California’s higher education institutions might be getting a much-needed overhaul.Legislation being drafted by state Assemblyman Marty Block, D-San Diego, would allow community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees.If the bill passes, three community colleges in Southern California would begin offering bachelor’s degrees. These three campuses will be monitored to see if their degree programs can be self-sufficient and not require extra government spending.If this bill passes and the test program succeeds, this ability would be given to every community college in the state.These degrees would be offered for utilitarian programs like nursing, education and public safety management. The change would go into effect January 2011.To do this, the California State University and the University of California systems would give up their right to be the only higher education systems to offer bachelor’s degrees in the state.The State Hornet believes this is a small sacrifice that is outweighed by how much it could help California.And really, it is about time that someone made this change.”Right now, the CSUs and UCs can’t handle the demand that they have,” Block said. “Students who want to go to a CSU campus … if that’s their target, I think they’ll still go there. But this is just another option.”With students being denied access to the CSU system, there needs to be an alternative. Block’s bill, as it is right now, would offer that alternative.His goal isn’t to replace the CSU system, but to help out with problem areas in California’s workforce – such as hospitals that regularly are short on nurses. “There are a lot of students who want to go into nursing but can’t get in right now,” Block said. “So it (the bill) would be a way to meet the workforce needs … and also provide students with an educational opportunity.”By opening up bachelor’s degree offerings to community colleges, the state could avoid a huge problem down the line with its workforce. According to a report from the Public Policy Institute of California, our state will need 41 percent of its workers to have a college-level education by 2025. As of now, only 34 percent of our workforce has a higher education.But why is that a big deal?The job market will be oversaturated with workers who have a below-college-level education. Because of this, they will have to work for lower pay – which would increase the number of low-income families.It’s too early to tell how much it will cost to get one of these degrees, but Block wants it to be higher than attending a two-year college and less expensive than a four-year university.This would allow disadvantaged students to have access to a college-level degree that they might not otherwise be able to earn.To make this change, the California Master Plan for Higher Education will have to be changed.The plan, created in 1960, kept community colleges from being able to offer bachelor’s degrees, Block said.But 50 years later, can we afford to have such stringent rules laid down?”Something that was good in 1960 is not necessarily going to meet the needs of 2010,” Block said. “So I think it’s fair to take a look at that master plan.”It’s not like our university system has not made changes to the Master Plan before.Under similar pretense to Block’s bill, Sacramento State was one of the first CSU campuses to get to offer doctorate in education degrees in 2007.”If it’s important to meet needs, we should be able to change the Master Plan,” Block said.By changing the plan, it could change the dim future for our state’s economy.

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