By: Kristin Martin
Published: January 8, 2009
From education to culinary arts to nursing programs, Pensacola Junior College offers students a wide variety of associate degrees, and within the next few years, students most likely will be able to receive baccalaureate degrees in some programs.
About eight months ago, PJC began discussing the possibility of offering baccalaureate, or bachelor’s, degrees. The Board of Trustees approved the request during a November 2008 meeting. Currently,
college administrators are diligently researching and preparing for the steps to come in the two-year approval process of enabling PJC to grant four-year degrees.
“It’s tough economic times and we’re continuing to get our state budgets cut, but we can’t afford to be aggressive in trying to offer programs that meet the needs of all the people we serve,” PJC President Dr. Ed Meadows said.
“I think (PJC offering baccalaureate degrees) will be perceived in a positive way,” Dr. Martin Gonzalez, vice president of Academic Affairs, said. “We just have to ensure that what we do is done well, staffed with good faculty, equipped properly and the students graduate with the skills and abilities that are commanded in the marketplace.”
Traditionally, the goal of community colleges is to offer two-year degrees at affordable tuition, and make getting an education and associate degree easier for non-traditional students – those over the age of 25 with full-time jobs and families.
However, Gonzalez said, “The idea of the traditional community college as being just two-year is changing dramatically.”
Now, more baccalaureate degrees are needed in Florida, so more and more community colleges are offering them. Community colleges that are able to offer baccalaureate degrees are called “state colleges.”
Since Senate Bill 1162 was passed in 2001, community colleges nationwide, especially those in Florida, are needing to “fill the gap” that universities are leaving by not producing enough baccalaureate-degree holding students to meet local employer demands for certain fields, Gonzalez said. For instance, if universities aren’t producing enough baccalaureate-degree holding nurses in an area, Senate Bill 1162 allows a community college the option of offering bachelor’s degrees in nursing to get more working nurses in that area.
Students at community colleges still will be able to receive associate degrees in all programs offered, but now also will have the option of getting bachelor’s degrees in some programs after they receive their initial two-year degrees.
Although it was more than seven years ago when junior colleges were first able to grant baccalaureate degrees, PJC wasn’t ready then, according to Gonzalez.
“Historically, community colleges had never offered baccalaureate degrees,” he said. “We felt very strongly, and our president at that time, Dr. Delaino, felt very strongly that the mission of the
community college was to offer two-year degrees … his reasoning was we didn’t have the resources to focus on both, so let’s concentrate our resources on the associate degrees and certificates and short-term
training.”
Meadows said now the college and community are in a different situation than before and PJC is ready to offer baccalaureate degrees.
“When I became the president, I came in with a pledge to do a SWOT analysis to determine what the strengths and weaknesses and opportunities and threats of the institution are as perceived by the community and perceived by students, and this (a need for programs offering baccalaureate degrees) is what we found out. So, we’re moving forward with it as quickly as we can,” Meadows said. “Given that our community and our students are asking us to do this, I think that we’re responding to that need.”
Gonzalez said enrollment would increase if PJC begins offering bachelor’s degrees.
“All of the other community colleges that have moved to offering baccalaureate degrees have seen an increase in enrollment,” he said.
Gonzalez also said tuition for getting a bachelor’s degree at PJC would be slightly higher than an associate degree, but still would be lower than tuition at UWF.
When PJC begins offering baccalaureate degrees, it probably will change its name. The Board hasn’t discussed yet what PJC’s name will become. Gonzalez said they might ask the community and students for suggestions when the time comes.
Programs that could offer baccalaureate degrees
Nursing, health care administration and administration and supervision are programs in which PJC has discussed granting baccalaureate degrees. According to Gonzalez, those programs are the ones with which other Florida community colleges have had the most success.
PJC will decide what programs to offer bachelor’s degrees in based on local need. If another institution, like UWF, is already offering a particular program and producing enough employees for the area, PJC
won’t duplicate that program.
Although UWF offers baccalaureate degrees in nursing, and PJC would be duplicating that program, “they aren’t producing enough nurses with baccalaureate degrees to meet the local demand,” Gonzalez said. He also said PJC has talked with UWF and they are fine with PJC also offering bachelor’s degrees in nursing. He said PJC and UWF both are hoping that together they can produce the needed amount of nurses for the area.
Gonzalez said though more teachers are needed locally, UWF has a very strong education program, so PJC wouldn’t offer bachelor’s degrees in education. Computer science, business and engineering are also programs in which PJC wouldn’t consider offering bachelor’s degrees. UWF already offers those programs, they are expensive and require a lot of equipment, he explained.
