Valerie Fetzer

Professor Lederer
EDLPS 563
15 March 2022

Final Paper: Best Practices

Since 1980, the United States has seen tuition and fees at public four-year colleges

outpace the growth of the median family income by 19 times more (Carnevale, 2020, p. 2). If

this isn’t alarming enough, it does not yet account for living expenses, which typically represents

60-80 percent of the total cost of going to a four-year college (Carnevale, 2020, p. 2). According

to studies ran by Dr. Carnevale at the Georgetown Center for Education and Workforce, 80

percent of U.S. jobs that secure middle class income are demanding that workers have some sort

of postsecondary credential. That said, looking at our tech driven state, bachelor’s degrees are

commonly known to be the baseline for qualified candidates. The Washington State Employment

Security Department projects that for the next five years, the most in demand job will be within

software development, with a projected annual opening rate of 15,299 (Washington STEM,

2020). According to nonprofit Washington STEM’s labor market tool, the typical credential

needed to be competitive within this market is to no surprise, a bachelor’s degree. While

attending a public four-year college in the 80’s certainly required degrees of financial planning,

it was ultimately an investment in one’s future in which many students could lean on government

funding for reassurance. Moreover, in 1980 the Pell Grant was deemed, “the nation’s most

important financial aid program. The Pell Grant covered over 50% of the cost of attendance at a

public four-year college or university. In the 2019-20 academic year, the Pell Grant covered just

28%,” (Jones and Jackson, 2020, p.14). So, given that the cost of four-year college has

exponentially increased, most middle-class leading jobs require a bachelor’s degree, the

purchasing power of the Pell Grant has decreased– along with other forms of federal financial
aid, we can see how the current education to workforce pipeline perpetuates systems of social

and economic inequality.

However, over the past decade the community college baccalaureate (CCB) movement

has been garnering more attention as another option that is more accessible, and equity driven,

than our current four-year college pathways. According to Meza, “half of the states now

authorize the conferral of baccalaureate degrees at institutions historically classified as career

and technical colleges,” (Meza, 2019, p.1). Looking at how it has been comprehensively initiated

in Washington State, we can start to see why this practice is advantageous for national

implementation.

According to Meza, since 2007 Washington state legislature has authorized community

colleges to offer CCB’s to address high workforce demands. Given that this report is from 2019,

within this time frame, “27 (of 34) colleges have been authorized to offer 102 programs and have

conferred over 3,500 Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) degrees,” (Meza, 2019, p. 1). Not only

does this address creating access to students who have limited ability to navigate the confusing

process of transferring and applying credits over from a community college to a four-year, it also

reaffirms the state’s commitment to get bachelor’s degrees in the hands of those historically

excluded from middle class wages. Meza’s report on who pursues BAS degrees through CCB

programs reveal that this practice serves a more racially diverse set of students in similar

university programs with an average age of 32, many of whom (45%) are working full-time jobs

(Meza, 2019, p.3). Within this, over the past 10 years there has been a demand for CCB’s that

offer program areas in health & safety and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math)

(Meza, 2019, p.3). This demand closely mirrors those represented in Washington STEM’s labor

market tool. Needless to say, the tuition cost of a CCB degree is significantly less than one at a
public four-year college. The price of pursuing a CCB degree in the state of Washington is

$22,500 versus $59,500 at the University of Washington – Seattle (Lederer, 2022). Keeping the

cost advantage in mind, we can see in Meza’s complimentary report the earnings outcomes of

CCB graduates compared to regional public four-year graduates in the state of Washington.

The data and methods used by Meza is “aggregate data provided to our Community

College Research Initiatives (CCRI) group at the University of Washington – Seattle by the

Washington Education Research Data Center (ERDC),” (Meza, 2019, p.2). It samples BAS

degree holders within the CCB graduate category spanning from 2007 through 2017. Meza notes

that this ten-year period represents a period of, “extensive growth and maturation for BAS

programs,” (Meza, 2019, p.2). Meza further disaggregates the data so that the sample size for

BAS degree earners falls within four program areas that are comparable to programs offered at

regional public four-year universities. The reason for this is that when Washington state

legislature allowed community colleges to begin offering CCB’s, they had to work under the

conditionality that they meet “emerging and distinctive workforce needs” without replicating

exact programs offered at regional public four-year universities (Meza and Bragg, 2020, p. 2).

