{"id":3371,"date":"2026-06-30T10:38:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3371"},"modified":"2026-06-30T10:38:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T10:38:42","slug":"walters-academic-turf-war-between-california-colleges-underscores-need-for-new-higher-education-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3371","title":{"rendered":"Walters: Academic turf war between California colleges underscores need for new higher education plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When the Legislature passed the\u00a0Master Plan for Higher Education\u00a0in 1960, it envisioned a seamless, three-level system that would provide high-quality and low-cost instruction benefiting both those seeking careers and society as a whole.<\/p>\n

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Under the plan, community colleges would specialize in preparing students for transfer into the University of California and California State University, plus offer vocational and adult education classes.<\/p>\n

The state university system would offer bachelor and master\u2019s degrees in education, engineering and other professional fields. The UC would be the venue for research and award not only bachelor and master\u2019s degrees but doctorates.<\/p>\n

It never quite worked out as planned, for a variety of economic and political reasons. Instead of cooperating as the plan assumed they would, the three higher education systems slipped into competitive postures, vying for both capital to expand campuses and operational support from governors and the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Over the last couple of decades, the competition for money also morphed into battles over academic turf. Community colleges sought authorization to award four-year baccalaureate degrees in some career fields and the state university system,\u00a0while opposing the community colleges\u2019 academic ambitions, aspired to award doctorates, which the UC system saw as an invasion.<\/p>\n

These incursions were signals that the bifurcated roles contained in the master plan were no longer realistic and, with some other trends, should have sparked a reconfiguration guided by the interests and needs of students and those of the larger California society.<\/p>\n

Instead, the infighting over who could do what has continued and extended into clashes over differing academic requirements for transfers and other operational glitches, as well as money.<\/p>\n

Community colleges and state universities have pursued their expansionist goals one career field at a time in specific pieces of legislation, weaving through the academic and geographical limitations that the Legislature imposed to placate opponents. The result is an odd array of four-year degrees some community colleges can offer and doctorates that the state universities can award.<\/p>\n

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The situation is a microcosm of California politicians\u2019 chronic inability to deal comprehensively with glaring public policy issues. Instead they tinker at issues at the edges while ignoring the underlying fundamental conflicts.<\/p>\n

Another example illustrates the syndrome: the state\u2019s ceaseless squabbling over\u00a0water. The same interests fight over the same allocation issues year after year as governors and legislators come and go. None are willing to invest the political capital it would take to resolve it once and for all.<\/p>\n

Back to the college turf battles.<\/p>\n

The ongoing dispute erupted anew in February when the Community College Chancellor\u2019s Office\u00a0approved three new baccalaureate programs\u00a0at Mesa College, Moorpark College and Southwestern College over objections from the state university system, which claimed they were duplicative.<\/p>\n

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Almost immediately two bills were introduced that would, if enacted, make it easier for community colleges to offer more bachelor degrees by making it harder for the state university system to oppose expansion into specific career fields by claiming they are duplicative within geographic boundaries.<\/p>\n

Of course the four-year universities oppose the measures,\u00a0Senate Bill 960\u00a0and\u00a0Assembly Bill 2694, and in some ways that\u2019s understandable since the universities are\u00a0experiencing stagnating or even declining enrollment. But the bills are moving.<\/p>\n

This situation, the competition for students, will become more acute as California\u2019s population plateaus or declines. The shrinking number of K-12 students leads to a shrinking number of college applicants and fierce competition because enrollment drives state financial support.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of several reasons why California needs a realistic overhaul of the higher education master plan, one that rearranges the systems\u2019 missions and expands options for students.<\/p>\n

Read more Harriette Cole: Should I tell my bumbling boss that the team is annoyed with her?<\/a><\/p>\n

Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The decades-old framework fails as rival institutions fight for control over degree programs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nWalters: Academic turf war between California colleges underscores need for new higher education plan - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3371\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walters: Academic turf war between California colleges underscores need for new higher education plan - 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