The governing board of the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) approved
the agreement at its May 14 meeting. The partnership allows cohorts of up to 15 nursing
students who graduate from City College to enroll seamlessly in the PLNU nursing program
each fall and spring. Students will pay $16,200, which includes fees, tuition and
books, for the major courses in the accelerated degree program that will yield a
Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree upon completing 12 courses totaling 36
units. That’s less than the cost of completing their bachelor’s degree at a California
State University campus.
The agreement between San Diego City College and Point Loma Nazarene University fits
a unique niche,” said City College President Anthony Beebe. “It accepts City College’s
Associate Degree Nurses and establishes an accelerated pathway to the Bachelor’s Degree
in Nursing. The great part about the program is that PLNU provides City College nursing
graduates a significant tuition discount and the students can take all the required
baccalaureate classes on the City College Campus, taught by PLNU professors.”
Courses through the PLNU program will be taught by PLNU faculty, and the university
will provide a full-time, academic advisor at the City College campus.
The partnership is one of several new programs in development at PLNU that seek to
serve new populations of students and allow PLNU to further meet workforce development
needs in the San Diego region and beyond. “PLNU is pleased to partner with San Diego
City College to provide increased access to students across the San Diego region who
wish to pursue their bachelor’s degree,” said PLNU President, Bob Brower. “This is
more than a simple agreement. It speaks to the collaborative relationships that exist
among San Diego’s robust and diverse higher education community and affirms our respective
institutions’ commitment to educational quality for the benefit of the region.”
Demand for nurses with bachelor’s degrees has grown sharply in recent years, and demand
for registered nurses in the state is forecast to grow by an average of 9,230 job
openings annually through 2022, according to the California Employment Development
Department. Part of that growth is being driven by the expansion of Medi-Cal and the
implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and much of it is being driven by retirements
of current nurses. A national study by the Institute of Medicine recommends that by
2020, 8 of 10 nurses should have a bachelor’s degree to meet the nation’s healthcare
needs. The median wage in 2014 for registered nurses in California was $95,415 annually
or $45.87 hourly.
“One of the most pressing needs in California is for more registered nurses, especially
more RNs with bachelor's degrees,” said Constance M. Carroll, SDCCD Chancellor. “Public
universities lack the capacity to meet this critical need and community colleges are
currently prohibited from offering bachelor's degrees in nursing or in any fields
that duplicate public university programs. Therefore, this agreement with Point Loma
Nazarene University provides a sorely-needed option for our nursing students to pursue
a baccalaureate on campus after completing their associate degree.”
City College’s nursing program currently offers an Associate of Science degree in
nursing that prepares entry-level registered nurses as providers of care across the
health and illness continuum. PLNU’s highly respected nursing program, which recently
celebrated its 40th anniversary, is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing
Education and licensed by the California Board of Registered Nursing. Learn more about
City College’s nursing program.
The partnership between City College and PLNU is not related to the new Baccalaureate
Degree Pilot Program that allows a limited number of campuses in the California Community
Colleges system to offer a bachelor’s degree. San Diego Mesa College in the fall
will begin offering a four-year degree in the rapidly growing field of Health Information
Management under the new law that was authorized by SB 850.