Weekly Update

_{Emily Shields, executive director of Community Colleges for Iowa, which is studying whether the state’s community colleges should be allowed to offer bachelor’s degrees. For some students, “moving to where there is a degree available isn’t an option,” Shields says. Credit: Mike Rundle for The Hechinger Report}

To fill ‘education deserts,’ more states want community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees

Iowa has joined a growing number of states that are considering letting community colleges like this one offer bachelor’s degrees, or where community colleges have already started adding them, as a way of filling these so-called rural higher education deserts and training workers in rural places for jobs in fields where there are growing shortages.

“It would be a big game-changer, especially for those who have a low income or a medium income and want to go and further our education,” Oliva said.

About half of states allow community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees. In Iowa, which is among the half that don’t, lawmakers have commissioned a study to determine whether it should add bachelor’s degrees in some programs at the state’s 15 community colleges. An interim report is due in May.

A similar proposal in Illinois is backed by that state’s governor, JB Pritzker, who has said the move would make it easier and more affordable for residents to get degrees — “particularly working adults in rural communities.” Three-quarters of community college students in Illinois said they would pursue bachelor’s degrees if they could do it on the same campus, according to a survey released by Pritzker’s office.

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College costs would soar for some low-income students under Republican bill

Students who use Pell Grants would need to take more credits per semester, which could force them to work more on take on more debt.

Three-fourths of NSF funding cuts hit education

Those dollars will no longer flow to universities and research organizations. 

📣 Listen up

Episode 5 of season 4 of College Uncovered, a podcast from The Hechinger Report and GBH News, is out now. 

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