Community College's New Foray
As more two-year colleges begin to offer bachelor's degrees, higher education officials ponder benefits, possible pitfalls
By Kristina Lane

WASHINGTON

What does two plus two equal? Usually posed in the very early stages of a child's education, the question is being looked at afresh by higher education leaders postulating a new sum: two plus two equals a community college offering a bachelor's degree.

But as this new formula gained popularity over the last decade, it also has created divisions within the ranks of higher education.

Some say community colleges are within their rights to seek approval to offer bachelor's degrees. Others believe that baccalaureate-granting community colleges will eventually leave behind the very students community colleges were created to serve.

Is the community college baccalaureate a step in the right direction or getting off on the wrong foot?

Because the number of American two-year colleges offering bachelor's degrees is still relatively small, few meaningful statistics about the trend exist. No government agency or private interest group has a reliable list of how many erstwhile two-year colleges offer four-year degrees in one form or another.

But the sheer number of community colleges that have sought and won baccalaureate certification in recent years suggests that the phenomenon is gaining momentum.

Just in the last three years, Dixie State College in St. George, Utah, St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Fla., Miami-Dade Community College in Florida and Chipola Junior College in Marianna, Fla., have all launched standalone baccalaureate programs.

As a measure of how interest in the concept of the community college baccalaureate has spread, and how many colleges might one day offer four-year degrees, the number of member colleges in the Community College Baccalaureate Association has jumped from fewer than five in its founding year, 1999, to about 75 today.