Don’t turn community colleges into four-year schools, editorializes the Detroit News. Michigan’s community colleges are pushing a bill that would let them grant four-year degrees in high-need job areas: nursing, cement technology, maritime technology and culinary arts.
Four-year schools are more expensive, for both taxpayers and students. Their costs are higher because they need more faculty with advanced degrees and support services. Community colleges almost always have far lower graduation rates, as well.
The News suggests another idea: Locating university programs in high-need subjects at community colleges. The threat of competition from community colleges spurred the four-year institutions to come up with the “university center” concept. “Now lawmakers need to keep the pressure on public universities to ensure they act on their stated interest, while limiting community colleges to their historic and vital mission,” the News concludes.
Hospitals often prefer nurses with a four-year degree, but does it take a bachelor’s in culinary arts to work as a cook?
