Last week, outgoing Lake Michigan College president Bob Harrison explained Senate Bill 98’s potential impact on the southwest Michigan community.

The bill, designed to increase the number of four-year programs community colleges are able to offer, would provide the opportunity for newly trained professionals to further their education right here in southwest Michigan.

Currently, if students earn their associate’s degree in nursing at a local community college like LMC or Southwestern Michigan College, they must cross the state line or travel to other four-year universities like Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo to further their education. Students can become registered nurses with the programs, but there are many more job opportunities for nurses with four-year degrees.

The No. 1 reason students choose to attend community college rather than attending four-year universities is to save money. Many opt to live locally to stay closer to family or to cut living expenses.

Community colleges also offer flexible schedules that are easier for working professionals to fit into their schedule.

By permitting more four-year programs at the community college level, the state would be investing in our local communities, creating more advanced, better-equipped professionals and leaving them right here to invest back into our communities.

Of course we will likely never see the day where community colleges like the ones in Berrien and Cass counties can offer every four-year degree imaginable, but if the need is here and the personnel qualified to teach the material is here, why not offer programs that make sense for our communities?

When we send our students away to bigger universities, we hope that a good percentage of them will bring their skills home to invest back into their hometowns. If we can offer the same level of education and prepare more individuals for careers with never-ending needs at a more affordable cost to the students, it seems to be a no-brainer that we make the opportunity available.

We urge taxpayers interested in seeing this bill pass to contact their local senator and express support for the bill in order to continue providing more affordable opportunities in southwest Michigan, and continue training more qualified professionals right here at home.

 

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of Publisher Michael Caldwell and editors Ambrosia Neldon, Craig Haupert, Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.