Amid daunting budget cuts in higher education, Bellevue Community College (BCC) is proposing a bill that would expand the institution to allow for select four-year degree programs.

In a public hearing in the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee Friday, Jean Floten, President of BCC, said, “This is precisely the time to help our students who are now taking time out of these tough financial times to invest in themselves for their future.”

While the bill does not require state funding within the next two years, it raises concerns in the UW community and higher education communities around the state, which are facing millions in budget cuts.

“[Higher education budget] cuts of that magnitude are devastating, and it’s going to take us some years to recover,” said Ann Daley, executive director of Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB), at the hearing.

Kenyon Chan, chancellor at the UW Bothell, said in the hearing that attention should be focused on the UW’s two and WSU’s three branch campuses before further institutions are considered.

“Our work is not done,” he said of the branch campuses. “While these campuses have matured into fantastic resources for Washington, they are by no means complete. Each of these five campuses has a land capacity of far more growth... [they] have not reached enrollment scale that the Legislature has intended.”

The bill being proposed would change BCC’s name to Bellevue College (BC) and would include BC with the six other universities overseen by the state’s HECB.

Floten said the degrees BC intends to offer will not overlap with programs at the UW but will instead focus on high-demand professions.

Supporters of the bill emphasize its long-term benefits to the state’s economy and its service to underrepresented populations.

“The degrees we’re talking about in these proposals... are driven by what the workforce needs on the Eastside and King County,” said Sen. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island. “We think this is an opportunity for the state, and we think that it is an opportunity that is a particularly low-risk one.”

Proponents say BC would offer higher education to nontraditional college students who are “place-bound” or do not have financial means or high enough GPAs to transfer to other universities even if admission space was available. The UW just recently turned away more than 300 transfer students for spring quarter because of lack of space.

“There are thousands of people who are not accepted here at the [UW], still have good grades and can’t pick up and move to Bellingham because of family situations and because they’re not your typical, just-out-of-high school students,” said Bob Adams, public information director at BCC.

According to the bill’s fiscal note, projected state costs start at $36,000 for 2009-2011 and rise close to $12 million for 2013-2015.

Full-time student tuition rates are estimated to be $4,800 per student annually, assuming that the state subsidizes $6,300 per each full-time student.

At the UW, in-state students are subsidized $7,701 by the state annually.

Floten said BC would be willing to start three self-supporting degree programs next year, including two in high-demand health care occupations and a third in interior design with a focus on green design.

In 2007, BCC piloted its first four-year program, which offers a bachelor’s degree in radiation and imaging science. The program has more than 60 students and will graduate its first class this June.

Floten said BCC does not intend to abandon its community college mission, but is simply “looking at a hybrid institution that keeps the first two years of community college and adds very select upper division degrees that lead to four-year institutions.”

Evergreen State College also opposes the bill, and Central Washington University has expressed concerns.

Reach reporter Emily Lee at news@dailyuw.com.