The San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees adopted resolutions that support Senate Bill 895 and Assembly Bill 2104 at its board meeting on March 14.
These resolutions are for the Community Colleges Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing Pilot Program that authorizes select community college districts to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
The Senate bill, which was proposed by California Sen. Richard Roth, allows the chancellor of the California Community Colleges to select up to 15 districts for the program.
For the districts to be selected they must have a pre-existing program that is nationally accredited by the Associate Degree in Nursing.
City College has the No. 1 ranked nursing program in the county with the highest pass rate on the nursing exam, according to nursingprogress.org, an independent educational resource for prospective nursing students..
The two bills would allow City College to offer a bachelor’s degree in nursing at an affordable cost compared to other four-year university programs.
According to Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria who proposed Assembly Bill 2104, the nursing shortage is having a direct impact on California residents.
By allowing community colleges the ability to grant nursing degrees it will expand access to nursing careers, Soria said.
Budgeting for the program will be discussed at a later date by the SDCCD.
“We strongly want to advocate for this,” SDCCD Chancellor Greg Smith said, “I’d appreciate the board’s support.”
This would be City College’s second bachelor’s degree offered.
Last year, City College opened applications for the cyber security bachelor’s degree. Miramar College and Mesa College also started different bachelor programs in the same year.
To read more about City College’s first bachelor’s degree program, start here.
