When Patricia Kelling’s son was born with severe heart problems years ago, she struggled to understand what was wrong.
“I didn’t know what the doctors were talking about,” said Kelling, who at the time was an office manager and had no medical training.
Finally, a nurse at her son’s cardiologist’s office explained the problem in simple terms. This sparked Kelling’s desire to help others in the same way. She told her husband she wanted to go back to school and become a nurse.
Kelling started her nursing education in 2002, but it wasn’t easy juggling family matters, a day job and her studies. After years of classwork and training, she now holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice, a longtime goal. In fact, she serves as the department chair of the Community College of Rhode Island’s Level 1 Associate Degree in Nursing program.
“I never gave up on my dream,” Kelling said. “I just struggled along, piddled here and there over the years.”
Kelling earned her doctorate through a partially online program at Rhode Island College. Had online programs been offered years ago, Kelling believes she would have gotten her doctorate much sooner and easier.
To ease that struggle for future nursing students looking to earn higher degrees, CCRI and RIC are launching a new program this fall that will provide a smoother pathway to a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. The program is fully online and will offer graduates of CCRI’s associate degree in nursing program the ability to transition directly into RIC’s bachelor’s degree program.
“It’s important that we have pathways that are accessible, affordable,” said Rosemary Costigan, CCRI interim president. “It will encourage nurses to continue on with their education in a way that allows them to also carry on with their lives.”
Most of the classes will be offered asynchronously – students can log on at any time of the day that works for them.
Along with moving classes online, the program shifts from the traditional model in which students take three to four classes during a 14-week semester to one in which they take one to two classes over seven weeks, said Justin DiLibero, interim dean of RIC’s Onanian School of Nursing. This is meant to offer a more immersive learning experience for students. RIC will also accept 90 transfer credits from CCRI, up from the previous 75 credits.
RIC and CCRI began working on the program about three years ago with plans to seek federal grants earmarked for programs that boost the nursing workforce, Costigan said. While RIC and CCRI didn’t get a grant, the program showed enough promise that the college proceeded with it anyway.
“These pathways are vitally important because it also opens the door to furthering the nurse’s education into graduate level,” Costigan said. “This is how we get nursing educators. This is how we get nurse leaders and researchers. So, these pathways from the associate degree to the baccalaureate is absolutely a foundational step in advancing the practice of nursing.”
Data shows that nurses with bachelor’s degrees are in higher demand from employers, and they have better patient outcomes and more opportunity to advance their careers beyond the bedside, said Leigh Hubbard, executive director of the Rhode Island State Nurses Association.
“It’s exciting to see two of our cornerstone institutions, CCRI and RIC, partner to provide a clear pathway for [associate degree] nurses to complete their BSN,” Hubbard said.
Unlike an associate of nursing program, which is more focused on clinical skills, bachelor’s programs teach more data analysis and research concepts, officials say.
To support the program, RIC will repurpose its resources for the in-person bachelor’s program to the new online one, DiLibero said, so there will be no additional cost. The program will start with 40 students a year – split in half so there’s 20 in the fall and spring – with the first cohort graduating in summer 2026. RIC is also in the process of doubling the program so there’s 80 students each year.
Avery Maynard, a single mother of three, just earned her associate degree in nursing from CCRI and is already enrolled in the new program. Like Kelling, Maynard struggled with balancing family responsibilities, work and school while pursuing her associate degree and worried about her ability to get her bachelor’s degree.
“It’s very convenient that it’s fully online because that gives me the opportunity to work,” said Maynard, who is working part time as a phlebotomist. “It was a great opportunity for someone like me who has a lot going on outside of school.”
