ARCC responds rapidly, expands opportunities

Hundreds of potential students lined up outside of Anoka-Ramsey Community College in hopes of being accepted into Anoka-Ramsey Community College’s two-year Registered Nursing (RN) Program or three-semester LPN to RN Mobility Program. These students will soon find out if they are part of the 120 who will be accepted into the RN program or 30 who will be accepted into the LPN to RN Mobility Program that are scheduled to begin Summer/Fall 2005.

“We’ve seen lines before but this huge number of potential students was unprecedented. Some people began to line up on Friday evening,” says Ann Holland, Dean of Educational Services.

Holland began visiting with the potential students while they were in line over the weekend. “I explained the process and that seemed to help them feel more comfortable with their wait,” she says. “Most people were enthusiastic about the possibility of being accepted.”

The demand for nurses is extremely high locally and nationally and the ARCC program has become well known due to the high graduation rates and exceptionally high average board passing rate. Last year, 93 percent of ARCC graduates passed the Minnesota Board of Nursing Exam for RN licensure on their first attempt. This exceeds the state average passing rate of 87 percent for associate degree program graduates. The state average first-time passing rate for baccalaureate degree graduates was 90 percent.

ARCC has expanded its nursing program in recent years. In 2000 there were 203 nursing students and by Spring of 2005, the college will serve more than 350 nursing students.

The nursing program continues to pursue other strategies to increase options for students, including the development of an accelerated baccalaureate nursing program for students who have a bachelor’s degree in another field. ARCC and North Hennepin Community College are collaborating with Metropolitan State University for the program, which has a projected implementation date of Fall 2005. The curriculum will be delivered on all three campuses, with the community colleges providing the lower-division coursework and Metropolitan State offering the upper-division coursework and conferring the BSN degree.

However, challenges to meet the demand for nursing education remain according to Holland. “The largest hurdles we face continue to be finding qualified, available faculty, finding clinical sites for training, lack of lab and classroom space on campus, and of course funding. Tuition and state reimbursement do not cover the costs associated with the nursing program.”

Another new program option seeks to remedy these problems through a unique collaboration between ARCC and Anoka Technical College (ATC). An evening LPN-RN mobility program has ARCC faculty teaching courses using classroom and lab space at ATC. The colleges received a $12,000 Carl F. Perkins Collaborative Curriculum grant to help develop the project. The first cohort of twenty students just began their coursework in June.

For those seeking entry into an ARCC nursing program, the next round of applications will be accepted Fall 2004 for the standard LPN to RN Mobility Program scheduled to begin in Summer 2005. The next round of two-year RN Program applications will be accepted January 2005 for the January 2006 start date.

ABOUT ANOKA RAMSEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Anoka-Ramsey Community College, with campuses in Coon Rapids and Cambridge, has been a leading provider of higher education and training in the north suburban area of Minneapolis/St. Paul and East Central Minnesota since 1965. Annually, the college serves more than 9,000 learners of all ages as they pursue associate degrees that transfer as the first two years of a bachelor's degree, or certificate programs that lead immediately to rewarding careers. Anoka-Ramsey Community College is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System.