“We don’t want to needlessly duplicate something that UWF is meeting the market demand with,” Gonzalez said.
If PJC wants to grant baccalaureate degrees in a certain program, another local institution, like UWF or Pensacola Christian College, has the right to argue that it can expand its program to meet any needs instead.
“We’ve got to defend our case all the way up to show that there is a need and we can meet that need and UWF can’t meet that need,” Gonzalez said.
After PJC is approved to offer the first set of baccalaureate degrees, it might later add more bachelor’s degree granting programs.
In order for PJC to grant baccalaureate degrees in a particular course, 25 percent of a student’s credits must be taught by a teacher who has his or her doctorate degree.
Gonzalez said several faculty members already have or are in the process of getting doctorate degrees. He said the administration and supervision department already is staffed well enough to offer bachelor’s degrees, and the nursing department isn’t too far behind.
Two-year process
If approved, it will be at least two years before PJC can begin granting baccalaureate degrees.
Administrators at PJC must survey the community to see where needs exist for baccalaureate degree programs, send in those results to get the State’s approval and then get a visit from the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in 2010 to also be approved for accreditation. After that, PJC can grant bachelor’s degrees.
“I feel pretty confident that they will give us permission, depending on how many degrees we ask for. It could be that if we ask for three they might give us two,” Gonzalez said. “So far, they’ve been very
supportive of the community colleges moving in this direction.”
Gonzalez said PJC would like to start offering bachelor’s degrees in 2010, but most likely the earliest will be the fall semester in 2011.
By the end of this year, PJC will know whether or not the state approves its plan to grant baccalaureate degrees.
Right now, “(the process is) going as smooth as to be expected,” Gonzalez said. “It’s just that it’s difficult for us to find time to do all the necessary research – to go into the paperwork that has to be submitted to the State and to SACS – as fast as we would like to.”
Current students will come back
Although PJC wouldn’t be offering bachelor’s degrees until 2011, Gonzalez said some current students might still be able to take advantage of the baccalaureate degree programs.
“Many of our students will actually graduate from PJC with an Associate of Applied Science Degree or Associate of Science Degree, and decide that’s all they want,” he said. “They will get their degree here, and then go to work; but by the time we have (the baccalaureate degree programs) ready, they’ll be probably ready to come back to school and get their baccalaureate degree.”
Gonzalez also said the typical associate degree student plans to get his or her associate degree at PJC within two years, go to UWF to get a bachelor’s degree in two more years to finish college in a total of
four years. However, he said the majority of PJC students don’t do that. They take over two years to complete their associate degrees and take even longer to get their bachelor’s degrees.
“It’s not like it’s just a clean two plus two deal.” Gonzalez said. “So we feel that there will be students who are enrolled now who will come back and finish their baccalaureate degree with us when it starts
in 2011.”
Cherie Morris, 50, who is in her third semester at PJC as a registered nursing student, said she plans to work at West Florida Hospital after she receives her associate degree.
“I would like to have a few years of experience before I pursue additional education,” Morris said. “I like the idea of completing a bachelor’s degree at PJC. I feel there would be continuity for those who have already completed the associate program in nursing.”
Florida community colleges that offer baccalaureate degrees
The Board of Trustees has spoken with several other Florida community colleges that were among the first few to offer bachelor’s degrees. Gonzalez said they’ve asked those colleges how they started the
program, how well it’s working and what recommendations they can give PJC.
“They’ve been very positive about it. They’ve said that the demand has exceeded their expectations, and that they’re very pleased that they chose to offer the baccalaureate degree,” Gonzalez said.
According to the Community College Baccalaureate Association’s Web site, there are currently 10 community colleges in Florida that have been approved to offer bachelor’s degrees.
St. Petersburg College, which previously was called St. Petersburg Junior College, was the first Florida community college approved to offer baccalaureate degrees in nursing, education and information
technology in 2001. Now the college offers bachelor’s degrees in 20 programs, and is planning to add even more, according to Leigh Hopf, the coordinator of Research and Reports in the Baccalaureate Degrees and University Partnerships department at St. Petersburg College.
“We just are able to offer more options to the people that live here without losing the mission of an open door college – just like (PJC),” Hopf said.
She said enrollment usually increases about 20 percent each year for the baccalaureate programs, because they are constantly adding more programs.
“(Beginning to offer baccalaureate degrees) was a transition, but it’s been really exciting for the community,” she said.