Oregon Coast Community College in Newport has been approved to offer its own four-year degree in nursing. The opportunity comes at a time when demand for nurses is high, particularly in rural places.
OCCC already has a successful nursing program, running through about 90 registered nursing students each year. Now, the only community college in Lincoln County is upping its game with a comprehensive Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
The healthcare career pipeline
Dr. Crystal Bowman, OCCC’s Dean of Nursing and Allied Health, said the new degree program is a gamechanger.
“This opportunity allows us to grow our own talent, maintain our own healthcare pipeline and feed the hospitals and clinics in our area,” she said. “It also helps our nurses too because it adds additional skills and additional education which translates to them as, ‘now I can get a raise and make more money to support my family in these rural areas.’”
The high demand for nurses is showing. Bowman said when she graduated her nursing class of 2024, "every single nurse on the stage had a job already. They didn't even have their nursing license yet, but they already had a job."
Some of Bowman's second year students (who haven't even graduated yet) already have job offers. She said employers are seeking out nurses early to fill staffing holes and the competition for new nurses is fierce.
The nursing shortage is real
Bowman said there is still a significant nursing shortage, across Oregon and nationwide. She attributed the dearth to several factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses aging out or taking early retirement and a situation known as the “silver tsunami.”
“It’s the first time in history that it’s ever happened that the older adult population outnumbers the number of children being born,” she said. “So now, as the number of working nurses has declined, there is this older adult population continually needing more care.”
On May 19, OCCC announced the approval for a baccalaureate nursing program, granted by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities on Monday. It followed the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s endorsement of the program earlier this year.
The college also noted the BSN program approval marks a major milestone not only for OCCC but for a consortium of six Oregon community colleges that collaborated to develop the new program: Central Oregon, Chemeketa, Klamath, Linn-Benton, Treasure Valley, and Oregon Coast.
Bowman said the BSN program at OCCC is delivered primarily online and tailored to registered nurses who are already working in the field. The program is expected to launch in Fall 2026.
Oregon Coast Community College, here seen from above, has been approved to offer accreditation for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. OCCC is located in the coastal city of Newport and is the only community college in Lincoln County.
According to Oregon Coast Community College, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program aims to address key needs across the state including access to degree programs, career advancement, workforce development and rural retention of skilled professionals.
