Emma Champlin was a first-year nursing student at Fresno State in this October 2021 file photo by the Associated Press.

Nurse shortages have been the reality long before the pandemic, and the spotlight is on nursing schools to bolster the pipeline to hospitals.

The School of Nursing at Fresno State will partner with Fresno City College on the Nurse Pipeline Extension Project, a collaborative effort to increase health care professionals in the San Joaquin Valley.

Through the project, students earning their associate degree in nursing at Fresno City College who transfer to Fresno State will be on track to graduate with their bachelor’s degree in nursing in three years. The program is designed to be completed as a dual enrollment process to simplify achieving a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

While the goal has always been to increase the pipeline, this time Rep. Jim Costa recently secured federal funding of $475,000 to help both institutions expand their nursing programs.

The federal funds will particularly focus on first-generation students of color to achieve advanced degrees in nursing.

Costa set out to give funds to 10 projects that respond to pressing needs in the Valley. The funding for all projects totals $11 million. 

“These projects support underserved areas and foster economic development, providing more opportunities for folks to get ahead,” said Costa.

With the funding, the goal is to accept and graduate 75 new bachelor of science nursing students and five to 10 nursing master’s students annually. 

“The partnership between our nursing education programs at Fresno City College and Fresno State is one way we are responding to the shortage of BSN nurses within central California,” said Dr. Sylvia Miller, chair of the Fresno State School of Nursing. “The concurrent collaborative partnership promotes a seamless academic progression for completion of a BSN, while also bridging the gap between ADN and BSN programs. This will significantly reduce barriers to degree completion for our students.”