NC weighs community colleges offering 4-year nursing degree

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's community college leaders on Friday avoided a move toward offering four-year nursing degrees that would lead to new questions about the mission of one of the country's largest systems of two-year campuses.

The state's community college board opted against launching a feasibility study into the pros and cons of offering a four-year nursing degree. The board decided instead to develop online learning and expand the ability of graduates to further their nursing degrees at a public university.

This is the first school year North Carolina's community colleges and public universities have made it easier to earn an associate degree in nursing close to home and then transfer to a University of North Carolina campus for a four-year degree.

A study by community college leaders and health-industry groups examined ways to reach a goal of 80 percent of nurses holding four-year degrees by 2020 as the health care environment gets more complex.

On one hand, community college campuses are spread statewide so that they are readily accessible to anyone who wants to improve their credentials, the study said. On the other hand, community colleges would have to invest heavily in teaching equipment and qualified instructors to offer the higher nursing degrees.

Community colleges accredited to offer four-year nursing degrees could then offer bachelor's degrees in other fields, which would blur the line that separates them from traditional four-year universities, the study said.

The need for nurses with higher education isn't yet obvious, community College board member Breeden Blackwell said. He lobbies for seven southeastern North Carolina hospitals in the Cape Fear Valley Health System, which isn't planning to require a four-year nursing degree.

"According to the nursing shortage we have, we'll take any two-year nurse because we think they're just as good as the four-year nurse," Blackwell said.

But about half the state's hospitals are heading in the direction of four-year degrees, said Sam Powell, a community college board member who headed the committee studying the issue. That's largely because insurance reimbursements are higher when higher-skilled nurses are involved, Powell said.

Nine states have community colleges that now confer bachelor's degrees in nursing, according to the Community College Baccalaureate Association. But because the mission of two-year colleges is primarily workforce training, often for people who are studying while holding down a job, their bachelor's degree programs make up a very small fraction of school enrollments, association executive director Beth Hagan said.

Johnny George said he'd like the opportunity to complete his academic career at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte on his way to becoming an even-higher-trained nurse practitioner.

"I'd stay there and wouldn't go anywhere else. It's convenient to where I live," George said. "Plus, they already have a really good reputation with hospitals in the state for putting out pretty good nurses, so they have a leg up on some of the other schools."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the United States will need another 440,000 registered nurses by 2024. The government estimates the median pay for RNs was almost $67,000 a year in 2014.

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