St. Clair College will offer full nursing degree

 

St. Clair College is working and discussing a pathway to develop an arrangement to deliver the full Nursing degree at the college with the University of Windsor. 

 By having a full nursing degree at the college, St. Clair officials believe students will experience reduced stress levels from not having to relocate for years three and four of the program, improving focus on academic studies.  

 Waseem Habash is the vice president academic for St. Clair College and said the students will receive an advantage from the college’s full nursing degree.   

 “For students who attend a college in a remote location such as Chatham, they do not have to commute two hours a day to the university or relocate to a new residence for two years,” said Habash. 

 According to Habash, colleges have been advocating this change for years. The Ministry of Education has been conducting research related to feasibility and benefits from this kind of change. The decision is extremely beneficial to students, so it was no surprise to the college that this was the result.  

 Marline Amertil is a high school student currently set to enter the university’s nursing program next year and said if she had the option, she would have chosen the college.  

 “It honestly sucks because my tuition is around $7,000 per semester,” said Amertil. “University is not hands on its just lessons, I know there is placements you do for first year but I feel it would have been a better experience just to go to college.” 

 Habash said graduation rates for nursing are high across the entire province already and he believes if students do need to relocate or commute for school, rates may rise even higher.

 John Coleman is the director of public affairs and communications for the University of Windsor and said it is still a bit too early to be making and detailed comments about the decision.