NMC hopes to have bachelor's degrees

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NMC, seen here Tuesday, is working toward awarding bachelor's degrees. Record-Eagle/Keith King

September 22, 2010

BY SHERI McWHIRTER smcwhirter@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Wed Sep 22, 2010, 07:11 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — Michelle Bennett would love to earn a bachelor's degree in nursing from Northwestern Michigan College.

Bennett, 31, of Lake Ann, is working on her nursing certificate but hopes Traverse City's community college one day can offer a four-year nursing degree.

"I have a family, so it's not possible to go elsewhere for school," she said. "I think a lot of people who come to this college are not straight out of high school, so it's not possible for many to up and move to a university."

That's the idea behind NMC's support of legislation in Lansing that would allow it and other community colleges to offer bachelor's degrees in nursing, culinary arts, concrete technology and maritime technology. The state House approved the bill last week, and it now moves to the Senate, but it's unknown when lawmakers will take it up.

NMC officials said the plan is to offer a maritime bachelor's degree, followed by a nursing degree, should the Senate and governor's office climb aboard. A culinary arts degree could come later.

"NMC wants to offer bachelor's degrees because we offer all the core classes, particularly in maritime," said Stephen Siciliano, the college's vice president for educational services.

The college offers a maritime degree through the business program at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. Students could save up to $10,000 by completing a maritime degree at NMC, rather than enrolling in FSU's business department, Siciliano said.

Student savings also could be found through a new NMC nursing degree, he said.

"I think we have a very strong case. This is about the students," Siciliano said.

Some Michigan universities lobbied against the proposal, arguing the measure would increase competition for state higher-education dollars and would steal students from four-year institutions.

"I certainly understand the impetus behind that legislation to make these degrees more widely available," said Marc Sheehan, a Ferris State University spokesman. "The real concern is that is going to spread limited state resources that much further."

Competition for students would be an inevitable result, Sheehan said.

Siciliano disagrees with that argument, noting long waiting lists for certain programs, particularly nursing.

"What we're doing is not taking away from universities but offering the state greater capacity for these academic programs," he said.

Patricia Murner, 38, of Traverse City, is a deck student in NMC's maritime program. She has no complaints about her academic plan through FSU but said there could be some benefits to an all-NMC program.

She takes some classes at NMC and others at the University Center off Cass Road.

"It would be more convenient, so that would be good. Why go to the U.C. if you could get it all here in the same building?" Murner said.

Mike Hansen, Michigan Community College Association president, said his agency will continue to lobby state senators to approve the bill, but he doesn't think it will come up until after the November election. That means lame duck politicians may be deciding the issue, he said, as well as those trying to cater to a new governor and newly elected lawmakers.

"We're still hopeful that the policy is so good that it will be approved," Hansen said.