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Community college bachelor’s (CCB) degrees are experiencing significant growth in the U.S., with half of all CCB-conferring colleges designated as minority-serving institutions.
Watch them Grow: The Evolution of Community College Baccalaureate Degrees, a new report from the Community College Baccalaureate Association (CCBA) and research partner Bragg & Associates, Inc. highlights what is fueling the growth of CCB degrees across the nation.
From 2021 to 2023, public community colleges approved to confer CCB degrees experienced a 32 percent increase.
Approximately half of all CCB programs award traditional bachelor of science, bachelor of science in nursing, or bachelor of arts degrees rather than a bachelor’s of applied science.
CCBA aims to promote affordable access to community college baccalaureate, or bachelor’s, degrees as a means of closing the nation’s racial, ethnic, and economic gaps.
Nearly half of CCB graduates are students of color, with 24 percent of graduating CCB students identified as Hispanic/Latine and 13 percent as Black.
Funded by ECMC Foundation, this research is the latest analysis of CCB degrees in the 50 states, including tribal colleges and universities and U.S. territories. Key findings, which were shared in April during a virtual meeting led by CCBA and funded by The Joyce Foundation, include:
- Half of all CCB-conferring colleges in the country are minority-serving institutions (MSIs), with Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) making up three-quarters of these MSIs
- Nationally, about two-thirds of CCB graduates are women
Looking at nationwide figurers:
- Nearly all community colleges in Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Nevada, and Washington confer CCB degrees, reaching a total of 71 public community colleges, and another 40 community colleges in Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, and Wyoming are approved to deliver one or more CCB degrees
- California and Texas also experienced significant growth, with 32 community colleges in California and 21 in Texas now conferring CCB degrees
A February 2020 report from the Education Commission of the States (ECS) notes that CCB programs can help meet workforce demands, increase access to educational opportunities, and boost student advancement in an affordable way.
“The expanded role of community colleges into the bachelor’s degree arena is not without controversy. Offering bachelor’s degrees is traditionally the domain of four-year institutions, while community colleges were established to award associate degrees and certificates. Concerns center on the historically distinct missions of the different postsecondary sectors, competition with four-year institutions, duplication of programs and quality of the bachelor’s degrees conferred by community colleges, among others,” the ECS report notes.
That same ECS report highlights changing views around how degree-giving is structured, however: “The postsecondary landscape is changing, however, with respect to who delivers instruction, programs and services to meet the needs of students, states and businesses. Increasingly, higher education is less clearly divided among different types of institutions and providers.”
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