A plan proposed by Governor Pritzker to allow Illinois community colleges to offer a limited number of four year bachelor's degrees has stalled in the General Assembly for the spring term.
The bill allowing community colleges to offer a limited number of four year bachelor's degrees in high demand fields failed to make it out of it's committee. But that has not stopped conversations about the proposal.
Tim Taylor, the president of Shawnee Community College wrote an op-ed last week outlining why this bill could help students and businesses in the communities where their students work.
Taylor says they looked at the numbers in the job market in their service region. They found nearly one thousand unfilled jobs within 90 miles of Shawnee Community College. Many of these jobs need employees with bachelor degrees.
Taylor says some of the need can be filled by the 4 year universities that surround Shawnee.
But that's not their audience. Who is their audience? He says they're focused on non-traditional students. This proposal is aimed at helping workers who are currently employed with families and are looking to get more training and need a bachelor's degree.
Their goal is to help students and employers be responsive to the changing job market.
The future of the bill is in negotiation. On Friday Capitol News Illinois reported that legislators opposed to the plan are concerned Community Colleges offering bachelor's degrees could take away from the number of students going to 4 year universities.
In their story SIU president Dan Mahoney says he doesn't oppose the concept. But they're negotiating a plan to ensure universities and community colleges are not working against each other. He says they want a plan that's good for taxpayers and helps students succeed.