These four compared program areas in BAS subfields were Business, Computer & Info sciences,

Healthcare, and Visual & Performing arts. Below is table that represents the breakdown of CCB

graduates’ programs of study versus that of regional, public university graduates in Washington.

Note: Figure 1 - Community College Research Initiatives, University of Washington

 Before understanding compared earnings of the two groups, Meza conducted an analysis

comparing the racial demographics of CCB graduates and university graduates. His analysis

suggests that, “CCB degree holders are more racially diverse than university graduates in

business and healthcare, and comparably diverse in the other program areas,” (Meza and Bragg,

2020, p. 4). According to Meza, this is specifically pronounced for Latinx and African-American

women in business. Below is a table that represents the annualized earnings of CCB graduates

compared to university graduates by quarters after graduation.

Note: Figure 2 - Community College Research Initiatives, University of Washington

As we can see, in most program areas CCB graduates tend to make more in annualized

earnings by quarter. One reason that could affect this, is that the average age of CCB graduates is

32, many of whom have more work experience than university graduates with the average age of

22. That said, the cost of a CCB program is significantly cheaper than the bachelor’s degree at a

regional, public university and is a friendlier option for working adults as they provide evening

and weekend classes. While this is encouraging information, we must note that there are some

disparities by gender and race for both CCB graduates and university graduates as shown below.
 Note: Figure 3 - Community College Research Initiatives, University of Washington

For the most part, female CCB graduates make more than female university graduates but

less than their male counterparts, with the exception of healthcare in which female university

graduates make most overall - beating their male counterpart. It is also interesting to find a

significant jump from the first quarter annualized earnings to the second quarter for female CCB

graduates who studied within the Comp. & Info Sci. program area compared to that of their male

counterparts. A question to investigate would be what we can learn from this student population

and their employment outcomes, from both the employer and educator perspective, that can be

replicated for other sectors? Another important data point that is not included in the table, but has

been reported by Meza and Love in their article, “Community College Baccalaureate Programs

as an Equity Strategy: Student Access and Outcomes Data,” (2022) is that 55% of CCB

graduates are women. Below is a figure that disaggregates annualized earnings for CCB

graduates and university graduates by race.

 Note: Figure 4 - Community College Research Initiatives, University of Washington

Outside of healthcare, we can see that CCB graduates tend to make more than university

graduates. While there are some variances within the CCB graduates by race, specifically in

annualized earnings for Asian identifying CCB graduates, there needs to be more data available

to better understand how race affects annualized earnings.

Based off the previous three tables our biggest aways are that CCB graduates tend to

make more than university graduates. That said, as most CCB graduates identify as women, there

is data that suggests that the CCB movement may have gendered gaps in which Washington

should strive to close. CCB graduates also tend to be older than university graduates, which may

explain why they receive higher pay. However, they provide a much cheaper and flexible option

than the public four-year university route that is advantageous to returning adults. In general, the

racially diverse and older category of CCB graduates is evidence that the CCB movement creates
more accessibility to historically marginalized folks who have had limited opportunities to either

attend a public four-year university or transfer into one.

Not only is the CCB movement a good model for Washington, but it has been proven to

be successful in Florida as well. The success in both states is an example of why it should be

nationally implemented. According to Meza and Love, as of 2021 53% of all CCB programs

come from the Florida College System and Washington Community and Technical College

System (Meza and Love, 2022). CCB graduates in Florida also represent a more racially diverse

and older student population than the public four-year university student population. However,

Florida has a higher representation of female CCB graduates that reaches up to 70% (Meza and

Love, 2022). Like Washington, Florida has created a comprehensive system of community

colleges that confer CCB degrees that listens to labor market demands. According to the Florida

