Jackson College guarantees seats in nursing program for students transferring from area career centers
Ten seats per admission cohort will be reserved at Jackson College for students who have completed two years of healthcare training through local career centers and want to continue their studies to earn an associate degree in nursing, waiving the prerequisite courses usually required.
A new set of admissions criteria will be available beginning in the fall of 2022 at Jackson College. The Associate of Applied Science in Nursing – Registered Nurse program will save ten spots for graduates of local career training centers who may skip the standard point system to gain admission. The program can admit up to 54 students every fall and spring semester, but has not met that maximum capacity for multiple years, according to a news release from the college. The new initiative is meant to boost enrollment in the nursing program by removing prerequisites for those incoming students who have completed a two-year healthcare program at a local career center.
The Associate of Applied Science in Nursing – Registered Nurse program at Jackson College has historically been what is known as a secondary-admit program. This means that students must fulfill a number of prerequisite courses before applying to the program. This change in rules will allow prospective students to qualify based on the completion of another two-year healthcare program at a career center.
Associate Professor Erin Mazur MSN, RN, FNP-BC, who also serves as department chair at Jackson College, explains, "Many of our nursing faculty sit on advisory boards of the area careers centers, and the healthcare students do amazing things in their programs, so we want to give credit for the skills and knowledge they develop in their programs and give them an incentive to come to Jackson College." Mazur continued, "Now is the time to create this new pathway. I reached out to the career center faculty this summer to gather data, and it reinforced all the amazing things these career center students learn."
Applications for fall admission must be completed by May 31, 2022. Applicants who have completed a two-year program at a career center will have to provide proof of that and will also have to score at least 57 percent on an entrance exam.