Oregon universities oppose community college proposal to create new education degrees

Five Oregon community colleges want to offer a Bachelor of Applied Science in Education  – but they are facing pushback from four-year universities in the state.

The state’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission is currently reviewing the proposal and will make a decision on the next steps in the coming month, according to information provided to The College Fix. The next step is a “notice of application,” according to the commission.

One of the proponents of the proposal explained why the new degree is needed.

Marie Hulett, executive director at Chemeketa Community College, told The Fix by email that teachers are in high demand because of teacher shortages. This has forced Oregon to issue a record number of emergency licenses, according to the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission’s annual report. 

This problem has led community colleges, including Chemeketa, to support a proposal that will establish a four-year Bachelor of Applied Science in Education program for community colleges. 

While four-year universities do accept transfer students, few Chemeketa education students end up completing their bachelor’s degree. Internal data, Hulett said, shows only 8.8 percent of 2018-2024 education transfer students completed a bachelor’s degree in education at any Oregon university, with only 14.6% graduating or still enrolled.

“Not a single student has completed an education degree at the University of Portland during the past five years,” Hulett said. She listed similar stats from the other community colleges joining in the proposal.

This same problem has occurred at Linn Benton Community College. Between 2018 and 2024, of the 128 associate degree graduates, only 20 completed their degrees at Oregon universities, Hulett said.

A similar situation happened at Rogue Community College. Out of 76 students who graduated with an associate’s degree in education between 2018 and 2024, only seven students completed degrees at Oregon universities. 

Hulett said these statistics mean one thing. “Students—especially those in rural, bilingual, and underrepresented communities—are asking for a local, affordable pathway to licensure, and BAS directly responds to that need,” she said. 

There is precedent for the proposal, which is also supported by Treasure Valley and Columbia Gorge community colleges.

“Twenty-four states already authorize community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees in education,” she said. Furthermore, Chemeketa’s BAS in Leadership and Management already demonstrates high student demand, high retention rates, and on-time graduation rates. Chemeketa expects its potential teaching degree to offer the same results, Hulett said.

“It is a research-based, high-quality, and urgently needed solution to Oregon’s teacher shortage,” Hulett said. She said supporters will need to show the program will not target students who are already enrolled in education degree programs.

However, opponents of the degree have a different view, arguing that competition will hurt everyone.

Jesse Longhurst, the dean of education at Southern Oregon University, has submitted a letter to the higher education commission explaining her concerns about how this proposal might affect universities. 

Longhurst told The Fix by email that the proposal would be redundant and thus stretch public dollars even thinner. Additionally, it could jeopardize long-standing positive partnerships between regional universities and community colleges. 

For example, Southern Oregon University has developed partnerships with other regional community colleges, set up articulation agreements, course formatings, flexible schedules, and transfer maps. If the community colleges were to create four-year degrees identical to those of the universities, Longhurst said it would damage the university-community college relationships and waste money. 

In response to the community colleges’ concerns over emergency teaching licenses, Longhurst said that they are “not due to lack of capacity in university programs.” The university already serves candidates working on emergency and restricted licenses. 

This allows these candidates to complete the programs and remain in the communities where they are employed.

The community college and university missions are complementary, not competitive, Longhurst said. “A model in which two institutions (particularly in a rural area) rely on the same limited pool of tax dollars to operate independently and redundantly is not an efficient use of public resources,” she said. 

‘Could enable more students to earn degrees’ in teaching, economist says

A higher education economist provided his analysis of the situation.

Preston Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said four-year universities want to avoid competition from community colleges so the latter don’t attract students away by offering lower tuition and more flexible class schedules

If community colleges can successfully establish a BAS in teaching, “This move could enable more students to earn degrees and licensure in fields like teaching and nursing,” Cooper said. 

According to Cooper, state authorization is a key barrier to college entry into the market.  In an article he wrote for the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, he said state authorization is rigid, resulting in a “static market” where no new universities or colleges are being established, thereby reducing competition, increasing tuition hikes, and discouraging people from attending. 

“State regulators should give schools the benefit of the doubt when they want to start new programs, particularly in fields with labor shortages such as education,” Cooper told The Fix. “State regulators should only refrain if there’s a clear problem, such as a poor return on investment, or if the school has a history of misconduct.”

The Fix reached out to the American Federation of Teachers in Oregon and did not receive a response. The Fix called and sent an email in the past two weeks, and asked for the union’s on the proposal.