Gavilan misses out on four-year degree program

GILROY–When state community college officials announced campus selections Tuesday for a pilot four-year degree program, Gavilan college in Gilroy was not on the list.
Fifteen California community colleges were selected to develop four-year baccalaureate programs in career technical fields as part of a project enacted under a new law (Senate Bill 805).
Gavilan was among 36 colleges that submitted letters of intent to compete, but did not submit an application, according to Jan Bernstein Chargin, Gavilan’s director of public information. 
“Once the submission requirements were published…it became apparent that there is more ground work that we will need to address before we can offer bachelor’s degrees,” she explained.
Gavilan draws students mostly from Gilroy, San Benito County and Morgan Hill. The college had hoped to establish a four-year program in aviation maintenance technology.
Two Bay Area schools, Skyline College for Respiratory Therapy and Foothill College for Dental Hygiene, were among those announced Jan. 20 by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and Chancellor Brice Harris.
With this week’s announcement, California joins 21 states that allow community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees.
California community colleges offered two-year, associate degree programs; graduates transfer to four-year colleges for bachelor’s and higher degrees. Except for the pilot programs, that’s still true.
The pilot program was fueled in part by studies that showed the state needs to 60,000 more graduates with bachelor’s degrees annually by 2025 to meet workforce needs, according to a press release from San Diego Community College District.
Authored by Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego), the legislation signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2014 allows up to 15 districts to establish pilot programs in a field of study not offered by the California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) systems.
Among the vocational field degrees community colleges submitted for consideration were airframe manufacturing technology, biomanufacturing, respiratory therapy, dental hygiene, engineering technology, and public safety administration. 
Districts had until Dec. 19 to submit applications, which were reviewed by a team made up the chancellor’s staff, a member of the business and workforce community, CSU and UC representatives and community college administrators, faculty, and staff from districts that did not apply.
Applications chosen by the chancellor were submitted to the board of governors for consideration and approval in consultation with representatives of the CSU and UC systems.
Clarification: The Jan. 23 edition of the Gilroy Dispatch reports that Gavilan Community College was not selected for the state’s pilot program. Gavilan did not apply for the program.