Efforts to extend Cal State University doctoral degrees to include a doctor of nursing practice degree and a doctor of physical therapy degree have passed both legislative houses in Sacramento and are currently awaiting the Gov. Schwarzenegger signature, according to President F. King Alexander.
Assembly Bills 867 and 2382, authored by assemblymen Pedro Nava and Juan Arambula are answers to a growing need of nurses in California and the rising degree requirements to practice the fields of nursing and physical therapy.
AB 867 would permit CSU to offer a DNP degree and help train more faculty to educate future nurses.
“The Sacramento Bee reported, AB 2382 addresses the issue of national body that acredits physical therapy schools requiring doctoral degrees for a school to be accredited. This means if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t sign the bill, CSULB – along with Sacramento State and Northridge, will lose their accreditation.
According to the bill analysis by Anthony Portantino, chair of California’s Assembly Committee on Higher Education, ” CSU’s 18 pre-licensure nursing programs are full and unable to expand, in part because there are not enough faculty abailable to meet the low student-to-facult ratios required by accreditors and licensing boards for these programs.”
“In addition,” Portantino continues, “CSU points out that it will be able to train more advance practice nurses, which may be the educational level necessary for certification in the future.”
Currently, only the University of California is given authority to in public higher education for doctoral degrees in public education for doctoral degrees and for instruction in law, medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine.
In 2005, an exception was made to allow CSU to offer the Ed.D degree because studies showed that California California was fell behind the country in Ed.D degrees and UC did not offer Ed.D programs.
There is a price to pay for these new programs, though.Tuition will go from $17,000 to $42,000 for students to get the required degree to practice in physical therapy.
Also, doctoral degree programs are more expensive to operate in that baccalaureate or master’s level programs, and nursing programs are some of the most expensive in the CSU system.
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