A bill that would have allowed Iowa community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees has stalled after the state Senate Education Committee declined to consider it Wednesday, The Gazette reported.
Earlier in the day, a three-member subcommittee recommended the bill progress with a 2-to-1 vote. But ultimately, “there was not enough support within the caucus to move the bill forward,” committee chair Sen. Lynn Evans told The Gazette.
Most bills were required to clear a committee in the opposite chamber by a Friday “funnel” deadline to remain viable for the current legislative session, so the bill is effectively dead.
Proponents of the legislation argued community college baccalaureate degrees would be more affordable and more accessible in rural parts of the state. But the bill received significant pushback from private universities, which argued competition from community colleges would siphon off their enrollments and hurt their finances. An amended version of the bill sought to assuage some of those concerns by permitting two-year colleges to only provide up to three baccalaureate degrees if they were at least 50 miles away from a university offering a similar option. But controversy surrounding the bill persisted.
Evans said lawmakers plan to refine the proposal ahead of the 2027 legislative session.
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