City College Nursing School Should Prioritize SF Residents

By Chris Jackson

In the Fall of 2007, of the 648 qualified applicants that applied for City College's Nursing Program, 80 students were admitted. Of the 80 students that were admitted into the nursing program, only a paltry 38% were actual residents of San Francisco.

City College of San Francisco's mission is to educate the next generation of San Franciscans and to provide workforce development for the city. That is why I was dumbfounded to hear that City College does not give preference to residents of San Francisco who apply to its Registered Nursing Program and postponed a measure to do just that. This came after the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to urge City College to give San Francisco residents preference in admissions.

In the Fall of 2007, of the 648 qualified applicants that applied for City College's Nursing Program, 80 students were admitted. Of the 80 students that were admitted into the nursing program, only a paltry 38% were actual residents of San Francisco. The fact that 648 qualified students applied for the 80 positions available shows that CCSF's nursing program can be wholly or largely filled with residents of San Francisco.

Now let me be clear. No one is advocating for the exclusion or keeping out students from other area in the Bay Area, but I strongly feel that San Francisco residents have an urgent need and desire to be trained for living wage jobs. City College's priority should be to train San Franciscans first. With homicides and other crimes of poverty in the City on the rise, I believe that education, and the access to education, is the key to solving these societal problems and moving us forward as a community.

We need these nursing student slots to go to San Francisco residents. The economic reality in San Francisco is that while the number of upper income jobs in tech industry and the managerial sector has grown over the past three decades, the number of traditional, middle-income working-class jobs has declined.

But nursing is an exception. California has failed to train enough nurses to keep up the ever-increasing need for their services. According to the California Legislative Analyst's Office, the state could be short 40,000 full-time nurses by 2014. Giving preference to San Francisco residents will not only give San Franciscans the skills they need to find well paying jobs, but will help the city fill its impending nursing shortfall.

San Francisco desperately needs more working and middle class jobs. We need to stop the flight of the middle class from this city in order to maintain our economic as well as our cultural diversity. Other community colleges, including College of San Mateo and College of Marin, have recognized their needs, and consider residency in their admissions to their nursing programs. San Francisco should as well.

On June 27, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution authored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, urging City College to pursue giving San Franciscans preference in their nursing program. It is time for City College to act!