Yavapai College is interested in offering its students the opportunity to earn bachelor's degrees from the comfort of their community after Gov. Doug Ducey signed a new law that will allow two-year colleges to do so.
Yavapai College is one of largest rural community college in the state. It has two campuses in Prescott and Clarkdale and four centers that serve 10,000 students across Yavapai County. The college is interested in offering four-year degrees to help minority and low-income students, said President Lisa Rhine.
“We’ve discovered that students that are traditionally underrepresented in higher education that are graduating from Yavapai College are not transferring on at our public four-year universities at the same rates as their peers," she said.
This could be because of cost, location and family responsibilities, Rhine said. The college is looking at whether it can address these issues by offering four-year degrees. It's currently exploring which programs it could pursue and what it will need to take this next step.
“We’re hearing a lot of suggestions around nursing and teaching, however we’re interested in possibly pursuing some bachelors of applied science," Rhine said. "We’ve had a lot of interest from our fire science, police.”
If the college finds that offering four-year degrees is a feasible idea, Rhine said it could begin doing so within two to three years.
