Three California community colleges have won approval to offer new bachelor’s degree programs, overriding objections from the California State University (CSU) system in a rare and significant move.
According to EdSource, the newly approved programs are: a cyberdefense degree at Moorpark College in Ventura County, a physical therapy assistant degree at San Diego Mesa College, and a transborder environmental design degree focused on urban planning in the CaliBaja region at Southwestern College in San Diego County.
The approvals mark a turning point in an ongoing battle between California’s two largest higher education systems over which bachelor’s degrees community colleges should be allowed to offer.
State law permits community colleges to grant bachelor’s degrees in fields with a labor market need, so long as the programs don’t duplicate what’s already offered at CSU or other four-year universities. About 60 degrees have been approved across the state’s 116 community colleges, most without controversy. But disputes over what counts as “duplication” have left more than a dozen proposed degrees stuck — some for years.
Community college officials moved forward with the three approvals after weighing years of deliberations and a report from WestEd, a research nonprofit commissioned by the community college system. The WestEd analysis examined CSU’s objections to 16 proposed degrees and found that duplication would be minimal for several of them — and that geographic distance between campuses is a relevant factor.
James Todd, the community college system’s vice chancellor of academic affairs, defended the approval process. “It is worth noting that an objection is not a finding of duplication,” Todd said, adding that the chancellor’s office uses a “multi-stage, evidence-based, and deliberately rigorous approval process.”
CSU pushed back. Spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith said the 22-campus CSU system was not aware of the latest approvals and remains opposed to all three degrees. She also criticized the WestEd report, saying it “included criteria outside existing state law and disregarded duplication criteria that had been developed and agreed to by faculty from all three segments.”
The WestEd report was especially important for San Diego Mesa’s physical therapy assistant degree, which faced objections from CSU San Bernardino, located 95 miles away, which offers a kinesiology degree. The report showed that very few Mesa students transfer to San Bernardino, and that the two programs lead to different career outcomes.
Greg Smith, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District, said the report showed that while some course content overlaps, the programs are not truly duplicative. “I think that gave the Board of Governors the confidence to say that whatever course duplication there might be, these are not duplicative programs,” Smith said.
The programs at Moorpark and San Diego Mesa had been in limbo since 2023. Southwestern’s program had been stalled since early 2025.
Separately, CSU recently dropped its objections to three other previously blocked degrees: applied advocacy and organizing at Oxnard College, field ironworker supervision at Cerritos College, and digital infrastructure and location science at Santiago Canyon College. The chancellor’s office has since given final approval to the Cerritos program and conditional approval to the Santiago Canyon degree, which still needs sign-off from an accrediting body. Ten other proposed degrees remain undecided.
Frustrated by the ongoing standoff, some lawmakers and advocacy groups are pushing to change state law. The Legislature could take up Senate Bill 960, which would bar four-year universities from filing duplication objections unless they are located near the community college in question.
The Community College League of California, an advocacy group, is also exploring a 2028 ballot measure to achieve similar changes. A poll commissioned by the League found that 80% of likely 2028 voters in California support expanding bachelor’s degrees at community colleges. The results were shared at last week’s Community College Baccalaureate Association conference in Long Beach.
Larry Galizio, CEO of the League, said the group plans to bring the polling data to state lawmakers and candidates ahead of the upcoming gubernatorial election. His preference is to change the law through the Legislature first — but he left the door open to a ballot measure. “But if it comes to it, we will look to see, can we put something on the ballot?” Galizio said.
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