Senate leaders split on community college bachelor’s degree proposal

SPRINGFIELD — Two Democratic leaders in the Illinois Senate openly expressed their disagreement this week about Gov. JB Pritzker‘s proposal to allow community colleges to offer four-year bachelor’s degree programs in certain high-demand employment fields.

The exchange between Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, of Westchester, and Sen. Cristina Castro, of Elgin, who chairs the powerful Senate Executive Committee, took place during a hearing on an unrelated bill that would overhaul the way Illinois funds public universities. But it offered a public view of the reasons why the baccalaureate proposal, which Pritzker touted in his budget address in February, has so far failed to advance in the General Assembly.

Both the university funding proposal (Senate Bill 13 and House Bill 1581) and the community college proposal (HB 3717 and SB 2482) are intended to stem the spiraling cost to students and their families of obtaining a four-year college degree.

The funding proposal calls for increasing state funding for universities to reduce their reliance on tuition and fees. The community college proposal is intended to make certain four-year degrees available through lower-cost institutions and more accessible to older, nontraditional students who don’t live near a four-year institution.

The university funding plan, sponsored by Lightford, was the subject of a Senate committee hearing Wednesday. The bill allowing community colleges to offer four-year baccalaureate degrees did not advance out of a House committee before a March 21 deadline.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Lightford appeared with a panel of university presidents from Chicago State, Western Illinois, Illinois State and Northern Illinois universities, and the Southern Illinois University System – all of whom support the funding proposal but oppose the community college baccalaureate plan.

“If we’re thinking about students’ basic needs, we also need to be thinking about the students that don’t necessarily go to the four-year schools,” Castro said to the panel. “If students are really the focus, why are you guys opposed to the (four)-year baccalaureate degrees?”

“I’d like to answer your question, madam chair, because I believe it has zero to do with what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Lightford replied.

She said the university funding proposal was the product of four years of negotiations that were intended to address a specific set of issues facing universities – namely, the adequacy and equity of their funding systems. The community college proposal, she argued, would draw students away from universities that are already struggling to maintain enrollment levels.

“Community college students need to stay at the two-year community college level, and then students who are going for a bachelor’s degree should stay at the university level,” Lightford said. “Because what happens is, when you begin to offer four-year programs at a two-year school, those students who would traditionally go to the four-year university, we’ll lose those students to the community college level.”

During the exchange with Castro, Lightford referred to the community college proposal as “your bill,” even though Castro is not listed as a sponsor or cosponsor of the Senate version. Castro corrected Lightford, saying: “To be fair, it is the governor’s bill. This is one of his initiatives that he has been working on.”

But Lightford said the governor “doesn’t push a button on the floor or in a committee.”

“I like the governor,” she said. “He’s probably my favorite. … But this isn’t that bill.”

Dan Mahony, president of the SIU System, added that he does not oppose the concept of community colleges offering bachelor’s degrees, and said negotiations are continuing on that proposal. He said he wants to make sure the final plan “doesn’t pit our universities and community colleges against each other in a way that’s unproductive and not good for taxpayers and not good for students.”

“We want to do something that actually is productive, and that’s what we’re working towards, and we’ll continue to work towards,” he said

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