Oregon Coast Community College has been approved to offer its own four-year degree in nursing at a time when demand for nurses in rural areas is high.

The approval for a baccalaureate nursing program was granted by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. It followed the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s endorsement of the program earlier this year.

The program involves a consortium of six Oregon community colleges — Central Oregon, Chemeketa, Klamath, Linn-Benton, Treasure Valley, and Oregon Coast. The college’s bachelor’s degree program will be delivered primarily online and tailored to registered nurses already working in the field. It is expected to launch in the fall of 2026.

The college already has a successful two-year nursing program. Crystal Bowman, the college’s dean of Nursing and Allied Health, said the new bachelor of science in nursing degree program should be a game changer.

“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 “every single nurse” in the college’s 2024 graduating class had a job offer. Some of the college’s second year students who haven’t graduated already have offers, Bowman said, as employers seek nurses early to fill staffing holes.