California’s community colleges spent years pushing for the authority to award more bachelor’s degrees. This year, two bills moving through Sacramento seemed poised to finally deliver that expansion — until last-minute revisions turned the system’s own leaders against the legislation they had championed.
Despite the opposition, Senate Bill 960, authored by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-Napa, and Assembly Bill 2694, authored by Assemblymember David Alvarez, D-Chula Vista, both cleared the Legislature this week with strong support and now await Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.
Newsom has previously rejected similar proposals to broaden community colleges’ bachelor’s degree offerings. This time, though, his office reportedly helped shape the final language. Cabaldon told fellow senators Monday that the process marked a shift in tone.
“This is the first time that we’ve been able to engage in productive conversation between the houses and the executive branch,” he said during floor remarks.
Together, the two bills would establish a new framework for deciding which community college districts can create bachelor’s programs and how many they’re allowed to offer. Beginning in 2028, colleges could add anywhere from two to 12 new bachelor’s degrees, with the exact number tied to how well their students perform on measures such as certificate completion, degree attainment and transfer rates. No single district could roll out more than three new degrees in a given year, and each proposed program would need to demonstrate a genuine regional workforce demand — a claim the California State University system could challenge. If that happens, the state’s labor secretary would step in to resolve the dispute, a role meant to end the recurring clashes between the two systems over academic turf.
Any new restrictions would only apply to degrees created after 2028. Programs already up and running would be unaffected. Currently, 49 community colleges either offer or are preparing to launch a combined 66 bachelor’s degree programs statewide.
Cabaldon described the legislation as a long-overdue resolution to years of policy gridlock.
“This will give us peace,” he said in an interview. “That doesn’t mean everybody’s going to agree all of the time, but it does mean the endless war and bickering and fighting and more and more legislation will come to an end.”
Yet many community college administrators say the process moved too quickly, leaving key details unclear. Larry Galizio, president and CEO of the Community College League of California, which represents college trustees and administrators statewide, said the last-minute nature of the changes undermines confidence in the outcome.
“We’re being asked to support a process that is not completely understood or vetted at the last minute, and so that’s just not great policymaking,” Galizio said.
A long-running turf battle
The community college system’s reversal is the latest chapter in a debate that has simmered for years. Historically, the biggest sticking point between community colleges and Cal State has been what’s known as “degree duplication.” A 2021 law barred community colleges from offering a bachelor’s degree if any Cal State or University of California campus already provided a similar program — regardless of how far away that campus might be.
Critics argued the rule was unfair to students who can’t easily relocate for a four-year degree. Some community colleges moved forward with new programs anyway, defying Cal State’s objections, according to reporting by EdSource.
Supporters and opponents of expanding community college bachelor’s programs often cite conflicting evidence to make their case. One recent study found that 29 of California’s 116 community colleges are located at least 25 miles from the nearest public university, effectively leaving roughly 157,000 students without convenient access to a four-year institution.
Some students say that without local bachelor’s degree options, they’re stuck — even though regional employers are asking for degrees beyond an associate’s or certificate. Yet critics point to the community college system’s low transfer rate — only about 21% of students intending to transfer actually do so within four years, according to the California State Auditor. That statistic, some argue, suggests the system needs to fix its transfer pipeline before adding more four-year programs, especially given that many colleges also struggle with low completion rates for existing certificates and associate degrees.
New rules on duplication
To address the standoff, Alvarez and Cabaldon initially crafted broader bills that would have let community colleges offer bachelor’s degrees even when similar ones exist at nearby Cal State campuses. Community college leaders backed those early versions, while Cal State pushed back, favoring smoother transfer pathways into its own bachelor’s programs instead. Some within the Cal State system worry that community college expansion could pull away students and tuition dollars at a time when several campuses are already facing enrollment drops.
The compromise legislation allows community colleges to propose a bachelor’s degree that overlaps with a Cal State program only if that Cal State campus has accepted fewer than 75% of transfer applicants from the community college in question over three consecutive years. Colleges would still need to document workforce demand and stay within the newly created degree caps. Acceptable justification could include local employers struggling to fill jobs that require a bachelor’s degree.
Unlike current law, which offers no formal way to break a deadlock between the two systems, the new bills give the state labor secretary authority to make a final call. If the labor secretary sides with the community college, Cal State’s objection is overridden. But if the ruling favors Cal State, the community college district would be barred from proposing a similar program for five years. Community colleges would generally still be prohibited from duplicating any UC program unless the university system gives written permission.
Pushback over new limits
The biggest objection from community college leaders centers on the newly imposed caps tied to student outcome data. Under the bills, a district’s eligibility to add new degrees would depend in part on how its completion rates stack up against the statewide average — a moving target that could shift even if a district’s own performance improves.
In a letter opposing the legislation, California Community Colleges Chancellor Sonya Christian warned that the formula could penalize districts unfairly. “A district could improve its own student outcomes” and still be capped, she wrote, “or even see its eligibility change simply because the statewide average changed.”
Galizio raised a similar concern, noting that colleges with lower completion rates often serve larger populations of low-income students — the same students who could benefit most from access to a four-year degree closer to home.
Not every community college leader views the legislation as a setback. Jose Fierro, president and superintendent of the Cerritos Community College District, expects his district’s completion rates would allow it to add six to eight new bachelor’s programs once the rules take effect in 2028 — more than enough for his college’s immediate plans. Cerritos currently offers two bachelor’s degrees and is preparing to add more by 2027.
“We are not trying to become a university. It’s not our mission,” Fierro said. “We’re trying to align with industry and provide pathways for social and economic mobility for our students.”
Still, he acknowledged that what works for his district may not work everywhere.
“For some of us this is workable,” he said. “For other colleges, this is going to bring some additional challenges.”
Original source: CalMatters
