Always an interesting conversation, my group is a mix of 4 year degree'd engineers and 2 year technical graduates. Probably 30/70 mix, primarily due to not being able to find qualified people, so we are pulling from the local technical school.
First and foremost, 4 year or 2 year, you have to have the "knack" for industrial automation. If you don't, it will show and I think because there really isn't (at least to my knowledge) a true "Automation Engineer" discipline in the university's it's that much harder for an employer to find the right "fit" for their organization if looking for a 4 year candidate. My my graduating class, I can count less than a handful of people that where looking for a job as a "Controls Engineer".
I only discovered the career through a Co-op program I did during my schooling.
The other factor, you have to be a very "driven" person to continuously learning this industry, 4 year or not. If a person doesn't have that trait, it will show.
I believe that anyone with any type of engineering degree should be considered a candidate, not just EE. So Engineering Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science. I've meet good Control's Engineers with these backgrounds. It is unfortunate to see a company localize their recruiting, our organization is guilty of it, one of the reasons we struggle to find candidates.
I in my organization at least (Systems Integration), I am finding a "plateau" that our 2 year technical grads hit. They can program PLCs (to an extent), and produce basic SCADA systems. Beyond that they have trouble embracing/learning advanced concepts...scripting languages, databases, network architectures, servers, advanced math functions, PLC development (in-terms of creating code that meets the our software standard ideology), project management (financial tracking, communication to other parties, proper reports). The variety of courses the 4 year grad takes better equips them to handle the "non-PLC" responsibilities of a Controls Engineers.
There is a clear difference between 4 and 2 year grads concerning MS Office. Excel can be an extremely powerful tool, if you know how to use it.
That's my take, and again, things I mentioned can be overcome by anyone who is driven enough, but generally speaking that is what I am seeing first hand.