California legislators have introduced a bill that would allow community colleges to offer students nursing bachelor’s degrees.
California Senate Bill 895, introduced on Jan. 3 by state Sen. Richard Roth, would allow 15 community college districts that already provide associate degrees in nursing to also offer bachelor’s degrees.
The bill would also reverse a state law that bans community colleges from offering programs already offered by universities.
Nurses are not legally required to have a bachelor’s degree to practice, but a growing number of employers and hospitals are requiring registered nurses to have one or to be enrolled in a bachelor’s degree nursing program.
Licensed vocational nurses are those who have completed a certificate program, which is usually offered at community colleges and takes about a year to complete. They practice under the supervision of registered nurses, who typically hold either an associate or bachelor’s degree in nursing, which typically takes two or three years of schooling.
Currently, there are 48 bachelor’s degree nursing programs, with 17 on California State University (CSU) campuses, six on University of California (UC) campuses and the remaining 25 provided by private universities.
In recent years, there has also been an increase in the state’s student enrollment in nursing programs.
Across the state, more than 9,000 new students entered these programs in 2021, nearly 2,500 more than the previous year, according to a 2023 report by UC San Francisco.
Advocates of the bill say it would help the field amid a statewide nursing shortage.
A spokesperson for the Community College League of California, a nonprofit organization advocating the bill, said in a statement that the workforce need has grown.
“We have nursing shortages like we’ve never seen before, and many of our districts are in communities that have workforce shortages,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Andra Hoffman, a trustee for the Los Angeles Community College District, told education news outlet EdSource that some reports show that California is facing a shortage of about 36,000 licensed nurses, adding that the number is expected to rise in the next six years.
“This tremendous gap continues to widen as current nursing baccalaureate degree programs have demand greater than their enrollment capacity,” Ms. Hoffman said.
The bill is expected to be heard in committee early next month.
