Are we shutting her out? Dual degree and transfer agreements between state four-year and community colleges were once an open door to universal access. Now, for many, those doors may be closing

University Business, May, 2004 by Rebecca Sausner

What's more, say detractors of the governor's proposal who recognize the impending shortage of community college seats, the plan also institutes a built-in bias against students who already have a bachelor's degree. Those students Looking to continue their education would be charged $50 per unit (versus $26 per, for those who haven't already graduated). This facet alone of Schwarzenegger's proposal has drawn severe criticism, for it undermines a most vital aspect of any community college mission (and, ironically, fellow Republican George Bush's prime community college support initiative): worker retraining. Opponents say that in the end it may make community college just too costly for those who are unemployed and looking for retraining opportunities. Advocates, however, counter that because of financial need all tees are waived for more than one-third of community college students in California.

Solutions

New Jersey, too, is looking for innovative ways to deal with a capacity problem that caused Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, to pull back overall enrollment by several hundred students in 2003. Two years ago, Rutgers created a dual-degree program that would offer qualified students (who might otherwise be rejected because of capacity shortages) the opportunity to spend their first two years at a New Jersey community college, with guaranteed transfer to Rutgers after that, if they maintained a 3.0 GPA. But the fledgling dual-degree program, which enrolled nearly 1,000 students in the fall of 2002, limited its enrollment to 325 in the fall of 2003. The cutback was based (or blamed) on the "academic promise" of the students who applied, along with capacity problems at both the upper divisions of Rutgers and at community colleges, according to Sandra Lanman, associate director of Media Relations at Rutgers.

"This is a brand-new program," Lanman explains, "thus there are no benchmarks against which to measure it. Undoubtedly, it Will continue to evolve in order to meet the university's, county colleges' and, most importantly, the students' needs."

And though Rutgers' version of the program is new, similar attempts at other baccalaureate institutions have not been successful. For years, the University of California at Berkeley has offered a dual-admission plan to qualified students it doesn't have room for. But few choose to go that route.

"We turn away a Lot of incredible students because we don't have the space, [but we find they're not looking for two years at a community cortege; they're] looking for another four-year experience," says Christina Maslach, vice provost for Undergraduate Education at Berkeley. Still, dual admission programs are quite successful in many places where students aren't necessarily intent on a four-year residential setting, says League's Milliron, pointing to Arizona State's agreement with Maricopa Community Colleges (AZ) as a prime example.

"For people who are Looking for the residential university experience, (dual admission) might not be the choice," Milliron says. "They think the door might be shut for them at the end, and we have to do a Lot of work around changing that perception."