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The Changing Role of Community Online Colleges
In the United States, the attainment of a bachelor’s degree is considered as the cornerstone of student achievement for both the institution and the students in four-year learning institutions. But many online schools with community college roots are undergoing a radical change that will have an impact on the entire educational system in the country.
Paradigm in Flux Community colleges traditionally offer short-term vocational courses and associate degree programs in the culinary arts, graphic design, and nursing, among other tech-vocational careers. Larger universities and colleges usually offer the 4-year bachelor’s degrees, even the post-graduate degrees (i.e., master’s and doctor’s degrees). Students in community colleges can transfer the credits earned from their studies in the associate degree programs to their bachelor’s degree programs in the future. But these paradigms are in flux. Many community colleges are now offering 4-year bachelor degree programs by virtue of legislation – at least 22 states in the country allow community colleges the right to do so. The shift was designed to address the entry criteria among universities and colleges for applicants to possess a 4-year bachelor’s degree, not just a two-year associate degree. Resistance to Change In California, for example, the state legislature passed a law to this effect but it was met with resistance – it was rejected two times before its passage. The resistance is understandable considering that change can be hard to accept, must less embrace, especially when there are valid reasons for it. The concerns included: Mission creep. Community colleges are traditionally established to provide affordable and easy access to education for all, especially in the middle-income and low-income populations where a university education has a prohibitive cost. But with the change, many people worry about the loss of support for associate degree programs in favor of the bachelor’s degree programs, which are considered more prestigious. Competition among the institutions. Many also feared that the cooperation and collaboration existing between the community colleges and larger universities will transform into a competition, with the former losing out to the latter. The concern here lies in the possibility that these educational institutions will engage in a turf war, a competition for student enrolment. Are these concerns still true? In many ways, these have not hold up to the test of time. Students will enroll in the college or university of their choice depending on their chosen careers, whether it’s in business management or in the performing arts. Community colleges, especially those with online colleges, are instead focusing their efforts on improving their associate and bachelor’s degree programs as well as in improving the rate for degree attainment. The latter has been a recurring problem because students apparently don’t finish their degree programs not because of the cost but because of the insufficient resources and support from the schools. |