Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » Pritzker: University fears of community colleges offering four-year degrees are ‘misplaced’
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax      Advertise Here      About     Exclusive Subscriber Content     Updated Posts    Contact Rich Miller
CapitolFax.com
To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here.
Pritzker: University fears of community colleges offering four-year degrees are ‘misplaced’

Wednesday, Apr 2, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* First, some background from Rich

The governor has trumpeted his plan to allow community colleges to offer four-year baccalaureate degrees during his State of the State address, on numerous national TV programs, big-time podcasts and a tour of the state.

Well, that proposal (HB3717) was not called for a vote in the House Higher Education Committee last week after fierce opposition from four-year universities, as one top Pritzker administration official and some Pritzker allies hovered outside the hearing room for hours.

The chair of that committee, Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, did her best to downplay the significance of the committee’s refusal to take up the bill, saying, “I think that there’s a way that we can make sure that this is very narrowly tailored to meet what’s not being met with the four-year institutions.”

Stuart, a member of House Democratic leadership, also said the legislation as written could “collapse” the student base of minority serving institutions like Chicago State and Northeastern Illinois University.

It’s routine during committee passage deadline week to advance bills to the floor that need more work, with the promise to not move the bills until all issues are worked out. That committee courtesy is routinely given to even the lowliest of legislators.

The indignity of denying that routine courtesy was heaped upon unpopular, ineffectual governors in previous years. But Pritzker is a popular billionaire governor with perceived national ambitions. Yes, he’s trying to accomplish a very difficult task of passing bills that have failed in years past, but not getting his legislation to the floor during crunch week is quite the rebuke.

* I asked the governor about the stalled bill during an unrelated press conference this morning…

Isabel: Hi Governor, I wanted to ask you about your proposal to allow Community Colleges to offer four-year degrees. It failed to pass committee during deadline week, have you been looking at adding this bill to an omnibus or its own shell bill? And what has the sponsor and committee Chair Rep. Katie Stuart indicated to you that needs to be changed?

Governor Pritzker: Well, as you know, there are a couple of months left in the legislative session. This is an issue-this bill in fact, was introduced, I think, more than a decade ago by, as it turns out my deputy governor Andy Manar, who was then a state Senator, but it has been introduced in many of the legislative sessions.

It’s a good idea, especially with regard to specific professions where there is a real need for additional workforce. Some types of nursing, for example. We don’t produce very many nurses in Illinois compared to the number that we need. And so the concern that some of the universities expressed, for example, about that is, I think, misplaced. We need thousands and thousands and thousands of these particular types of nurses, and we produce not very many at all in those categories.

So that’s just one example. But I think that that legislators understand there’s a great deal of need by businesses for expanded workforce, and the best way to do that is for us to provide those four year degrees.

I think I’d add one more thing, which is it’s nearly impossible for some people to go to a four-year university, not just because of the great deal of expense involved, but also because the distance between where they live in Illinois and where one of our 12 public universities might be, let alone a private university, is too great. But we have 48 community colleges across the state of Illinois. We have the third largest community college system in the entire nation, and we can utilize them again for targeted efforts toward workforce development in areas where we’re not producing the kind of workforce that we need with the degrees and skills that are necessary.

Isabel: Have you had conversations with the sponsor since?

Pritzker: Oh sure.

Isabel: Is the bill dead this session?

Pritzker: I think Isabel, you’ve been around long enough to know that nothing is dead at any point until perhaps adjournment. But even then, things often come back in veto session or in the following session. And for a bill that’s been around for a decade, to take an extra couple of months or even an extra year, seems to me not out of the ordinary.

* Related…

    * Capitol News Illinois | Illinois’ community colleges see nearly 9% spike in spring enrollment: Enrollment at Illinois community colleges grew to more than 285,000 in the spring semester this year, an 8.9% increase over a year ago and the largest spring-to-spring enrollment increase since the Illinois Community College Board began collecting systemwide data in the late 1990s. In a report released Tuesday, the ICCB said 40 of the state’s 45 community colleges reported enrollment growth this spring.

    * Capitol News Illinois | Pritzker’s community college initiative stalls in House committee: But legislative deadlines are not always strictly observed in Springfield, and Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, who chairs the committee, said the decision not to act on the bill does not necessarily mean it is dead for the session. “I don’t think around here anything’s really ever dead, and I think there’s a path forward,” she told reporters after Wednesday’s committee hearing.

    * WSIU | SIU Continues to Follow Stalled Community College Bill: Chancellor Lane and the SIU system are neither lobbying for, or against House Bill 3717 and its resolution in favor of expanding degree offerings. Chancellor Lane says right now it’s just a lot of discussions. “I think it’s just discussions, but there’s the word opposition that sometimes comes off a little strong,” Lane says. “There’s a lot of discussions that are happening at the state level.”

