Santiago Canyon College’s nursing program enables students to become certified nursing assistants and sets them on the path to employment in the growing health care field. Soon, three more medical certifications will be added to the program.
Employment in health care is expected to grow much faster on average than other occupations from 2022 to 2032, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“There is no lack of jobs,” said Christine Gascon, SCC’s dean of instruction and student services, continuing education. Gascon oversees the short-term vocational department, which offers certificates that qualify students for specific jobs. “One of the biggest areas that’s booming in my division is health care,” she said.
By state law, noncredit continuing education programs at community colleges like Santiago Canyon College are tuition-free. “We’re really here for the basic needs of our community,” Gascon said.
For-profit institutions offer similar programs to achieve these same certifications but for a fee of $1,500 or more, according to Gascon. But at SCC, the medical occupations certificate programs can be obtained at no cost. “We want to be the not-best-kept secret in Orange County, but we really are,” she said.
The continuing education department attracts people from the community who want to further their education, she explained. “It might be that they didn’t get their high school diploma, so we have a full high school diploma program. It might be that they’re recent immigrants and they don’t speak English, so we have a full ESL program. We also have a citizenship program. All these programs assist them to come up to a level where they would be successful in going to a full college, if that is their route, or going into the workforce.”
SCC’s certified nurse assistant program began about five years ago with one cohort. Today the college offers four cohorts per semester; each cohort consists of about 15 students. The…
Read the full article here