Senate leaders split on community college bachelor’s degree proposal
[May 03, 2025]
By Peter Hancock
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.
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From left, Southern Illinois University System President Dan Mahony,
along with Chicago State University President “Z” Scott, Illinois
State University President Aondover Tarhule, and Western Illinois
University President Kristi Mindrup testify before a Senate
committee in favor of a bill creating a new funding formula for the
state’s public universities. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Peter
Hancock)
“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
Capitol News Illinois is
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coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily
by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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