A MULTI-CASE STUDY OF THREE FLORIDA COMMUNITY COLLEGES OFFERING APPLIED BACCALAUREATE DEGREE PROGRAMS AND HOW THE PROGRAMS ASSIST STUDENTS WITH THEIR POSTSECONDARY NEEDS

摘要

This study examined the trend of community colleges offering baccalaureate degrees that address workforce needs. Employers are looking for better-educated employees and in many cases require a baccalaureate degree to even consider an individual for a job opening. Florida’s legislature has been an effective facilitator in supporting the development of directly conferred baccalaureate degrees in 24 of the state’s 28 community colleges. Four-year institutions offer traditional degrees, but sometimes are not able to accommodate all the students requiring admission. In these cases, community colleges are meeting some of these specific student needs by offering these practice-related programs such as nursing. Some of these programs include part-time campus study and online study for a hybrid delivery system that has not been embraced as readily by some of the four-year institutions. Online study is believed to allow more students the ability to obtain a bachelor’s degree, especially the non-traditional place-bound students. ud This study was conducted to provide a better understanding of what it means to offer directly conferred baccalaureate degree programs in community colleges, how each institution went through the process of deciding this option for the particular programs offered, what internal and external issues were resolved, how the funding to start up the programs was obtained, how it affected the other programs at the institution, how the bachelor of applied science programs satisfy student needs and, finally, what the policy implications of offering baccalaureate degrees were at each institution. ud This information will be important to other state’s legislators and community college administrators in determining the implications of offering baccalaureate degrees, and how it may meet their needs in serving the many students that rely on these institutions for their postsecondary education.