Nurse Workforce Report within the years of 2019-2035 the age ranges of 65-74 and 75 plus will

increase by 32% and 74%, thus projecting the nursing demand to increase by 76,600 (31%)

(Lacobucci, 2019, p.5). Therefore, most CCB programs in Florida are largely catered towards

bachelor’s degrees in nursing (Meza and Love, 2022). Meza and Love also note that while

regional economies vary within states, the community colleges that confer CCB programs in

both Washington and Florida are respectively spread out through urban (65%, 57%), suburban

(26%, 26%), and rural areas (8%, 16%) (Meza and Love, 2022). While this system proves to

increase earnings outcomes for historically underrepresented groups for almost half the price of

the four-years and without much of living expenses, it is still an untapped resource for much of

the nation. That said, there are over 200 community colleges that are eligible to offer CCB

programs however have not yet done so (Bragg, 2022).

 That said, how can we bolster our educational infrastructure so that we can support

widespread implementation of CCB programs? For starters, at the state level, legislators can

begin to set statewide credential attainment goals, such as 70% by 2030 as an example, as many

states do not have a unified goal. From there, state governments can implement robust localized

systems to create more articulation between employer demands, K-12 and community college

systems. There also needs to be reframing of the public’s image on community colleges and what

resources are available. This largely can be done by creating more accessible forms of advising

in both community colleges and K-12 settings. By supporting advisors to be updated on the latest

resources and prioritizing funding that allows both community colleges and K-12 schools to

build up their advising teams, there can be more open two-way conversations about the benefits

of CCB programs for both current students and returning adults. On the employer’s side,

alongside with private investments, they can create more mentorships to empower marginalized

youth and demystify pathways to labor markets. Lastly, by remapping program requirements at

the community college level, administrators can design certificates and associate degrees so that

they are stackable. Meaning, that credits fulfilled can always count towards a higher degree

within the program area so that if people want to go back to school, they have already completed

the prerequisites to continue their educational journeys. However, for a national implementation

to occur, state legislatures bear the responsibility in engaging and informing educational actors,

employers, and the public across their regions. By bolstering the affects that CCB degrees have

in creating accessibility to the middle-class and growing local economies, states can create a

bipartisan push for change. Ultimately, it’s about creating a national infrastructure, implemented

locally, that supports partnerships which walk-in lockstep to reach educational and economic

goals that secure futures for generations to come.

 Works Cited

Bragg, Debra. (2022) CCB Overview [PowerPoint Presentation]. Canvas

https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1520004

Carnevale, J. Sablan, A. Gulish, M. Quinn, G. Cinquegrani (2020) The Dollars and Sense of

Free College. Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce

Jones, J. Ramirez-Mendoza and V. Jackson (2020). A Promise Worth Keeping: An Updated

Equity-Driven Framework for Free College Programs. (Links to an external site.) The Education
Trust, Washington, D.C.

“Labor Market.” Washington STEM, 12 Feb. 2021, https://washingtonstem.org/labor-market/.

Lacobucci, Will. Florida Nurse Workforce Projections: 2019 to 2035 - Fha.org. 2019,
https://www.fha.org/uploads/1/3/4/0/134061722/ihs_florida_nurse_workforce_report.pdf.

Lederer, John. (2022) EDLPS 563 Week 8 Virtual Session [PowerPoint Presentation]. Canvas
https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1520004

Meza (2019). “The Community College Baccalaureate in Washington: Who Enrolls? (Links to

an external site.)” Community College Research Initiatives, University of Washington.

Meza and D. Bragg (2020). “Comparison of the Employment and Earnings Outcomes of
Washington Community College Baccalaureate Graduates and University Graduates (Links to an
external site.).” Community College Research Initiatives, University of Washington. 

Meza, Elizabeth, and Ivy Love. “Community College Baccalaureate Programs as an Equity
Strategy: Student Access and Outcomes Data.” New America, 3 Mar. 2022,
https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/briefs/community-college-baccalaureate-
programs-as-an-equity-strategy-student-access-and-outcomes-data/.