A California bill authored by Asm. Esmeralda Soria, D-Merced, proposes to address California’s nursing shortage by allowing community colleges to develop baccalaureate of science in nursing (BSN) degrees.
Fresno State and the California State University system oppose Assembly Bill 2104 as it is currently drafted. Here’s why:
Number of nurses
The bill might not increase the number of new nurses entering the workforce. The availability of clinical placements at hospitals and other healthcare facilities restricts seats in nursing programs. Just like doctors need residency placements, nurses need clinical placements, and many hospitals may be unwilling to increase current numbers due to the cost.
AB 2104 would not change the number of clinical placements available, so new community college programs would need seats for students. While the nursing shortage in California is a pressing issue, the most efficient and effective way to solve it is to work within the existing, established pathway programs.
Opinion
California taxpayers
The bill would place an unnecessary new burden on California taxpayers. Developing new four-year programs at community colleges is costly and slow — requiring a new curriculum accredited by the California Board of Registered Nursing, new faculty and new facilities such as those that already exist at CSU campuses.
Alternatively, expanding capacity in the CSU via new clinical placements would require a fraction of the resources needed to establish this new infrastructure at community colleges, and it could be implemented in a fraction of the time.
Costs for students
Community college students may not pay less to earn a BSN when compared to their CSU counterparts. Education Code (Section 78042) authorizes community college baccalaureate programs to charge tuition and fees at the same level as CSUs. For example, community college baccalaureate degrees in other healthcare fields, such as dental hygiene, cost approximately $20,000 for the final two years of bachelor degree courses, which is comparable to or more than the cost of a CSU degree.
In comparison, he average cost for a three-semester ADN-BSN program at Fresno State is $10,000.
CSU is already meeting the need
All 20 CSU BSN programs are nationally accredited and have licensure exam pass rates of more than 85%. Fresno State’s pass rate for the last 10 years is around 90%, boasting a 98% passing rate last year.
By contrast, only 43% of community college associate degrees for nursing programs are nationally accredited.
Fortunately, a cost-effective alternative to AB 2104 already exists. Many CSU campuses, including Fresno State, have partnered with community colleges to produce high-quality ADN-to-BSN degree programs with exceptional passing rates. This proven pipeline leverages existing resources, does not require additional clinical placements and can be scaled significantly to meet our nursing workforce needs at a fraction of the cost.
While Fresno State’s BSN program is severely impacted due to limited medical placement spots, there is no waiting list for the ADN-BSN program. With a $6 million allocation, we could increase the number of ADN-BSN graduates from 180 a year to 1,500. No other option will offer this return on investment.
Budget limitations preclude us from implementing this expansion on our own. Most of the ADN-BSN programs are hybrid or online, allowing diverse, place-bound students in rural communities to earn their BSN close to home. Fresno State already has robust partnerships with local community colleges and we stand ready to work with all of our regional partners to meet nursing workforce needs.
If we are serious about addressing the nursing shortage, let’s not create unnecessary, costly new nursing programs that will take years to bring online. While the CSU was not involved in the original drafting of this legislation, we would welcome the chance to collaborate closely with our higher education partners to collaboratively address California’s nursing shortage.
Dr. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval is the president of California State University, Fresno.
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