GRAYSON —
Kentucky Christian University and Ashland Community and Technical College agreed Thursday on a plan that will allow nursing students to start their college career at ACTC and then transfer credits to KCU.
Under the articulation agreement, students will take one year of prerequisites at ACTC and then transfer as sophomores to the Yancey School of Nursing at KCU to earn bachelor of science degrees.
Articulation agreements are designed so that coursework students take at the community-college level will transfer and count toward the four-year degree.
The agreement goes into effect in the spring.
Because they take a year of classes at the lower-cost community college, students save money over the course of their college career.
Based on KCU costs, students will save about $9,000, according to figures provided by the university.
“ACTC has a long history of excellent associate degree programs,” said KCU President Jeff Metcalf. “We are hoping to couple that with the excellence KCU has at the baccalaureate level.”
“We’re interested in raising the number of degree completers in the Tri-State area. It’s the foundation of economic development,” said ACTC President Gregory D. Adkins.
The agreement comes at a time when national nursing standards are rising, said nursing school dean Abby Beck. National trends call for 80 percent of nurses to have four-year degrees, she said.
It also comes at a time when KCU’s nursing program has the capacity to absorb more students, said vice president of advancement Larry Monroe.
While other nursing schools are turning students away, KCU has the capacity to double in size, he said.
The university also has just started the process to launch a program for registered nurses to earn baccalaureate nursing degrees, Beck said.
That program, which the university hopes will be ready for its first students in fall 2012, will be entirely on line and accelerated so that working registered nurses will be able to earn their four-year degrees in 18 months, Beck said.
Bringing more degreed nurses into the workforce is important because research has shown it improves patient outcomes and mortality rates and eases health care costs, Beck said.
MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or
(606) 326-2652.
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