On May 4 Governor Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1453, allowing Arizona’s community colleges to offer four-year degrees.

Research suggests that these degrees may play an important role in better serving a racially and economically diverse student population. The students are typically adult learners who are working, often full-time, and who have considerable work experience that they do not want to abandon for full-time study toward a baccalaureate degree. 
Ducey said the legislation will pave the way for the state’s current and future workforces and expand opportunities for populations that are historically underrepresented in higher education.
“Arizona’s community colleges play a critical role in supporting students of all ages and equipping our workforce with skills and resources,” the governor added. “Arizona is a school choice state, and today’s action is school choice for higher education. It will allow students even more opportunities as they strengthen their education and expand their employment opportunities.”
As the state moves forward from the pandemic, Senate Bill 1453, sponsored by Senator Paul Boyer, is an important and timely shift to reskill and upskill Arizona’s workforce to meet the needs of the growing economy and provide more Arizonans a pathway to economic prosperity. The legislation will align Arizona with 23 other states, including all neighboring states, to allow community colleges to offer four-year degrees in limited circumstances.
“Today’s legislation will help people in every corner of our state,” said Representative Becky Nutt, who helped spearhead efforts to achieve this goal. “Arizona has been a national leader in school choice for many years, and allowing community colleges to offer four-year degrees will take a step further in meeting the needs of adult students.”

Under the legislation, community colleges opting to offer baccalaureate degrees must approve each program based on specific criteria including workforce need, financial and administrative analysis of the feasibility of offering the program, and mitigating duplication.
“Enabling Arizona’s community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees will be very beneficial to San Carlos Apache College students by increasing the amount and diversity of choices available to them locally and throughout the state, if not the country, for pursuing their baccalaureate and higher-level degrees,” said San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler. “A more educated and skilled Arizona workforce will also increase business and personal income, grow revenues for the state to invest in other critical needs and decrease dependency on social safety nets.”

Senate Bill 1453 does not require community colleges to offer four-year degrees, but simply removes the prohibition. Some colleges may choose to offer many four-year degrees, while others may elect to offer few or none.

“At Eastern Arizona College, we’re ready to support and work with students who want to get a higher education and build a career,” said Eastern Arizona College President Todd Haynie. “The legislation signed by Governor Ducey provides an accessible way for Arizona students to continue their education and build a brighter future for themselves and their loved ones. When community colleges offer four-year degrees, it opens up opportunities for more students of all ages and backgrounds.
“While EAC will stick to its core mission of offering certificates and associate degrees, we will begin an evaluation process to determine which four-year programs make the best sense for our community. Our intent is to look at four-year programs that will help our community prosper, not to compete with similar academic programs offered at public universities,” Haynie added.

Under Senate Bill 1453, such programs could become available not only at EAC’s Thatcher campus, but also its Gila Pueblo and Payson campuses.

By allowing community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees, the cost and time of achieving a four-year degree is significantly lowered. Community colleges like EAC intentionally keep their tuition low so students have access to a higher education opportunity without incurring large amounts of debt. Further, many students cannot leave their communities because of family and job commitments. By offering students opportunities at community colleges enabled in this legislation, students can stay in their communities and get the education employers are now demanding.

The business community also benefits from this legislation because it gives them the ability to find and hire well-qualified employees, which allows them to grow their businesses. If a community has a need for specialized trained workers, degrees can be developed that are tailored to meet that need.

Though community colleges now have the option to offer a bachelor’s degree, four-year programs will not start immediately. Accreditation can take years in some cases; the legislation simply allows the process to begin. It does not allow community colleges to offer master’s or doctorate degrees, restricting them to “not more than four years.”