Dive Brief:

• California has selected the 15 community colleges that will be the first in the state to offer bachelor degree programs.
• The programs will begin before the fall of 2017, and the tuition for the bachelor degrees will cost about $10,000, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
• The degrees will be offered in fields that have employers who are hiring and seeking better-skilled candidates, including automotive technology, bio-manufacturing, emergency services, airframe manufacturing, and mortuary science.

Dive Insight:

The move toward offering bachelor degrees through community colleges is another strike against for-profit colleges. The bachelor degree programs offered by the 15 schools are not available at schools in the California State University or University of California systems, which means that students in the state have had to seek them through for-profit schools. By 2025, California will need 1 million more workers with bachelor degrees, according to studies. Thirty-four community colleges applied to be selected to offer the bachelor degree programs. California is the 22nd state to offer bachelor degrees through community colleges.