When the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) revamped its childcare rules in 2019 to require educators to earn more credentials, Aida Rodriguez decided to pursue her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. When it was time to choose a school, she chose the less common path.  

Rodriguez earned her bachelor’s degree in 2022 from North Seattle College, becoming one of about 16,000 students who earn a bachelor’s degree from a community college each year, according to the Community College Baccalaureate Association (CCBA). That makes up less than 1% of all bachelor’s degree recipients. 

With help from the DCYF’s Early Achievers scholarship, which covers up to $9,000 in tuition and books for bachelor’s degrees in early childhood education, Rodriguez feels the payoff for her community college-issued bachelor’s degree was “for sure” worth it.  

“I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for my bachelor’s degree and the connections that I made networking in the early childhood education field,” Rodriguez says. She is currently a professional development specialist at The Imagine Institute, a nonprofit in Washington that helps people start their own family home childcare business.  

Later this fall, Rodriguez is slated to serve as an adjunct at her college alma mater, leading a cohort of early care providers who are pursuing their education in Spanish.  

Employers See Little Difference 

Rodriguez may not be the only one who sees the value in community college degrees. A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that employers view job candidates who get bachelor’s degrees in early childhood education from a community college about the same as those who hold traditional baccalaureate degrees.  

The researchers compared callbacks for fictitious job applications from early childhood educators who earned their bachelor's degrees at community colleges and traditional four-year institutions. When reviewing the warmth of the messages that employers left, the researchers found that employers “generally” view community college bachelor’s degree applicants “similarly” to traditional four-year institution bachelor’s degree holders.  

“We find no evidence that employers systematically discount [community college baccalaureate] degrees relative to traditional bachelor’s degrees,” the study states.  

The researchers explained that this finding could represent community college baccalaureate degrees as a more accessible and affordable way for students to earn those four-year degrees without having to transfer to a four-year university.  

Since 2024, the number of community colleges that offer a baccalaureate has increased from 187 to 214, according to a report that the CCBA issued in May. Likewise, the report found that the number of community college baccalaureate programs rose from 678 to 763. 

Establishing which route is less expensive — community college or a four-year college — can be difficult, the researchers noted, because “sticker-price comparisons substantially overstate the affordability advantage” of community college baccalaureate programs. 

The cost of earning the degrees affects students through both personal expense and earning potential. This is especially the case, the researchers wrote, in a labor market that is “both extremely tight and highly constrained by salary budgets,” in which employers may prefer candidates with community college baccalaureate degrees because they have “comparable credentials at a lower expected cost.” 

Julie Ferin, executive director at the National Association of Community College Teacher Education Programs, says the findings raise important questions about how employers understand credentials within a field shaped by persistent shortages, low wages, high turnover and varied educational requirements. 

“For the field, the study reinforces the importance of helping employers understand community college bachelor’s degrees, the preparation behind them, and the workforce needs they address,” Ferin says. “It also points to the value of studying outcomes beyond initial employer contact, including hiring, compensation, advancement, and retention.”  

Despite questions about the costs and payoffs, proponents of community college bachelor’s degree programs say the findings bolster their cause. 

“Part of the philosophy or mission behind the community college baccalaureate degree is it gives students the opportunity to get additional education often times at the same institution where they started their educational journey and located close to where they live,” says Cheryl Calhoun, president and CEO of the CCBA. The association supports community colleges that “build and sustain high-value, career-focused baccalaureate degrees.” 

“It’s a more accessible opportunity for them,” Calhoun says. 

Leveling Up for Early Childhood Educators 

For early childhood educators, Calhoun says, the bachelor’s degree is a way to “level up” and become master teachers or directors. 

“They need more than just a two-year degree or just a certificate,” Calhoun says. “They need the additional skills that they gain from that degree,” she says, listing supervisory and management skills as skills students would acquire with a bachelor’s versus an associate degree.  

Rodriguez says she chose to get her early childhood education degree at North Seattle Community College because the school’s cohort model — in which students go through the program together rather than individually — “really resonated” with her. 

“A lot of the time you learn more from your peers than you do from the actual content,” Rodriguez says, noting that “people actually working in the field” enriches the learning experience. 

Now that Rodriguez is on the teaching side, she uses the insight she gathered from her peers to educate the childcare teachers of the future.  

“One of the things I tell my students in class is, I learn from them as much as they might be learning from my content, and they will learn from one another based on their lived experiences [and] their cultural perspective[s],” she says.