State representatives Ann Meyer and Wendy Larson voted Wednesday for a bill that would enable community colleges to offer a limited number of baccalaureate degrees.

“It’s just good for our Fort Dodge workforce,” said Meyer, a Republican from Fort Dodge. “It will keep a lot of our Fort Dodge young people in Fort Dodge to join our workforce.”

There was a community college event in the Iowa Capitol Tuesday, and Meyer said during it she met with a couple of Iowa Central Community College students. She said they both told her that they would prefer to stay at Iowa Central to complete their bachelor’s degrees.

She said only community colleges that are at least 50 miles away from a school that offers bachelor’s degrees could begin offering such degrees. She added that the community colleges could only offer a limited number of degrees.

At Iowa Central, the potential list of bachelor’s degree offerings could include nursing, advanced manufacturing, accounting and education.

Iowa Central President Jesse Ulrich welcomed House passage of the bill.

“I appreciate that the House of Representatives identified that education deserts do exist in the state and that community colleges, which have time and time again shown that they are the drivers of workforce training, are positioned to meet the need,” he said.

The bill now awaits action by committees in the state Senate.

“I look forward to having the conversation with them,” Ulrich said.

A call seeking comment from Larson, R-Odebolt, was not returned Wednesday evening.