Community college four-year degree program on hold

By Editor | March 25, 2026 |

By Jeff Snyder

Publisher’s Note: The following is an analysis by Chief Reporter Jeff Snyder on recent education legislation in the Iowa legislature.

MOUNT AYR, Iowa — Last week Governor Kim Reynolds signed off on a new pilot educational program designed to enhance the opportunities available to rural Iowa students looking to extend their education.
The pilot program, known as Iowa House bill 2649, would allow rural students to attain a four-year college degree all while attending their local community college. For Ringgold and surrounding counties that school would have been Southwestern Iowa Community College (SWIC), located in Creston, was identified as a qualifying facility for this pilot program.
In order to qualify for inclusion, the community college could not be located within a 50 mile radius of a university currently offering a four-year degree program. Additionally the degree offerings must be restricted to a specific curriculum, namely nursing, agricultural and information technology degrees. Other majors would also be included depending on the community colleges staffing and facility makeup. The thinking behind these industry identifications is that advanced degrees in highly sought after vocations would garner the best post graduate opportunity for rapid placement.
One additional consideration for extending these programs through local community colleges is the cost factor. Community colleges typically have a significantly lower cost to attend then do traditional four year degree programs. Affordability has long been considered a road bock to rural students seeking advanced education.
This bill passed with bipartisan approval in the lower house in Iowa’s congressional body. The next move was to forward the bill to the senate for their approval. It did not get out of the Senate Education Committee enabling it to be considered in this congressional session.
“Southwestern remains committed to ensuring the educational needs of our constituents are met,” Southwestern Community College President Lindsay Stoaks said in an email to the Record News. “The college will stay abreast of this issue, and we will look forward to future dialogue on this topic.”
Bills stall in the process regularly, but this one has a decidedly different feel to it. According to senators who were willing to go on record it was felt that the competition that this specific legislation would create among traditional four year colleges and community colleges would introduce an unnecessary friction point in the current traditional set up. They went farther by indicating that community colleges already provide continuing education opportunities for the “types” of graduates that are needed in the workforce currently. The implication was that the marketplace needs more workers that focus on the trades and not typical white collar employment.
It is not the job of the legislature to single out students and steer them to the workplace vocation of its choosing on the basis of what they believe the market needs independent of the students chosen course of study. This decision is entirely up to the individual student and their own ambitions.
Additionally, it is not the legislature’s job to protect universities and private colleges by eliminating competition in the marketplace. The current business model propping up higher education is predicated on the student gaining access to college loans that are a financial arrangement between the student and the lender. The colleges get paid regardless of the quality of the finished product that comes out of their system.
There are multiple instances where a students graduate with degrees that provide little assistance in procuring a job in their field. Many students already venture into the work force already saddled with student debt, while the universities that promised a bright future fades into the past.
Students from Ringgold County along with many of their surrounding communities face the same challenges. New generations are introduced into the community each year. Many of these students face uncertain futures due to the ever-changing landscapes in industries that no longer provides as stable a financial as in previous generations.
Farming and agriculture businesses aren’t going anywhere soon, but the future worker needs all the educational access they can get in order to compete. Affordable options such the plan proposed by the governor and which passed the House would have provided a much needed and affordable option to rural students to achieve and earn a four-year degree.
The legislature needs to advance these bills and allow industry to worry about competition. Choosing winners and losers has never worked at the governmental level. Oversight is fine, but overreach is counterproductive and potentially destructive.