Regents scoff at two-year bachelor's degree

The regents and the state Board of Directors for Community Colleges are at odds over whether to allow two-year institutions to offer bachelor's degrees.

Regent President Judy Gignac, also co-chair of the Higher Education Study Committee, said her group is still divided on key aspects of the issue.

"The committee has made excellent progress," Gignac said yesterday at the Flagstaff regents meeting. "But there is a difference of opinion on whether community colleges should offer four-year baccalaureate degrees. Discussions have reached a point of tension."

Regents and community college representatives sit on the study committee, which was created by the state Legislature. The committee's last meeting is Oct. 15, and it expects to present a report to the Legislature in December.

Tom Wickeden, a committee member, said a work group met on Monday to begin drafting a two-section consensus report. The first section, he said, will include agreements between the regents and the community college board.

"It will include elements like notification by community colleges of perceived needs, and a response by the universities to those needs," he said. "They also agreed to give the opportunity for community colleges to appeal if a university does not want to address a need."

Mike Clifton, member of the community college board, said community colleges should provide four-year degrees.

"In rural Arizona, there is a dire need to provide higher education," Clifton said. "The community college is the vehicle to provide it."

The proposal is meant to give students more educational options, he said.

"The community colleges will not take anything away from the universities," Clifton said. "We need to make it work for the citizens of Arizona."

Gignac said a community college bachelor program is unnecessary because universities already provide the service.

"I firmly believe what is coming out of this report is demonstrating the need of time-and-place-bound students," she said. "I am comfortable with the notion that our universities will respond to those demonstrated needs."

Gov. Jane Hull, who visited Northern Arizona University's campus after the morning session, agreed with Gignac that community colleges should not offer four-year degrees.

"My feeling is that you have a university system and a community college system, and they each serve different needs," Hull said.

Regent John Munger said the committee should think hard before creating a final resolution.

"We are trying to get this job done and not create another tier of institutions competing for the same purse," he said.

In other business:

The board gave the University of Arizona permission to add three stories to the Sarver Heart Center in the University Medical Center. The $9.7-million expansion will be paid with gift funds.

UA President Peter Likins presented information on the price of education during a discussion of higher education demographics, enrollment, planning and economics.

Tuition increases are unavoidable, but there must be an accompanying increase in financial aid, Likins said.

"We are at a critical juncture of making the university accessible to needy students," he said. "I don't mind increasing tuition for families that can genuinely pay, but to grow tuition without growing financial aid is morally repugnant to me."

Anthony C. Braza can be reached via e-mail at Anthony.C.Braza@wildcat.arizona.edu.