Hudson County Community College Nursing Program Graduates Rank in State’s Top 10 of Passing NCLEX Exam
April 4, 2017
April 4, 2017, Jersey City, NJ – The New Jersey Board of Nursing/National Council of State Boards of Nursing posted the pass rates for nursing school graduates who have taken the NCLEX for the first time. The posting shows that 93.75% of graduates of the CarePoint Health School of Nursing at Hudson County Community College passed first time out, placing the program in the top 10, both for passing rates among all New Jersey Registered Nursing programs and among all New Jersey associate-degree, Registered Nursing programs.
NCLEX – the National Council Licensure Exam – is a standardized test that each state board uses to determine whether or not a graduate is prepared for entry-level nursing. The NCLEX covers categories of patient needs such as: safe, effective care environment; health promotion and maintenance; psychological integrity; and physiological integrity.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nursing is one of the fastest-growing occupations in the U.S; it is predicted there will be 439,000 new nursing jobs opening between now and 2024. The need for nurses is expected to continue growing and may reach crisis proportions as the aging nursing workforce retires and the demand for health care services soar because of the Baby Boomers aging.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports the median salary for a registered nurse was $67,490 in 2015, with the top 10% of RNs making more than $101,630. Moreover, it has been reported that because the demand for registered nurses has become so acute, some hospitals and health care organizations are offering signing bonuses of up to $10,000.
The CarePoint/HCCC Nursing Program offers an Associate of Science degree that prepares graduates to be eligible for the state licensure examination required for registered nurses. The program is sanctioned by the New Jersey Board of Nursing and the ACEN – the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc. It has joint admission agreements in position with a number of four-year schools, including Saint Peter’s University and New Jersey City University, which enable HCCC graduates to transfer seamlessly to upper division BSN programs.
The Nursing Program was offered as a cooperative program with CarePoint Health-Christ Hospital for more than 15 years and will remain so until the Class of 2017 graduates. The program was physically relocated to the College in 2015. Students now take classes on the College’s Journal Square Campus, and fulfill their clinical training at local hospitals.
The CarePoint/HCCC Nursing Program faculty includes qualified and experienced instructors who hold at least master’s degrees. Students have the advantage of learning in a facility equipped with the newest technologies in nursing as the HCCC Cundari Building was renovated specifically to accommodate the program and includes state-of-the-art simulated rooms in various hospital settings (pediatrics, OB/GYN, general medicine, orthopedics, ER, and more). Each area is equipped with interactive practice mannequins, and there is even a mannequin that “gives birth.” In addition, this Fall, the College will hold ribbon-cutting ceremonies for its new six-story, 70,070 square-foot, $25.9 million, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Building, which is adjacent to the Cundari Building.
Hudson County Community College has been recognized as one of the best higher education options in New Jersey. HCCC students save $7,500 to $31,000 in average tuition/fees over what they would pay at a public or private New Jersey college/university, and 83% of HCCC students receive financial aid or scholarships. The recent “Equality of Opportunity Project” ranks HCCC in the top 120 of 2,200 colleges and universities in the U.S. for social mobility. The study reveals that HCCC works as an engine of social mobility, helping working class students achieve the American dream of a middle class lifestyle. It shows that while 36.3% of students from HCCC come from the lowest fifth of the economic spectrum, 11% of those students end up in the top fifth of the economic spectrum, and a very large percentage of students achieve incomes that place them in the top three-fifths of the economic distribution.
The College has scheduled an open house on Saturday, April 29 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the College’s Culinary Conference Center, 161 Newkirk Street in Jersey City.
The $25 application fee will be waived for those who apply to the College at the event.
Additional information about the HCCC Open House and the RSVP is available online at https://www.hccc.edu/admissions/admissions-events/open-house.html.