Santa Fe Community College Nursing Program Review
Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) was founded in 1983, operating in rented and temporally sites. The college was developed from scratch with the support of residents of Santa Fe. From rented property to its own permanent campus at Santa Fe, the community college has so much to show. As a community college, SFCC offers students credit courses for various 2-year associate degree programs, non-credits courses and adult learning opportunities to Santa Fe residents and beyond.
Nursing at Santa Fe Community College
The nursing program at SFCC prepares students to become registered nurses (RN) with a 2-year associate degree curriculum. Qualified candidates can join the program as freshmen or transfer students. The program also has an advanced placement option for Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) who wish to becomes registered nurses. The rather unique Paramedic to RN option is also available as an advanced placement option. The tracks are accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission and approved by the New Mexico Board of Nursing.
Associate in Applied Science (AAS)
The AAS nursing program at Santa Fe Community College is designed to enable students get into employment immediately. Candidates are expected to have completed all prerequisites courses in addition to a Basic Life Support (BLS) CPR course prior to applying. Admission into the program is competitive and selection is based on prerequisites and GPA scores. Selection is also based on residency where preference is given to New Mexico residents.
After admission, students are denoted as pre-nursing students until all general education and science course are completed. After this, students can re-apply again to be admitted in the nursing major. As freshmen, students complete 33 general education courses within the first year. Nursing courses constitute 38 credits totaling to 71 credits for the program. Nursing courses are designed to be completed in 15 months of full time study while it would take 2-3years to complete the entire curriculum for the AAS.
After successful completion of the coursework, students graduate with an Associate of Applied Science in nursing degree: a degree not meant for transfer but for workforce entry. Graduates also become eligible to take the NCLEX-RN exam to become registered nurses.
Entry Options
Besides the generic option of first-year admissions, the program also accepts licensed practical nurses (LPN), paramedics and re-entry students. The advanced placement students take differing times to complete the program depending on the number of credits accepted for transfer. This means that candidates joining through advanced placement have personalized study plans and completion times.
Articulation Agreements
Despite being an occupation-oriented degree program, SFCC has formed special articulation agreements to enable the graduates complete a baccalaureate nursing degree. In this view, students can take advantage of SFCC and University of New Mexico (UNM) articulation agreement into the university’s Registered Nurse (RN) to Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) program. Students planning to transfer to other 4-year colleges besides UNM must consult with their future school and academic advisor to ensure courses taken will be transferable.
Contact:
Santa Fe Community College
6401 Richards Avenue, Santa Fe
NM 87508
