|
State Rep. Paul Jacobs, R-Pomona, who serves on the House
Appropriations-Higher Education Committee, said he doesn't even
know why you would want a community college four-year degree if
you could get the university degree through Illinois’ 2+2
Program.
“I’m not sure if this isn’t some kind of a power-play to try to
get students from the universities into the community or junior
colleges, which I think is really anti-productive. The whole
idea of having the community or junior college is to provide
education for things that communities need,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs said through the current program, students can get a
university degree but pay community college prices.
“So you can still get a SIU [Southern Illinois University] or a
U of I [University of Illinois] or one of the university
degrees, a baccalaureate, from a university and have done most
of the time at the community college,” said Jacobs.
The bills appear to not be advancing. Jacobs suspects they’ll be
revised and reintroduced next legislative session.
Jacob’s clarified that he’s not making any direct accusations
but noted that SB 2482 and HB 3717 seem to be strategically
positioned as a way for public universities and community
colleges to justify requesting more public funding.
“Since this bill in my estimation is not moving this year, I
think with the disarray and in fighting within the Democrat
party, we will end up eventually with something entirely
different,” said Jacobs.
According to Jacobs, a drop in university enrollment could lead
to decreased private funding, forcing universities to rely more
heavily on taxpayer dollars to make up the difference.
Jacobs said community colleges offering four-year degrees would
dilute the education quality.
“I love my community college professors. I think that they do a
wonderful job. I do feel that the university professors are
probably maybe a little bit more proficient at the particulars
that are going to require baccalaureate,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs also explained community colleges offering four year
degrees might exacerbate the problem with understaffed trades.
“I think that the community colleges would have to staff
additional professors qualified to do baccalaureate degrees,
which will increase cost to the taxpayer. They will also request
facility improvements and increases in size, which will increase
cost to the taxpayer,” said Jacobs.
|
|
