A bill signed by Gov. Mark Gordon will allow the state’s community colleges to issue bachelors degrees without input from the University of Wyoming.
The bill, Senate File 111, was signed Friday.
Rep. John Freeman, D-Green River, said the bill allows the state’s seven community colleges to issue Bachelor of Applied Science degrees in specific fields.
Freeman said once Western Wyoming Community College creates the coursework needed for a degree, residents can earn bachelor degrees without leaving Rock Springs. He said the degrees are geared towards technical fields.
One example Freeman gave involved an employee at a mine whom supervisors wanted to bring into a management role, but didn’t have a bachelors degree.
That employee could get a bachelors degree from WWCC and not have to go to Laramie and UW, staying in Sweetwater County and at their job.
Bachelors degrees are available through UW and its distance learning centers, but are limited in scope.
According to UW’s website, the university offers online bachelors degree programs in business administration, nursing and family and consumer sciences. Other bachelor degree programs offered through combination delivery include psychology, criminal justice and social science.
“UW had heartburn over it,” Freeman said.
Representatives of the University of Wyoming did not support the bill.
According to the Laramie Boomerang, UW President Laurie Nichols told the Joint Appropriations Committee Jan. 15, the university should be the only provider of bachelors degrees in Wyoming, saying its unsustainable for states with small populations to have multiple institutions offering bachelor degrees. Nichols previously worked in South Dakota and told the JAC it has six state universities it struggles to support.
SF111 had 45 of 90 legislators listed as cosponsors, including local legislators Liisa Anselmi-Dalton, Tom James, Stan Blake and Clark Stith. Legislators from Albany County did not sign on to sponsor the bill.
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