Michigan Votes Forum

 As the State Superintendent raises high school graduation requirements (MME), somebody wants to "water down" nursing and give it a bachelors degree with only 2-3 years of schooling?  If someone wants a bachelors degree, then attend a 4 year college.   We need to raise the bar folks!  Also, I have never heard of a cement contractor with a bachelors degree in cement.  Don't they usually get something from a trade school like a license?

Let us try to fix the structural deficit in our state and keep our eye on the ball.

It does NOT state in the bill (if you were to read the text) that the community colleges would be able to offer the bacherlors degree in any less amount of time or qualtiy. It does state that there are 28 community colleges with associate nursing programs and 20 colleges with bachelor's nuring programs. With only 20 universities offering the degree, you would more than likely have to commute, and having time to go to college is bad enough without paying gas to go and spending another few hours on the road in a week! Do you have ANY idea what the cost difference is between a community college and universities? It's more than double in may cases. With the economic downturn, who can afford to pay double to get a degree in something that they can get a job in? Would you want to take years and years to pay off student loans for a nursing degree? It's not like they get paid as much as doctors!

Now, you could get a license to lay cement for an $8 an hour job, like for driveways and sidewalks. However, what about roads and highways and bridges and buildings? Wouldn't you rather have someone with more of an education working in those instances? Did you know that Michigan has the ONLY college in the United States to offer the unique Associate's degree of Cement Technology and that it's been around for over 30 years and that it's at a Michigan COMMUNITY college! 

From the Alpena College website "Industries such as cement producers, admixture suppliers, readymix companies, masonry manufacturers, precast/prestress corporations, engineering construction services, highway departments, and many others require the education obtained through this degree.

Concrete Technology graduates are in very high demand, commanding excellent salaries and receiving numerous job offers. Most students will receive 4 to 6 job offers upon graduating."

And from what I can tell, the only Universities to offer a bachelor of culinary arts are MSU and Ferris State?

Who are you to knock the possibility for people to further their education? Right now, our state is in an economic crisis, there are people with Bachelor's degrees waiting tables at Denny's (I know from 1st hand experience). The only upside to this crisis is that more people are going back to college! Now, when the state turns things around, we're going to be in a better position to help our economy. I would rather have our residents be leaders in many fields. Yes, an Associate Degree is nice, and there's nothing wrong with a certificate. However, it very well could be that location and cost are the limiting factors for a lot of Michigan residents.

 90% of the 4 year college degree programs are wallpaper,. This is the type of program that makes industry hum. Can you name any other training program for the concrete industry. Get rid of the degree programs that graduate waiters and Mcdonald's workers. Fund this one.

yeah,  I think this is a wonderful idea. Michigan economy is hard hit, so community colleges offering bachelor degrees will save people money, the hours of operation that community colleges offer is what is needed to advance forward if not this state is doomed for failure. So many older adults need to return to school to reinvent themselves and this will be the perfect tool for them to do so. Hopefully, the powers that be vote to pass this bill.