Community Colleges In San Diego With Nursing Programs

Community colleges offer a quicker pathway for those looking to pursue a career in nursing. This blog post shares information on the community colleges in San Diego with nursing programs that you can enroll in and become a Licensed Practicing Nurse (LPN) in 2 years or less.

A community college is a higher institution that offers academic programs that leads to qualifications such as an associate degree, a diploma, and a certificate. It is an undergraduate institution that does not offer a bachelor’s degree but you can transfer credit from your associate degree, diploma, or certificate program to a 4-year college and graduate faster with a bachelor’s degree.

Academic programs offered at community colleges are practical-focused, they seek to equip students with practical hands-on knowledge and skills, and they are generally quicker to complete. Depending on what you’re studying and the pathway you choose, you can graduate from community college in 6 months but this is usually for a certificate or diploma course while an associate degree takes 2 years.

Community colleges are mostly preferred by those who want to quickly get into the workforce, those who prefer practical job roles over administrative positions, and those who prefer working with their hands. Of course, there could be many other reasons why many students would prefer community colleges, especially for the fact that the tuition is cheaper.

Some of the common programs students pursue in community colleges include nursing, web development, project management, physician assistant, radiation therapy, electrical engineering, cyber security, and IT. Aside from being the most popular courses they are also some of the highest-paying community college programs.

International students too can enroll in a community college and it can be a good option for them because their requirements are not tough to meet and neither are they expensive compared to a 4-year college. And you can even find cheaper options when you go through our list of cheapest community colleges in the US for international students.

From the topic, you already know what this article focuses on. The community colleges in San Diego with nursing programs are few but it wouldn’t hurt to at least know them and add them to your list to widen your option. Who knows, one of the colleges might turn out to be your choice.

Even though there are few community colleges in San Diego with nursing programs they offer multiple benefits for students to continue their nursing education at one of the top nursing schools in California. It takes 2 years to complete nursing at any of the community colleges in San Diego, the nursing program also prepares graduates to take the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses (NCLEX-PN) to enable them to obtain their license and being practice as LPNs.

As a LPN with one or two years of relevant work experience going to any 4-year college in California to become a Registered Nurse (RN) becomes very easy. Nearly every school will be willing to accept you, it is then left for you to choose a nursing school you think will give you the most opportunity. Also, you will complete the BSN-RN program in just 2 years.

Community Colleges In San Diego With Nursing Programs

Community Colleges In San Diego With Nursing Programs

The following community colleges in San Diego offer nursing programs:

  • San Diego City College
  • Southwestern College
  • San Diego Mesa College
  • Grossmont College

1.     San Diego City College

San Diego City College is a public community college in San Diego, California, USA with about 15,000 students and a student-faculty ratio of 24-1 according to US News & World Report. As a public college, it offers affordable tuition to San Diego residents and other US citizens. International students are also welcome to apply for any of its programs.

The San Diego City College offers a nursing program that ranks #2 in California and #3 nationally which makes it one of the best in the US. To apply, you must complete prerequisites with a minimum GPA of 2.5 or higher, anything lower your application will be rejected, and transcript. The nursing program takes 2 years to complete and the estimated cost for the entire duration of the program is $10,000.

Note that acceptance into the program is determined through the use of the California Community College Chancellor’s Office multi-criteria point system.  The multi-criteria point system includes, but is not limited to, pre-requisite course GPA in three science classes, a FIXED SET GPA, TEAS score, degrees, CNA, health care work experience, life experiences, and second language proficiency. Please see the general information packet.

2.     Southwestern College

Southwestern College is a public community college located in Chula Vista, California with over 14,000 students enrolled across degree programs, technical programs, and other certification programs. Amongst its many academic programs, the college offers a wide range of nursing and health occupation programs that prepare students for careers in nursing and healthcare roles or to further their education.

The nursing programs offered at Southwestern College are; Vocational Nursing, Operation Room Nursing, Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), and Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN). Whichever of these nursing programs you go for does not take more than 2 years to complete, some are completed in 1 year as well.

The entry requirements, fees, and duration for each of these nursing tracks all vary. The cost of the ADN program is approximately $8,164 – $8,487.

3.     San Diego Mesa College

This is an affordable public community college located in Clairemont Mesa in San Diego, California. It has more than 15,000 student population enrolled across varieties of academic programs. The 2-year college is the largest community college in San Diego and among the largest community colleges in California.

San Diego Mesa College offers a pre-nursing program that will help you transfer to a 4-year college and earn a BSN degree and become an RN. The pre-nursing course will equip students with an in-depth knowledge of the human body, conduct research, and operate laboratory technologies by crucial scientific methods. Applying to the pre-nursing program is free and the estimated tuition is $2,760 or $46/unit.

4.     Grossmont College

Last on our list of community colleges in San Diego with nursing programs is Grossmont College in El Cajon in the city of San Diego, California. It has a population of over 11,000 undergraduate students and the acceptance rate is 100%. Applicants looking to pursue any program at Grossmont College must have a minimum of 3.2 CGPA or higher to be considered for admission.

Grossmont College offers an Associate Degree Nursing program that prepares individuals for a national license to practice professional nursing in critical, acute, chronic, and home healthcare settings. There are two application periods per year for the ADN program which are in January and July. The cost of the ADN program at Grossmont College is $46 per unit.

As I mentioned earlier, there are quite a few community colleges in San Diego with nursing programs. You may explore 4-year colleges in San Diego and California as a whole to find more nursing programs.

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