Please note that if you find this topic significant, on August 16 at Valencia, Community College (Orlando) SCUP's Southern Region is holding an on-topic one-day Metro Mini Conference, Higher Education Planning in a Time of Change and Challenge. Valencia Community College is mentioned in this comprehensive article, and several conference speakers are quoted. The conference is very much about the challenge of obtaining more graduates: budget, policy, and integrated institutional direction planning. Speakers include: Sanford Shugart, president of Valencia Community College; Tony G. Waldrop, provost, University of Central Florida; Lewis C. Godwin, director of Planning & Projects at Georgia Perimeter College; Susan E. Kelley, vice president, Institutional Advancement, Valencia Community College; and Ruth L Prater, campus president, East and Winter Park campuses, Valencia Community College.

Go to Community College, Earn a Bachelor's Degree: Florida Likes That Combination is a valuable, deep look by Chronicle of Higher Education reporter Jennifer Gonzalez. Nationally, 17 states allow community colleges to award bachelor's degrees. Florida's a leader. Here's a quote from the article about President Sanford C. Shugart of Valencia College:

Sanford C. Shugart worried that the plan might create a 'slippery slope' and interfere with the open-access mission of colleges like h is: The bachelor's degree programs at the community colleges have admissions requirements. Mr. Shugart is no longer entirely opposed to the idea - his college offers two baccalaureates - but he emphasis that the state must ensure that such degrees continue to he related only to the state's work-force needs.

Read more at this link, which may, after a period of time, require you to have a Chronicle subscription or purchase a day pass.