Proposal would help some get degrees

Thursday, February 28, 2008 12:31 PM CST

MILWAUKEE (AP) - Adults who have some college credits but never finished four-year degrees could earn their diplomas at one of the state's 13 two-year colleges, under a proposal being developed by University of Wisconsin System officials.

The proposal is part of a growing focus on boosting per-capita income in a job market where recruiters increasingly demand bachelor's degrees.

David Wilson, chancellor of the UW Colleges and UW Extension, expects to submit the proposal at the March meeting of the Board of Regents. Under the plan, the two-year colleges would expand their mission by granting their own four-year degree to a targeted group of adult students.

Currently the colleges grant only associate's degrees and certificates.

Wisconsin lags several neighboring states in the number of residents 25 years and older with baccalaureate degrees. About 25 percent of residents here have the degrees, about 4 percentage points fewer than in Illinois and 5 points fewer than in Minnesota, according to 2006 data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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“We are behind other institutions in the country,” Wilson said. “We haven't capitalized on the online or hybrid potential. We haven't made it easy for adults to get degrees. We still have not done enough to open our doors.”

Any plan to allow UW Colleges to grant bachelor's degrees would require approval from the regents, and perhaps from state legislators and college accrediting bodies.

The proposal is expected to face challenges from leaders of four-year schools, one of whom wondered whether there's any unmet need that the four-year campuses can't fill.

“The UW Colleges are nicely situated throughout the state, so I try to put a lot of pressure on us to leverage our resources together,” said UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells. “We need to figure out: Isn't this something we can do together, so that our cost-effectiveness is better and we are in fact doing more?”

Wilson said whatever the plan entails, it won't duplicate what is already being offered by the four-year schools.

Specific details on the proposed restricted degree - such as how much it would cost or how many course units it would require - are still being worked out. Wilson said he was waiting for the go-ahead from the regents before putting together a final plan.

At a broad level, if the proposed mission change is approved, students could earn bachelor's degrees of applied arts and sciences from a two-year college.

Classes would be taught in small-group teams, and students would take a required senior-year course in which they would work with a faculty member to tackle a local community issue.

The UW Colleges and Extension already are set to get $2.5 million in state funding this summer to extend the reach of a separate 2-year-old program that has drawn at least 500 adult students into college courses.

Under that program - the Adult Student Initiative - students take freshman and sophomore classes taught by two-year college faculty and then transition into upper-level classes taught online by four-year university faculty. Those bachelor's degrees come from the four-year schools.

There are already a number of collaborative programs among technical colleges, two-year and four-year campuses. For example, students who complete general education requirements at Fox Valley Technical College can transfer to UW-Oshkosh or UW-Green Bay with sophomore status.

But Wilson believes there's still an untapped market of adults who would seek bachelor's degrees from the UW System if they could take classes online.

“There are populations that aren't being well served even though we have 26 campuses,” he said. “Private institutions have gotten out in front of us.”