go for a Bachelor's and up in the US.

Lotus the Cat said:

I feel the need to refute a point made in your link, at least from my experience at university. All of my lecturers (I avoid using the term Professor, because in Australia its a title associated with contributions to research over many years (there are levels between Dr and Professor)) were researchers at the university. When they weren't in class they were in participating in or directing active research in their field. They most certainly perform an important function and are not "failures" by any means.

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Well, the article I think is mostly satirical, but they make a point to point out that they don't think everything they said applies to people getting Science degrees and many science professors do scientific work and research on the side. I think the point is the article is trying to make is that science degree are pretty much the most relevant degrees in the job market and that getting them is generally harder than getting Bachelor of Arts degrees, but this is debatable. All I know is I major in Biology and it hasn't been easy pickings.

One of the college campuses I attended is receiving a Bachelor's degree program. I'm really happy for the students because it's going to make their ability to get the degree and also get work much easier. They no longer have to move out of town to get the degree and living locally will help them get in touch with contacts in the job field.

I hope it all goes smoothly for everyone, but it's definitely something that (should) assist students in the fields.