Community college leaders across California spent years pushing for the ability to offer more four-year degrees, hoping this legislative session would finally deliver a breakthrough. Instead, last-minute changes to two sweeping bills have turned onetime allies into skeptics, even as the measures cleared the Legislature and now await Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature.
Senate Bill 960, authored by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-Napa, and Assembly Bill 2694, authored by Assemblymember David Alvarez, D-Chula Vista, both passed with strong support this week. But the versions that emerged look markedly different from what community college advocates originally championed, prompting statewide college leaders to withdraw their backing in the final stretch.
Newsom has rejected similar proposals in the past, vetoing earlier attempts to expand bachelor’s degree offerings at community colleges. This time, though, his office was involved in shaping the legislation, according to Cabaldon, who told his Senate colleagues this week that it marked a rare moment of cooperation between the Legislature and the governor’s office.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to have a productive conversation between the houses and the executive branch,” Cabaldon said during floor remarks.
Together, the two bills create a new framework for deciding when — and how many — bachelor’s degrees community colleges can offer. Starting in 2028, colleges could add anywhere from two to twelve new degree programs, with the number tied to performance metrics 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 proposal would need to demonstrate a clear regional workforce need.
That workforce justification could face a challenge from the California State University system, which has frequently sparred with community colleges over similar proposals. Under the new rules, if Cal State objects, the state’s labor secretary would be brought in to settle the dispute.
The new restrictions would only apply to degrees created after 2028; existing bachelor’s degree programs at community colleges would not be affected. Currently, 49 community colleges statewide offer or are preparing to offer a combined 66 bachelor’s degree programs.
Cabaldon described the legislation as a long-overdue framework that would finally bring clarity to a contentious issue.
“This will bring us peace,” he said in an interview. “That doesn’t mean everyone will agree all the time, but it does mean the endless warfare, the disputes, the fighting and the growing pile of bills will come to an end.”
Community college leaders, however, say the amendments were rushed, confusing and overly complicated — even as they acknowledge lawmakers were attempting to tackle a genuinely difficult problem.
“We’re being asked to… support a process that isn’t fully understood and was revised at the last minute, and that’s not good policymaking,” said Larry Galizio, president and CEO of the Community College League of California, which represents college presidents and trustees throughout the state.
Why bachelor’s degrees have become such a flashpoint
The sudden reversal by community college advocates adds another chapter to a debate that has simmered for years.
Community colleges and Cal State have long clashed over which bachelor’s degrees community colleges should be allowed to offer. A 2021 state law was supposed to settle the matter, but disagreements persisted — largely over what counts as program “duplication.” Under that law, community colleges were barred from creating degree programs that already existed at any Cal State or University of California campus, even if that campus was hundreds of miles away.
Critics, including several lawmakers, argued the rule was unfair to community college students who often cannot relocate to attend a distant university. In some cases, community colleges moved forward with new degree programs anyway, despite objections from Cal State, according to reporting by EdSource.
Supporters and opponents of expanding bachelor’s degree access at community colleges continue to cite conflicting data to bolster their arguments.
One recent study found that 29 of California’s 116 community colleges are located at least 25 miles from the nearest public university, effectively isolating roughly 157,000 students who cannot easily relocate or commute to pursue a four-year degree elsewhere.
Some students argue that their local community colleges need the ability to offer bachelor’s degrees because area employers require them — certificates and associate degrees alone often aren’t enough. Yet under current law, those colleges can be blocked from offering such programs simply because a Cal State campus 500 miles away already offers something similar.
At the same time, community colleges statewide continue to post low transfer rates. Only 21% of students who intend to transfer to a four-year university actually do so within four years, according to the state auditor. Some see this as evidence of a broken transfer pipeline that could be fixed by allowing more bachelor’s degree programs. Others argue it shows community colleges aren’t yet equipped to expand their academic offerings, especially since many also struggle with low completion rates for certificates and associate degrees.
How the bills tackle degree duplication
In response to years of gridlock, Alvarez and Cabaldon each introduced comprehensive legislation this year aimed at letting community colleges create bachelor’s degree programs even when similar degrees exist at nearby Cal State campuses. Community colleges initially backed these versions, while Cal State pushed back, favoring streamlined transfer pathways instead — a solution some within the university system saw as protecting enrollment and tuition revenue at a time when several Cal State campuses are already grappling with declining student numbers.
The revised, combined legislation now allows community colleges to propose new bachelor’s degrees even if a nearby Cal State campus offers something similar — but only if that Cal State program has accepted less than 75% of applicants from the neighboring community college for three consecutive years. Colleges would still need to submit workforce need reports and stay within the newly imposed degree caps. That workforce justification could stem from employers struggling to fill positions that require a four-year degree, according to the bill language.
Unlike current law, which offers no formal process for resolving disputes between community colleges and Cal State over duplication, the new system gives the state labor secretary authority to settle disagreements. If the labor secretary sides with the community college, Cal State’s objection is overridden. But there are consequences for losing that fight: if the labor secretary sides with Cal State, the community college district is barred from proposing a similar program for five years.
Community colleges remain fully barred from duplicating degree programs offered at any UC campus unless they receive written consent from the university.
Why community colleges are now pushing back
The newly imposed caps on how many degrees a district may offer have become a major sticking point. Under the bills, districts would be evaluated based on completion rates and how those rates compare to the statewide average.
The legislation “would make a district’s eligibility partly dependent on how it compares to every other district in the state,” according to a letter of opposition sent to Cabaldon and signed by Sonya Christian, chancellor of the California Community Colleges system. A district could improve its own outcomes and still face the same restrictions “or even see its eligibility shift simply because the statewide average changed,” she wrote.
Galizio, of the Community College League, also objects to the proposed caps on new degree creation. He noted in an interview that campuses with lower graduation rates often serve larger populations of low-income students — the very students who stand to benefit most from expanded access to bachelor’s degree programs.
Not every community college leader views the legislation as harmful, however. Jose Fierro, president and superintendent of the Cerritos Community College District, said that based on his college’s completion rates, he expects to be authorized to add six to eight new bachelor’s degree programs beginning in 2028. That, he said, is plenty for now. Cerritos currently offers two bachelor’s degrees and plans to roll out additional programs in 2027.
“We’re not trying to become a university. That’s not our mission. We’re trying to align with industry and provide pathways to social and economic mobility for our students,” Fierro said in an interview.
Still, he acknowledged that what works for his campus may not work system-wide.
“For some of us, this is workable,” he said. “For other colleges, this is going to create some real additional challenges.”
Original source: CalMatters
