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Assessing the potential to expand community college baccalaureate programs in Texas
1 online resource (118 pages) : color illustrations
Many workforce-development needs, particularly those requiring baccalaureate degrees, remain unmet in some areas of Texas. Employers and students are calling for additional programs to develop workplace skills and to provide opportunities for career advancement. On May 22, 2013, the Texas Legislature approved a bill mandating a study on whether community college baccalaureate degree programs should be expanded in Texas. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board asked the RAND Corporation to partner with the Texas Higher Education Policy Initiative to conduct the study. In this report, the authors assess unmet workforce-development needs in nursing and the applied sciences, assess the arguments for and against baccalaureate expansion, and recommend potential activities to support implementation of any new policies undertaken to expand community college baccalaureate programs. They find significant need for more baccalaureate nurses, although rapidly growing distance learning programs may be able to meet this need. The authors find varying needs for the four applied science occupations they examined: computer and information technology, management of fire sciences, management of production/operations technicians, and health information technology. While expanding community college baccalaureate degree programs could help meet unmet needs and increase degree attainment among students, there are concerns about costs, mission creep at community colleges, counterproductive competition between community colleges and universities, and a decline in the overall quality of a Texas baccalaureate. The authors discuss the inherent tradeoffs that policymakers face in this regard.
Introduction -- Background -- Research Questions and Methodology -- Identifying Unmet Workforce Needs -- Potential Benefits of Community College Baccalaureate Expansion -- Concerns About Community College Baccalaureate Expansion -- Other Provision Options, Costs, and Funding -- Policy Options for Community College Baccalaureate Expansion -- Recommendations for Process and Supporting Activities -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Interview Protocols and Survey.
LIndsay Daugherty, Charles A. Goldman, Lindsay Butterfield, Trey Miller.
Title from title screen (viewed on August 28, 2014).
"Prepared for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board."
"The research in this report was produced for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board by RAND Education."
Includes bibliographical references (pages 108-112).
Santa Monica, CA : Rand Corporation, ©2014