Nate Lammers used to work in manufacturing, with unsteady hours and low pay. But after going to college for a degree in maritime technology, he had three job offers before graduating, and now has close to a six-figure income.
Lammers graduated in January from Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City. He earned a four-year degree — one of the first granted from a community college in Michigan.
“It was the best decision of my life,” said Lammers, 29, who is now working for an offshore supply ship in Louisiana. “I wish I had done it sooner.”
For the first time, Michigan community colleges are granting baccalaureate degrees, thanks to controversial legislation passed in 2012.
Northwestern MichiganCollege was the first to grant the four-year degrees, but plans are under way for similar opportunities at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn and schools in Jackson and Benton Harbor.
Advocates say it’s a major step in higher education to increase options for students, but add they are still lobbying lawmakers to allow community colleges to grant nursing degrees. That provision was dropped from the bill before it became law.
“The mission of community colleges has always been to respond to workforce needs,” said Michael Hansen, president of the Michigan Community College Association. “This is another example of how we are responding to the needs of industries, which are changing.”
The law made Michigan one of nearly two dozen states nationally that allow community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees following accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission, a regional institutional accreditor.
The state’s 28 community colleges can grant bachelor’s degrees in energy production, concrete technology, maritime technology and culinary arts — fields with entry-level positions that are moving from associate degrees to baccalaureate degrees, Hansen said.
Only 1 program accredited
Only Northwestern MichiganCollege’s maritime technology baccalaureate degree has been accredited.
But Schoolcraft College and Henry Ford Community College are planning to offer a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts in fall 2015; Lake Michigan College and Jackson College are planning to offer four-year degrees in energy production by fall 2014 and 2015, respectively.
The organization that represents the state’s 15 public universities — the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan — opposes the law, arguing it duplicates services and erodes the collaboration between the state’s community collegesand universities.
Retiring University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman said recently Michigan’s higher education system is strong, with a robust array of community colleges and public universities, and doesn’t need to expand community college offerings.
“I don’t see an economic necessity for creating more four-year programs in the state,” Coleman said. “We’re doing very well with the programs that we’ve got and Michigan is to be envied for the quality of education that it has.”
But community college officials counter that offering four-year degrees to students gives them a more affordable option.
A bachelor’s degree from a community college would cost about $12,000 — which is about how much it costs to attend the U-M or Michigan State University for one year.
Additionally, advocates say that community colleges are responding to local industry, with a mass exodus of retirees in the near future from the energy field, and a need for more skills and education in the food industry.
Leaders at Lake Michigan College and Jackson College have worked with officials at nearby power companies to develop a curriculum to meet the companies’ demands.
“We pride ourselves on being responsive to local industry,” said Robert Harrison, president of Lake Michigan College. “We see this as growing our local economy and giving people great careers and options that they might not be able to move into because of the geographics of where they live.”
Schoolcraft College did extensive market research before launching plans to offer a bachelor’s degree program in culinary arts, said Richard Weinkauf, vice president of instruction.
“There seems to be a built-in intuitive understanding that as the industry and the population matures … the bachelor level allows (graduates) to go beyond the kitchen, and become influential in management and also give them an entrepreneurial edge,” said Weinkauf. “This is a win-win for the whole community, and this part of Michigan.”
Baccalaureate in nursing
Community colleges still hope to be able to grant bachelor’s degrees in nursing. Two bills to do that were recently introduced in the legislature but it’s unclear whether they will go anywhere this session, said Erin Schor, legislative director of the Michigan Community College Association.
All community colleges offer an associate degree in nursing, but more employers are asking nurses for a bachelor’s degree. And the need for more baccalaureate nursing programs is high, with wait lists at universities and the looming nursing shortage.
The Michigan Health & Hospital Association supports the effort by community colleges to grant baccalaureate degrees in nursing.
Doing so would help increase the supply and access to critically needed nurses, particularly in Michigan’s smaller and rural areas, where a four-year school may not exist or be easily accessible, said association spokeswoman Laura Wotruba.
The Michigan Nurses Association doesn’t have an official position on the issue, said spokeswoman Dawn Kettinger.
Extremely long hours and tight staffing are leading many nurses to leave the profession, but Kettinger said there’s no easy answer to the shortage.
“We need to understand that’s not going to be the sole solution to (the nursing shortage),” Kettinger said. “But if community colleges can help prepare more clinically training RNs, then that’s good for nurses and Michigans patients.”
Stanley Jensen, president of Henry Ford Community College, said nurses are being imported from Canada to work in the area, and demand is high among students and in the marketplace.
“We have to change,” Jensen said. “I don’t think anyone will be hurt. It will be a win-win situation for the economy, employers and for the students in Michigan.”
