Iowa's community colleges told lawmakers this year that portions of Iowa are lacking access to a higher education and one solution to eliminate "education deserts" is to offer bachelor's degrees at their institutions. But community colleges argue the study misidentifies higher education deserts and says the state could still benefit from four-year degree programs at their schools. "Higher Education and Workforce Alignment in Iowa: Final Report" was prepared for the department of education by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) after the department contracted the nonprofit consulting organization in December, according to the report. Community Colleges for Iowa Executive Director Emily Shields disagreed, saying the report's definition of education deserts doesn't fit into reality and it identified areas of Iowa where in-person higher education is sparse, partnered with stakeholders expressing dissatisfaction with online education. Education deserts versus broad accessShields and Steinke differed in their opinion on how the report categorizes "education deserts" and how access to higher education is spread across the state as shown in the report.