Ventura County Medical Center Partners With California State University-Channel Islands on Nursing Program
The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement under which the county will partner with California State University-Channel Islands on its planned bachelor's degree nursing program, the Ventura County Star reports. Under the agreement, the Ventura County Medical Center will give the university $38,334 toward the program. The board also authorized the Ventura County Community Foundation to manage a loan program that will forgive loans of $2,000 to $4,000 for graduates who agreed to work in the county for two years.
Through agreements established with other hospitals, the school will receive an additional $203,166 (Levin, Ventura County Star, 4/27).
The nursing program, scheduled to begin in June 2007, aims to address the state nursing shortage, particularly in Ventura County (California Healthline, 3/2). It will be the county's first four-year nursing program. Two-year programs are offered at Moorpark and Ventura colleges. Statewide, there are 94 two- and four-year existing nursing programs, projected to produce 40,000 of the 125,000 nurses the state expects to need by 2010, when the new program will have its first graduates, the Star reports (Ventura County Star, 4/27).