Bellevue College - Expansion of Four-Year Degree Programs

Expansion of Four-Year Degree Programs

In 2009, Bellevue College promoted bills in the Washington State Legislature to greatly expand its four-year degree programs. It also changed its name from Bellevue Community College to Bellevue College in anticipation of this. The bills did not pass, but they would have allowed the college to offer more four-year degrees (it currently is only allowed to offer two) and would have put the college under the oversight of the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board, among a few other changes. Part of the reason that the bills did not pass was that the University of Washington opposed it, saying that any extra higher education money should go to its campuses in Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma, and not to a new college. Yet, public comment and community response to the college's request for expanded four-year programs has been overwhelmingly positive.

The President of Bellevue College has indicated that she will continue to push for the expansion. In the meantime, however, the state higher education board did approve a second major, a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Interior Design, which will start being offered in January 2010.

In late 2012, it was announced that Bellevue would soon be offering two more bachelors degree programs. The programs to be offered are Nursing as well as Information and Systems Technology.

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