Controversy about CCBs

Perspectives on CCBs are by no means all positive. Though these programs are more commonplace now, higher education leaders hold a range of views on the role of community colleges in providing bachelor’s degree programs. Recognizing the potential to upend established higher education norms, Michael Skolnik described the decision of community colleges to confer CCB degrees as “one of the most significant additions imaginable to the mission of these institutions.”¹ He acknowledged tensions between community colleges and universities when the notion of CCB degrees is advanced.

Echoing this concern, a 2019 national survey of higher education leaders revealed a contrast in views on the necessity for CCB degrees among university and community college presidents.² University leaders worried about community colleges drifting away from their open-access mission and duplicating upper-division programs and degrees. Community college leaders saw CCB degrees as a way to increase access to affordable baccalaureate degrees, defending the mission of reaching students who would not transfer to get a baccalaureate degree.³

Some university leaders including leaders of regional broad access colleges and universities claim that CCB degrees are a form of mission creep that allow community colleges to drift away from their historic open-access mission.⁴ Efforts to reform the credentialing authority of community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees in terminal education programs is controversial. The preponderance of university leaders responding to a Gallup Poll conducted for Inside Higher Education in 2019 believed community colleges should continue to focus on transfer rather than confer baccalaureate degrees, while community college leaders claimed more baccalaureate options were needed to meet changing student needs.⁵

Both groups agreed that transfer is important to improving access to baccalaureate degrees, and they agreed on the need to strengthen transfer, but they differed on the need for baccalaureate degrees at the community college level to address transfer issues. A recent skirmish in California over the approval of new degrees illustrates this concern. Several proposed CCB proposals have been held up over claims that the programs are too similar to programs offered at California State University campuses: a cyberdefense and analysis program at San Diego City College and an ecosystem restoration and applied fire management program at Feather River College, for example.⁶ While the negotiation between sectors continues to play out in California, many states’ approval processes specifically address duplication and use coordinating boards to settle disputes.⁷

Community college baccalaureates are less expensive for students. In a 2022 study of 10 CCB-authorizing states,⁸ Ivy Love and Iris Palmer found that half required CCB institutions to keep upper-division tuition level with lower-division tuition, and one state requires level tuition for the majority of its colleges.⁹ In three of four states included in this study where colleges are allowed to charge higher tuition for upper-division courses, average upper-division in-state tuition is higher at public universities than at community colleges.¹⁰ Furthermore, community colleges are able to capitalize on existing facilities and equipment. However, there are potential added costs of securing regional accreditation, expanding libraries, and hiring faculty with doctoral degrees.¹¹ As Jeremy Wright-Kim has suggested, community college leaders should be aware that CCB programs may not improve the institutional bottom line, with extra stress possible in the initial years of a new CCB.¹²

A study by Justin Ortagus and Xiaodan Hu suggests that community colleges that adopt CCB degree programs that amount to more than 10 percent of their program offerings raised tuition rates by about 25 percent.¹³ This study raises questions about whether community colleges can offer CCB degrees without raising tuition for not only CCB students but other students who attend these colleges. However, the researchers are unable to attribute cost to specific aspects of attendance, such as coursework in the lower- or upper-division area of the undergraduate curriculum. It may be the case that these colleges are charging more for upper-division coursework, bringing their cost in line with other local options. California pilot program students cited affordability as the number one benefit of the CCB.¹⁴

Another controversy manifests in the worries of university leaders about students and other constituents’ confusion over CCB degrees appearing similar to university bachelor’s programs when they are not. Complaints about unclear messages about CCB degrees have been lodged in California and Washington State, for example.¹⁵ If baccalaureate degrees conferred by community colleges are substantially different or of lesser quality than university baccalaureate degrees, CCB graduates will be disadvantaged compared to university baccalaureate graduates. To this point, Debra Bragg and Maria Claudia Soler looked at the perceptions of CCB graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs of study, and found they were uncertain about whether their degrees would secure well-paying jobs when competing with university bachelor’s degree-holders.¹⁶ However, Gabriel Petek found no evidence of quality issues in 15 California programs studied and Potter found little evidence of quality concerns among employers.¹⁷ Furthermore, Elizabeth Meza and Debra Bragg and an earlier study by Melissa Biber Cominole found similar employment and wages between university and CCB grads.¹⁸

Perhaps the thorniest issue has to do with direct competition between sectors. Broad access colleges and universities, such as local state colleges and universities and for-profit institutions, may feel that CCBs will threaten their enrollment. Using Florida data, Dennis Kramer, Justin Ortagus, and Jacqueline Donovan studied whether CCB degrees negatively impact university baccalaureate attainment and found this was not the case.¹⁹ The presence of a local CCB program had a positive effect on bachelor's degree production at nearby public universities. Rather than reduce university baccalaureate attainment, CCB degrees boosted attainment at public universities. The researchers did report a negative effect on bachelor's degree production at nearby for-profit universities, however, suggesting that CCB degrees may reduce market share for for-profit institutions. The extent to which CCB degrees increase attainment of associate and baccalaureate degrees among public community colleges and universities would appear to be a win for the entire higher education system.

Finally, researchers and policymakers have raised concerns that with stretched budgets, the implementation of CCB degrees, especially in Hispanic-serving and other minority-serving institutions, might inadvertently decrease attention on minoritized and marginalized students by shifting resources and focus to baccalaureate degree students, effectively trading one inequity for another.²⁰ This concern deserves attention, and along with the questions about potential increases in tuition, should continue to be monitored by researchers and policymakers.

While there is still much to learn, a growing body of research has addressed some of these concerns and illuminated who enrolls in these programs and how they fare. The sections below summarize the role of CCBs in bachelor’s program access and CCB graduate outcomes.