A new playbook focused on community college baccalaureate (CCB) degrees aims to make the case to state leaders for creating and scaling these programs, which sometimes face barriers at the state level.
The playbook is being released over the next few months in a series of briefs developed by researchers at the University of Washington (UW), Bragg & Associates and Troy Street Professional Services, with funding from the Strada Education Foundation. When all eight briefs are released — an introduction and the first brief are already posted — they will be compiled into one playbook document at the end of the year.
The guide will contain a review of previous research, new research and recommendations for state leaders around community college baccalaureates, said Elizabeth Meza, one of the playbook authors and a research and faculty instructor at the Evans School of Public Policy at UW.
“The goal of the playbook is to push scale,” she said.
The CCB movement has been growing, but it has led to turf disputes in some states with the four-year sector, most recently in California and Illinois. The playbook aims to counter misinformation used in some of those arguments and to share accurate data with state legislators, state agency directors, state associations and others, Meza said.
Rolling out the briefs
The introduction lays out the structure of the playbook, provides general national information on the number of CCB programs, and makes the case for them.
“States play a central role in expanding CCB authorization, and state leaders who seek guidance in supporting CCB degrees need evidence-based information to support authorization and advance implementation,” the introduction says.
Playbook researchers break down key CCB research and strategy across eight areas, which comprise the briefs:
- CCB facts, figures and the national landscape
- State legislation and policy
- Students and equitable pathways
- Program approval
- Affordability and time to degree
- Geographic access
- Student labor market outcomes and workforce and economic development
- Social impact on communities and graduates
The first brief provides key facts and figures for a general audience, based on the Community College Baccalaureate Association’s national program inventory. It covers what state leaders should know about CCB degree scope, scale and outcomes nationwide, and how states approach authorizing and implementing the programs.
For example, it notes that 24 states currently authorize the CCB degree, with 214 public community colleges offering them — about 23% of community colleges offer at least one bachelor’s degree program. There are 763 programs, with the highest number of programs offered in business and health professions, including nursing.
In 2023-24, some 16,000 students graduated with a CCB degree, which accounts for about 1% of graduates nationwide, the brief says.
It also makes a general case for growing CCBs, noting their affordability, geographic access, degree outcomes and more. For example, CCB graduates are more racially and ethnically diverse than all federal Title IV graduates nationally. It also observes that CCB programs produce a higher percentage of adult learners ages 25 and older than bachelor’s degree programs nationally — 70% versus 28%.
