California community colleges will be able to offer bachelor’s degrees that duplicate programs at California State University and University of California schools, clearing the way for the biggest change in decades to degree-granting authority at the state’s public university systems, under legislation approved Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The pair of bills scraps the state’s ban on community colleges offering any bachelor’s degree already available at CSU or UC, and replaces it with a system built around regional workforce needs and a district college’s performance. They cleared the legislature earlier this month after CSU and UC withdrew objections.
Newsom signed the bills without comment. The laws will take effect Jan. 1, 2028.
Chancellor Sonya Christian, who leads the community college system, had come out against the two related bills in the final days of the session. She said the versions lawmakers passed — and Newsom has approved — could create “more barriers” than currently exist for community colleges moving to provide new degree programs.
Christian explained her position in an Aug. 29 letter telling the author of SB 960, Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento), that last-minute amendments moved the measure away from what community colleges had originally backed. The related bill, AB 2694, was written by Assemblymembers David A. Alvarez (D-San Diego) and Blanca Pacheco (D-Downey).
Christian singled out a detailed five-tier system that would set how many degrees a community college district can offer based on how its student outcomes compare with every other district in the state. A district could improve and still be capped, or see its eligibility shift “simply because the statewide average changed,” she wrote.
Rural and single-college districts, she said, could be hit the worst. “The communities with the greatest need for expanded access to affordable bachelor’s degrees should not become the communities with the fewest options for creating them.”
But she offered a conciliatory message Friday.
“The California Community Colleges remain committed to high-quality, affordable bachelor’s degrees that meet workforce needs and are accessible where students live and work,” she said in a statement. “We will work with the Legislature and the Administration on technical cleanup, with a shared goal of expanding access to affordable bachelor’s degrees in communities across California.”
California State University and the University of California took neutral positions on the final versions of the bills. CSU dropped opposition after earlier versions of the bills were amended.
A CSU spokesperson said that the university system “appreciates” Newsom signing the bills into law, and called them “a thoughtful, student-centered approach to expanding community colleges’ ability to offer bachelor’s degrees.”
“The laws will expand opportunities for place-bound and underserved students throughout California while maintaining a focus on documented regional workforce needs and continued coordination among the CSU, UC and community colleges,” the CSU spokesperson said.
A UC spokesperson said the state’s master plan, which guides how California’s three public higher education systems work together, should be reimagined “for today’s higher education needs” but did not directly address the bills.
Newsom vetoed a separate bill, AB 2301, as he has done with similar measures three times since 2024. It would have let 10 community college districts offer bachelor’s degrees in nursing through a pilot program. In past vetoes, he said such programs could undermine partnerships community colleges have built with CSU and other universities that already award the degrees.
Christian said she was disappointed by the veto. “At a time when California faces significant healthcare workforce shortages, affordable pathways to a bachelor of science in nursing are especially important in rural and underserved communities.”
Under the legislation approved Friday, a community college could offer a degree that overlaps with a nearby CSU program if that program has been hard to get into for years, or if state labor officials find a local job shortage the CSU program is not filling.
In an interview this month, when the bills went to Newsom’s desk, Cabaldon called community colleges “one of the more nimble parts of our higher education system in California,” and said the bills keep “a laser focus” on associate degrees, certificates and transfer. Alvarez said many students are “working adults, parents, caregivers, and first-generation students who are rooted in their communities and cannot relocate or commute long distances to earn a degree.”
The bills add to a 2021 law that lets community colleges create up to 30 new bachelor’s degree programs a year if they do not duplicate CSU, UC or private four-year offerings. More than 60 have been approved, in fields including respiratory care, cybersecurity and water resource management.
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