    * KFVS | Southern Illinois community college leaders hold out hope to offer bachelor’s degrees: John A. Logan College President Dr. Kirk Overstreet says a proposed bill from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s office that would allow community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees is a win-win for students and the southern Illinois economy. “This is a big resource for keeping students here and keeping people here in the region,” Overstreet said.

    * KWQC | ‘Workforce driven’ community college looks forward to offering 4-year degrees: The president of Black Hawk College already has some fields of study in mind if community colleges can offer bachelor’s degrees. […] “Respiratory care is not offered at any of the four-year degree schools right now. And so it allows us to offer something and fill a niche.” Other areas of study considered for bachelor’s are advanced manufacturing, nursing and early childhood education.

       

21 Comments »
  1. - Mason County - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:11 pm:

    CC’s should concentrate more resources on non degree vocational/career education.

    Not expanding their empire into an area already well covered by our public 4 year institutions.


  2. - Pundent - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:15 pm:

    We need to make college more attainable and affordable and our four year universities are failing at that. And if Bill Gates is right, about AI making jobs obsolete, the last thing we should be doing is saddling young people with debt to obtain degrees that could be useless.


  3. - CPA Candice B Rittenoff - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:20 pm:

    The Governor’s concept of CC offering 4 year degrees is fine, so long as 4 year institutions can offer 2 year degrees again. If we are really about access and opportunity, but this seems like just another insult to the 4 year institutions.


  4. - Bob - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:26 pm:

    “Stuart, a member of House Democratic leadership, also said the legislation as written could “collapse” the student base of minority serving institutions like Chicago State and Northeastern Illinois University.”

    Sounds an awful lot like “if you make college too affordable and accessible, people will use the affordable and accessible colleges.” I’m dumbstruck, because I would have considered more people getting affordable education to be a good thing.


  5. - Rudy’s teeth - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:31 pm:

    As the shortage of teachers continues, Community Colleges could offer degree programs for teacher training at the local level. To support student teachers, a generous stipend should be available to support this process. Also, with so many on-line options available to obtain a degree, the brick and mortars face tough competition.


  6. - Thomas Paine - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:35 pm:

    I do not know what untapped labor market Governor Pritzker thinks he is trying to tap in to. Are there college grads in the suburbs who want to switch careers and go back to school to earn a nursing degree? Are we thinking there are people who could not get into Western, Eastern or ISU that would make good nurses?

    Given the purported demand for nurses in Illinois, it seems like we could offer some sort of stipend to cover the cost of relocating from another state.

    The average salary for a registered nurse in Illinois is $77K a year, and that is below the national average.

    So unless the health care industry is willing to offer competitive wages, anyone who earns a Nursing degree from Blackhawk Community College is just as likely going to work in Iowa, just as anyone getting a nursing degree from Belleville Area College is likely to go work in Missouri.

    Maybe a scholarship program like the one for rural doctors is the way to go.


  7. - hmmm - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:39 pm:

    Yeah Bob. I was thinking, isn’t this just the market. Like if there’s a better option than the worse option will have to improve or wither away. But many colleges (not CSU) basically support the city’s economy they’re located in to a great degree. Many jobs and stuff. So they need to be delicate about it. It’s been 10 years though, so maybe they just don’t wanna. Although it could do some good stuff


  8. - Donnie Elgin - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:41 pm:

    =could “collapse” the student base of minority serving institutions like Chicago State and Northeastern Illinois University=

    You could add that it would collapse EIU and WIU as they are on life support, and the loss of more students due to CC’s offering limited/targeted 4-year degrees could finish them off.


  9. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:43 pm:

    There is the permission piece, then there will be the execution piece of this. It isn’t like there are a lot of qualified nursing faculty, or upper level education faculty out there and ready and willing to teach at CCs. There is also the matter of accreditation, and if the bill requires CCs to follow the same accreditation process (and it really must) that the current four-year schools must follow, then there are all kinds of additional hoops for the CCs to navigate. One example, of many, is that they’ll need to have advanced libraries available to students. That will neither be easy nor inexpensive.

    Also, as the Governor noted, this bill first emerged 10 years ago. It’s died every time it has been introduced. Maybe try to modify it to make it easier to win support?

    I think there are some very good reasons to pursue this, but the goal should be to have a level playing field that recognizes and leverages the value and importance of all of our higher education assets in Illinois.


  10. - What are Shell bills for? - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:44 pm:

    This blog is trying to create a narrative that the Governor has been rebuked for some reason. Keep negotiating the bill. When you get a deal, file an amendment. What are shell bills for if not for this? It sounds like the Governor is doing a favor for one of his deputy governors, and it’s going to take some work to get it done. Keep working.


  11. - Rich Miller - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 1:47 pm:

    ===This blog is trying to create a narrative===

    He was rebuked. No narrative to create.


