Iowa lawmakers eye community college degrees, public university courses for 2026

As Iowa lawmakers prepare to come together once again for the legislative session, beginning in January, those involved in higher education have turned their eyes to the academic offerings of community colleges and public universities, building on conversations that began last year.

Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, has maintained his role as chair of the House Higher Education Committee after its creation last legislative session. While the Iowa Senate has no committee specifically for higher education in the state, Education Committee Chair Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, said there are a few topics in the area he “would encourage people in both chambers to focus on.”

“We’re looking forward to another very productive session,” Collins said.

Proposed changes to community college degree programs

Much of the interest in higher education from lawmakers for the upcoming session revolves around community colleges and the potential expansion of their offerings to students entering programs designed for high-demand careers.

Both Collins and Evans said they’d like to see community colleges, especially those in places without four-year colleges and universities, offer baccalaureate degrees in areas including health care, education, manufacturing and more.

Community Colleges for Iowa, the state’s association of community colleges, conducted a study exploring the pros and cons of bringing bachelor’s degree programs to the institutions at the request of lawmakers last legislative session. The report found that with additional state support, community college control over what programs are offered and the faculty and capacity to make new programs work, having community colleges offer bachelor’s degrees could provide more access to education for place-bound Iowans and strengthen the state’s workforce.

Collins said he found the report “really informative,” and he’s heard from community college presidents and governing board members that expanding degree options at community colleges would be especially positive for rural areas like those in southern Iowa. He added he will introduce legislation this year to make bachelor’s degrees at community colleges a reality.

“This really isn’t an experiment. Iowa would be joining 24 other states who already offer community college bachelor degrees, in high-demand fields like nursing, teaching or business,” Collins said. “It would really be a great benefit for the areas of our state that are in a higher education desert.”

Community colleges are a “hidden gem” of Iowa that Evans would like to see the state do a better job of promoting, he said — not only the education they provide to Iowans, but the ways they can improve Iowa’s workforce and economy, especially in the areas of health and education. It wouldn’t be a very difficult lift to turn RN programs into BSN programs, he said, and as long as efforts are targeted toward needs shown by Iowa Workforce Development and its data, community college bachelor’s degrees could help keep students in Iowa and working in much-needed jobs.

Evans said he wants programs to be implemented in a way to not cause undue competition between community colleges and public and private universities. Collins, however, said he believes that any competition to come out of changes to degree offerings would be “the result of egos being put front and center, rather than the students who could stand to benefit from this.”

With the “great level of cooperation” between the community colleges, private colleges and public universities, Collins said he doesn’t see these changes as creating direct competition. He said “a totally different type of demographic of student,” like those who are place-bound, is being targeted, and mainly in areas of high demand where programs at other institutions might already have waitlists.

Plans for more academic program, core curriculum review

In addition to bachelor’s degree programs at community colleges, Collins said he will introduce “a number of study bills” during the first week of the 2026 legislative session, and plans to bring in presenters to meet with the higher education committee and dig into issues it is exploring.

The Iowa Board of Regents conducted a review of academic programs and their alignment with state workforce needs this year, after lawmakers discussed passing legislation to require such a review last session. While Collins said he was impressed with the report itself, he was disappointed the board didn’t take any action to eliminate low-performing or low-enrolled programs.

As a result of this lack of action, Collins said the Higher Education Committee will “be taking a hard look at spending on certain academic programs this year,” like those relating to social justice and gender studies, and redeploying funding from them to high-demand fields like nursing and teaching.

Evans, who said he hasn’t read the report but is “eager” to go over it, said it’s no secret that higher education is expensive and lawmakers need to look at workforce needs and align them with degrees students pursue, whether they are at a public or private institution.

“We want to make sure that our students are directed to degree programs that have a job waiting for them, especially a job waiting for them here in Iowa,” Evans said. “We have a number of sectors that are growing in our state that we need to be pointing our best and brightest toward and doing it at a reduced cost, or at least the most efficient cost we can for parents and students.”

Echoing previous comments, Collins said he also plans to continue conversations started last legislative session around core curriculum, which he described as “a disaster right now.” In efforts to return Iowa public higher education core curriculum to the “true liberal arts education that it was meant to be,” Collins said he will introduce legislation to require three credit hours of American history and American government.

A bill that didn’t make it through the process to become law last legislative session would have codified general education requirements at Iowa’s public universities, with the inclusion of Western and American Heritage course requirements. As for work involving diversity, equity and inclusion activities on college campuses, Collins said the key now is to ensure the laws are followed and enforced.

“It’s my expectation that the laws we passed are followed, and if not, the Legislature is happy to take more corrective action to ensure that they are followed,” Collins said.