A plan to help people get college degrees faster and cheaper has cleared the state senate with hardly a word of debate.

Decreasing state support for higher education is driving up on-campus costs for students. But Warrensburg Senator David Pearce hopes his bill makes it easier for people to start at the cheaper community colleges and more easily transfer to a four-year institution to finish up. 

The coordinating board for Higher Education will establish a special list of courses for all institutions that can be transferred to any two or four-year state college or university.

Pearce says that system will work in case of transfer—or reverse transfer in which students transfer from a four-year school to a community college where they can pick up an associate degree..

Pearce says most transfers between community colleges and four-year schools take place on a regional basis. But he says this plan will make the program more statewide.

He says that program will help students get their diplomas..and get jobs or move on to higher-division campuses. The list of core courses can go beyond 25 eventually. He says Oklahoma has developed 90 common courses that will transfer from community colleges to four-year schools.

The House has to approve the bill.

 AUDIO: Pearce Interview 4:50 approx