  12. - Bob - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 2:20 pm:

    @hmmm

    “It’s been 10 years though, so maybe they just don’t wanna.”

    That’s liberal SOP. “The status quo benefits me, and the voters’ only other option is pure destruction.”


  13. - Just Me 2 - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 2:30 pm:

    Does Prtizker’s proposal solve a problem, or a symptom of a problem? If the latter, I’d like to see him focus on the underlying problem.

    My belief: we are pushing 4 year degrees on too many students; we should instead make the 2 year degrees more valuable.


  14. - Bob - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 2:49 pm:

    @Just Me 2

    The one issue I’ve found with the 2-year-degrees is that they tend to focus more on nuts and bolts of a field, with less put into the liberal arts aspect of things that help people learn to reason and engage in second-order thinking.

    I have a significantly easier time teaching the tools and tricks of my trade than I do teaching people how to think.


  15. - Responsa - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 3:19 pm:

    I can’t shake the feeling that there is something much more to this story than has surfaced publicly (or been hinted at) from either side.


  16. - Candy Dogood - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 4:07 pm:

    ===as it turns out my deputy governor Andy Manar===

    Given that this idea failed and resurfacing the idea earned the Governor a rebuke, perhaps the message being sent isn’t clear. I’d be fascinated to learn if anything had been done differently from the first time this proposal went no where till now. If something like this is going to be passed, the other stakeholders probably need to be addressed before they successfully lobby against a bad bill.

    I hope the Governor uses this as an opportunity to learn that his bubble needs to grow.


  17. - Grimlock - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 6:09 pm:

    The issue with nursing and similar programs is a lack of spots for them to do clinical training, not a lack of space at the actual schools. Adding more schools offering nursing programs will make it even harder to find clinical rotation spots.


  18. - Chad - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 9:00 pm:

    Other than U of I, the 4-year institutions don’t have the nice facilities and degree distinctiveness they once had to justify the greater costs. Let free competition sort out the winners and losers. About 10 years ago NIU was going to combine with COD and a few other CCs to make a mega institution. Maybe we need fewer and bigger institutions to deliver better programs.


  19. - Yooper in Diaspora - Wednesday, Apr 2, 25 @ 11:14 pm:

    I think the Governor and Deputy Governor haven’t worked hard enough to understand the ecosystem of higher education, including unintended consequences. If community colleges offer nursing degrees, they still have to pay for them–investing in the space, the faculty, the resources. There are reasons why 4-year schools are more expensive than 2-year ones that are in fact about infrastruture, research expectations and capacity, and paying faculty the same they would expect to receive at a 4-year school. Do communities want to raise property taxes to pay for this for certain programs? Perhaps some do. But the costs shouldn’t be disguised or minimized.

    I agree with the sentiment that the 4-years ought also to be able to offer 2-year programs–as more once did (as DeVry and other propietary schools do now)–if 2-years are going to offer 4-year degrees. My father taught a 2-year Forest Technology degree at Michigan Tech University before all the 2-year technology degrees were relocated to community colleges. But my dad’s experience was that many who earned the 2-year degree stayed for the 4-year–even though at the time there were more jobs in the field for technicians than forestry managers.


  20. - PublicServant - Thursday, Apr 3, 25 @ 7:03 am:

    Life somestimes doesn’t work for a 4 year chunk of a person’s life to be devoted to not only zero income, but a huge annual outlay in tuition and fees. We need to figure out a way for people to take smaller bites (2 year degrees), followed by work experience, and have that work experience count towards the remaining two years of a four year degree, then we are missing untold opportunities to develop our workforce to it’s fullest potential, and actually provide education with the workforce in mind, instead of allowing the education industry to maximize their profits at the workforce’s expense.


  21. - PublicServant - Thursday, Apr 3, 25 @ 8:46 am:

    I wish. Any refutation, or just off the cuff labeling?


TrackBack URI

Anonymous commenters, uncivil comments, rumor-mongering and profanity of any kind will be deleted.



* Broken Promises: Despite Billions In Public Funds, Illinois Nursing Homes Still Rank Among the Worst
* Roundup: DuPage Dems say they flipped 38 offices; Rock Island elects Black mayor after police shooting; Meyer/Hoffman over Gregory/Kern in Belleville
* Illinois Manufacturers’ Association criticizes Trump’s tariffs: ‘Will be felt greatly throughout Illinois’
* Healing Communities: Illinois Hospitals Are Addressing Community Needs Statewide
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Live coverage
* Yesterday's stories

Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............


Loading


Main Menu
Home
Illinois
YouTube
Pundit rankings
Obama
Subscriber Content
Durbin
Burris
Blagojevich Trial
Advertising
Updated Posts
Polls

Archives
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004

Blog*Spot Archives
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005

Syndication

RSS Feed 2.0
Comments RSS 2.0




Hosted by MCS SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax Advertise Here Mobile Version Contact Rich Miller