The changing role of community colleges
More students using schools as stepping stones to bachelor's degree

by Elizabeth Hayes
for Virginia Business
April 2006

Abill proposed in this year’s General Assembly would have allowed students to get a four-year degree at community-college prices. That kind of deal would save money and time for people like Tracy Cauthorn, a 36-year-old mother of two who wants to become a juvenile court prosecutor.

The legislation passed the Senate but failed to come to a vote in the House. It is the latest sign of the changing role of community colleges in the state’s higher education system. Because of rising tuition and a projected shortage of capacity at the state’s four-year colleges, many students like Cauthorn are turning to community colleges as their “on ramp” to a four-year bachelor’s degree.

Cauthorn attends John Tyler Community College full time and hopes to transfer to a four-year college to earn a bachelor’s degree before continuing on to law school.

During the recent General Assembly session, she spent time at the Capitol urging legislators to pass the tuition bill sponsored by state Sen. Walter Stosch, R-Henrico. Under the bill’s provisions, the state would reimburse transferring community college students for the difference in tuition between their community college and a four-year public college or university. In essence, students could attend four years of college while paying community college tuition, currently $2,135 a year, roughly 35 percent of the $6,078 annual tuition at a state four-year school. The reimbursement would also be available to students transferring to private colleges but still be based on the difference in tuition between public institutions.

The savings could be substantial over four years. Tuition at Virginia public colleges rose 8 percent this year and 9 percent last year.

Cauthorn, who wants to attend the University of Richmond, says legislation would have shortened the long road ahead of her, enabling her to get a bachelor’s degree in two years rather than four or five. (Tuition and fees at UR currently total about $36,000 a year.) “It will be a godsend,” she says.

While two-year colleges have served as stepping stones to Virginia’s four-year institutions for many years, a growing number of students see community colleges as the most practical path to a bachelor’s degree, says Glenn DuBois, chancellor of the Virginia Community College System. In some cases, community colleges even provide entrée into some of the state’s most competitive college programs. For instance, qualified community college students now have guaranteed admission to Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering as a result of new provisions in transfer agreements between the state’s schools.

“The transfer student is a very brisk market for us,” says DuBois. “We’re seen more and more as a ramp to a bachelor’s degree and beyond, not just to an [associate’s] degree.”

By 2009, the Virginia Community College System expects to triple the number of graduates who successfully transfer to four-year institutions. Between 2001 and 2004, the number of students who enrolled in a four-year school after receiving an associate’s degree increased 23 percent from 2,640 from 2,149.

The state has a big incentive to encourage more students to spend their first two years of college in a community college. The demand for slots at Virginia’s public universities is expected to exceed supply by 52,000 students in the next seven years, says Stosch. It’s far less expensive for the state to expand at the community college level. He says that the reimbursement plan would be “revenue neutral” for the state, .with savings and costs about equal. “We have to do something or we will have more people disappointed,” he says. “This is almost like the G.I. bill of years ago.” (The “GI bill” passed by Congress in the 1940s paid for the education of many World War II veterans.)

Stosch plans to reintroduce the legislation next year. His bill follows the Higher Education Restructuring Act, passed by the General Assembly last year. The law requires universities to develop uniform transfer agreements with community colleges in exchange for greater flexibility in their operations.

Stosch sponsored another bill this year that seeks to make the transfer process even more seamless. The bill, passed by the General Assembly, requires community colleges and four-year institutions to sign agreements on dual enrollment. Students will be able to be simultaneously admitted to both a community college and four-year institution, transferring upon successful completion of their associate’s degree.

Norfolk-based Tidewater Community College already has in place transfer agreements with four-year institutions, including The College of William & Mary and University of Virginia that go beyond the current state requirements. Beginning next fall, for example, up to 15 eligible students will be able to co-enroll at Tidewater and William & Mary while completing their associate degrees, taking as many as five courses and paying community college tuition and fees. Students who earn the associate in arts or sciences degree with at least a 2.7 grade point average will be guaranteed admission to William & Mary with junior standing.

Under the U.Va. agreement, Tidewater students can complete their bachelor’s degree without ever setting foot in a classroom in Charlottesville. They will be taught at Tidewater by U.Va. professors.

Much of Tidewater’s recent growth has been in the area of transfer programs, particularly among students between the ages of 18 and 22, says the college’s President Deborah DiCroce. The number of students in that demographic rose almost 8 percent in the last year. In addition, the average age of students has dropped to just under 27 from 30 in the past eight years. “More younger students are looking to commence their baccalaureate study with us,” says DiCroce. “The reality is very practical. As it costs more and more to go to college, there’s very definitely a sense on the part of parents to look to TCC as a place to start.”

Yet, community colleges still have an image problem to overcome, says Mildred Johnson, senior associate director of admissions at Virginia Tech. “The hard part is getting students to buy into the great value, good education and that it’s a seamless transition to a four-year” school.

In the end, notes Stosch, making higher education affordable and accessible to a greater number of people will make Virginia more attractive to business and industry. “We know a college graduate will earn significantly more,” he says. “The higher the education of the citizenry, generally, the more economic leverage you have.”