The Battle for Bachelor's Degrees: When Educational Bureaucracy Fails California's Students

The Legislative Standoff

California finds itself in the midst of an educational civil war that pits institutional preservation against student opportunity. Assembly Bill 664, championed by Assemblymember David Alvarez, represents the fourth attempt in two years to expand bachelor’s degree programs at community colleges despite Governor Gavin Newsom’s consistent vetoes of previous legislation. The bill specifically targets Southwestern College in Chula Vista, allowing it to create up to four workforce-focused bachelor’s programs in applied disciplines like teaching English to speakers of other languages and web design.

This legislative effort directly challenges the established 2021 law that permitted community colleges to develop up to 30 bachelor’s degrees annually, provided they don’t duplicate programs offered by the University of California and California State University systems. The crux of the conflict lies in the interpretation of “duplication” - community colleges and the Cal State system have fundamentally different understandings of what constitutes program overlap, resulting in more than a dozen stalled community college bachelor’s programs.

The Institutional Resistance

The UC and Cal State systems stand united in opposition to Alvarez’s bill, viewing it as an end-run around the carefully negotiated 2021 agreement. Their concern centers on protecting their traditional role as California’s primary bachelor’s degree providers and preventing what they perceive as unnecessary duplication of programs. The universities maintain that the existing system, while imperfect, represents the best balance between expansion and preservation of educational quality and institutional missions.

Former California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley, despite having overseen the initial implementation of community college bachelor’s degrees, now opposes further expansion. He advocates instead for sending professors from under-enrolled Cal State campuses to teach at community colleges rather than creating entirely new degree programs. Oakley questions the wisdom of expanding bachelor’s offerings when community colleges struggle with low transfer rates and degree completion.

The Human Dimension

The statistical reality reveals why this debate matters beyond bureaucratic turf wars. Twenty-nine of California’s 116 community colleges sit at least 25 miles from any public university, effectively stranding approximately 150,000 “place-bound” students who cannot realistically relocate for their education. The transfer system shows alarming inefficiency - only 21% of community college students who intend to transfer actually do so within four years.

Personal stories illustrate the human cost of this institutional impasse. Marilynn Palomino, a Southwestern College student and single mother of two, seeks a bachelor’s in forensic science to work in police crime labs. The only public university offering this program in California is San Jose State University, nearly 500 miles from her home. Her choice becomes heartbreakingly simple: abandon her educational aspirations or uproot her children from their community and support systems.

The Systemic Failure

What makes this conflict particularly troubling is that both sides acknowledge the system’s fundamental brokenness while proposing diametrically opposed solutions. Alvarez and Oakley agree that Cal State has “failed to re-create itself in a way that’s relevant to what learners need today,” yet they diverge completely on how to address this failure.

The data suggests there are plenty of students to serve all institutions. Approximately 113,000 California students attend for-profit colleges offering bachelor’s degrees despite their higher costs and often questionable outcomes. Thirteen of Cal State’s 23 campuses struggle with enrollment declines below state targets. The market clearly exists for more bachelor’s degree options, yet the public systems seem more focused on protecting their turf than serving these unmet needs.

The Principles at Stake

This conflict represents more than an educational policy debate - it strikes at the heart of what we value as a society that claims to prioritize opportunity and mobility. When bureaucratic processes and institutional preservation take precedence over human potential, we must question whose interests our educational system truly serves.

The resistance to community college bachelor’s degrees often cites concerns about quality and duplication, but these arguments ring hollow when contrasted with the reality of working adults and place-bound students being denied educational pathways. The notion that a fire management program at a community college duplicates a proposed program 300 miles away at a Cal State campus demonstrates how absurdly the “duplication” argument has been stretched to protect institutional interests.

The Democratic Imperative

Education has always been the great equalizer in American society, the mechanism through which generations have achieved social and economic mobility. When we allow bureaucratic barriers to prevent capable students from accessing education, we undermine the very foundation of our democratic ideals. The fact that community college bachelor’s degrees cost approximately $10,000 for all four years - compared to significantly higher costs at traditional universities - makes this an essential tool for addressing economic inequality.

The collaboration requirement in Alvarez’s bill, which mandates that Southwestern College work with nearby universities, demonstrates that this isn’t about undermining existing institutions but about creating complementary pathways. The college’s efforts to have university professors teach on its campus shows a commitment to quality and collaboration rather than competition.

The Path Forward

California stands at an educational crossroads where it must decide whether to prioritize process or people, tradition or transformation. The evidence clearly shows that community college bachelor’s degrees increase earnings compared to associate degrees, though slightly less than traditional university degrees. For place-bound students, single parents, and working adults, even this slightly reduced earning potential represents life-changing advancement that would otherwise be completely unavailable.

Research professor Davis Jenkins from Columbia University puts the scale in perspective: even if community colleges increased bachelor’s degree awards ten-fold to 3,000 annually, “I don’t think CSU has anything to worry about.” This measured perspective suggests that the feared impact on traditional universities is dramatically overstated compared to the very real benefits for underserved students.

Conclusion: Education as Empowerment

The battle over Assembly Bill 664 transcends educational policy - it represents a fundamental test of our commitment to educational access and economic justice. When single mothers like Marilynn Palomino must choose between their children’s stability and their educational aspirations, when communities cannot access the educated workforce they need for economic development, and when bureaucratic processes prioritize institutional preservation over human potential, we have failed our democratic ideals.

California must embrace educational innovation that serves its diverse population rather than protecting traditional structures that increasingly fail to meet contemporary needs. The expansion of community college bachelor’s degrees represents not a threat to quality education but an essential evolution toward a system that actually serves all Californians, not just those who can afford to relocate or navigate byzantine transfer processes.

Our educational system should empower rather than exclude, innovate rather than institutionalize, and serve rather than preserve. The time has come to prioritize students over systems and opportunity over obstruction.