La Voz

Twenty-four nursing students out of 250 program applicants this year will only be part of De Anza College's history.

The Community Foundation Silicon Valley gave De Anza a $1.08 million gift to expand its nursing program.

The cost to educate a nurse in De Anza's two-year program is approximately $13,000 per year, while current annual state funding for Foothill-De Anza is $4,376 per student.

De Anza can accept only 24 nursing students per year, although about 250 students qualify. With the scholarship fund, De Anza will be able to educate an additional 66 nurses over the next five years - an additional six students per quarter.

The gift will help support nursing students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Silicon Valley faces a severe shortage of nurses and other health care professionals to work in area hospitals.

The region's colleges currently produce 224 nurses each year to fill 615 local nursing jobs that become vacant annually. This shortfall is expected to be widening to 10,000 by the year 2020.

"The Community Foundation 's donor is most concerned about the future of health care and the tremendous nursing shortage in Silicon Valley," said Jeff Sunshine, director of programs for Community Foundation Silicon Valley.

"Additionally, our donor is eager to assist disadvantaged residents in pursuing meaningful and rewarding careers. The Community Foundation is delighted that we can partner with De Anza College to meet these two goals."

"We are thrilled and honored to receive this grant," said Foothill- De Anza Community College District Chancellor Martha J. Kanter.

"This will mark a significant step forward in addressing the shortage of nurses in Silicon Valley hospitals."

Students are admitted to the Nursing Program three times each year. The De Anza Associate Degree nursing program provides students with state-of-the art technology in the classrooms, laboratory and clinical settings.

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