During spring break, California Community College Chancellor Brice Harris  held a conference call to update student media on changes to the state’s schools. .

Harris first said the new bachelor’s degree pilot program marks an “exciting change to the mission of our colleges.”

Senator Marty Block from San Diego sponsored successful legislation to create 15 pilot  bachelor’s degrees.

The degrees will mostly cover technical fields that require a bachelor’s degree to enter the job market, including airplane manufacturing, occupational studies, bio-manufacturing,  healthcare and information programs.

Twenty-two other states offer bachelor’s degrees at community colleges. The estimated price is an “extremely affordable” $10,000-11,000,” Harris said.

“It is really a wonderful opportunity and we’re really excited about this new wave of programs,” he said.

An issue of immense importance to community college students -— transferring -—  was covered in the form of the new associate transfer degree program.

Through the leadership of former Chancellor Jack Scott and Chancellor Charlie Reed of California State Universities, a transfer degree legislation was approved. Over the last 20 months, 1,600 new associate transfer degrees were created for community colleges across the state.

In the first month of its inception, 800 students took advantage of that new program.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity to smooth out our pathway between our institutions and the CSU,” Harris said.

The final topic was the upcoming changes to the Board of Governors fee waiver program.

Students must maintain a GPA of 2.0 and complete at least half the courses they attempt. Students falling behind these requirements for more than two primary terms are subject to losing their eligibility for the fee waiver; however, it can be regained if students raise their GPA to a 2.0.

Brochures on the upcoming bachelor’s degree program, transfer degrees and BOG waiver requirements will be available soon.