The Brief

For Julio Rivera, transferring from a local community college to a bachelor’s program in nursing was always a top priority. As someone who enjoyed helping others, nursing seemed like a natural career. While caring for an aunt with renal failure and Type 2 diabetes, a conversation with her solidified the belief that nursing was his calling.

“She said, ‘You have it. You can really tell that you care about people,’” Rivera said.

The pandemic put a pause on Rivera’s education as hospitals had difficulty accommodating student nurses. Rivera applied to public programs in San Bernardino County, but many of them were severely limiting clinical training, or not accepting new applicants at the time.

Instead, the 33-year-old chose an increasingly popular option — a private nursing program that would have a six-figure sticker price but guarantee him a timely degree. After finishing his pre-reqs, he transferred from Mt. San Antonio College to the Ontario campus of West Coast University.

Private nursing schools are teaching more students each year, filling in the gaps as California hospitals face increasing staffing shortages and public, four-year universities struggle to grow. According to the California Board of Registered Nursing, in 2021 nearly 64,300 students applied for just 16,600 spots in associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degree nursing programs. About 55% of those spots were at private institutions.

Prospective registered nurses have several pathways to their career. Associate degrees typically take two years to complete before students can take the licensing exam to become registered nurses. Bachelor’s degrees take more time with more intensive training, and increase the likelihood of career advancement and preferable hospital placement.

Although public and private programs each graduated about 6,700 nurses from all levels of degree programs in 2022, private colleges graduated three times the number of students with bachelor’s degrees as public schools. Public programs accounted for over five times as many associate degree completions than their private counterparts.

While public programs cost a fraction of private school tuition, the number of students graduating from private programs has doubled over the past 10 years while the number from public programs has remained stagnant. Students who seek to complete a bachelor’s of science in nursing program in California and advance their nursing career are faced with a difficult and unpredictable cost-benefit analysis: Apply to competitive UC and CSU public nursing programs with average tuition prices totaling about $39,000 or secure an education at a private nursing program for an average of $130,000.

Qualified applicants clamor for coveted bachelor’s program spots

Sima Sadaghiani, a nursing student at University of San Francisco, knew she wanted to be a nurse after spending time in the hospital with a sick family member during high school.

“I wanted something that would help me grow and develop and change other people’s lives,” Sadaghiani said. While in the hospital, she saw how nurses play a role beyond just administering medication, oftentimes providing mental support and educating patients about health and wellness.

When Sadaghiani applied to nursing school two years ago, she applied to private and public programs all over the state. She said the process of getting into a UC or CSU nursing program felt “all by chance,” even if an applicant had perfect grades and pre-career experiences. When she did not get into the public programs she applied to, she chose University of San Francisco because of its small class sizes, proximity to where she grew up in the Bay Area, and diversity of the patients in the area.

Nursing students practice injection procedures in the clinical skills lab at the University of San Francisco in San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2023. Photo by Amir Aziz for CalMatters According to the state registered nursing board, the number of qualified applicants for bachelor’s programs has nearly tripled from 12,476 in 2012 to 35,474 in 2021, the last year for which this data is available. There was only space for about a quarter of the total qualified applicants statewide. The board serves as the licensing and regulatory body for all nurses in the state and is responsible for approving all expansions to nursing programs operating in California.

West Coast University boasts one of the largest nursing programs in the state, with 3,089 bachelor’s students across its three campuses in California, plus one in Texas and another in Florida. It costs around $146,000 to complete the school’s nursing bachelor’s degree.

Nearly 80% of students at West Coast University identified as being from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, and 21% of their students are male, said Dean of Nursing Katie Kay. The school also serves more “non-traditional” students, offering courses throughout the summer and clinical training on weekends to give students many options to complete their degrees.

High cost leads to high return on investment

Private nursing programs can cost up to seven times as much as public programs.

Oge Okoye, a sophomore at the University of San Francisco, cast a wide net when applying to nursing school as a high school senior in Sacramento. She focused on colleges that have direct-entry, meaning if she got into the university, she would be guaranteed a spot in the school’s nursing program. The University of San Francisco offered her a four-year, full scholarship through their Black Scholars Program, which prepares Black nursing students to work in underserved communities.

“It came down to finances,” Okoye said. As one of three children, she wanted to alleviate the financial burden on her parents when it came to college. Without the scholarship, she could not have afforded the University of San Francisco’s $226,000 sticker price, one of the highest costs of attendance among private bachelor’s nursing programs. Her backup plan was attending Gonzaga University, a less expensive option, which she would have paid for with loans, scholarships, and financial aid.

College administrators say that the nursing field’s stability and high salaries mean students are able to pay off debt without defaulting on student loans.

“Our graduates are averaging positions after graduation (that pay) over $100,000 a year salary, so they’re well-positioned to pay back any loans that they were using to complete the program,” Kay said.

The average salary for a registered nurse in California as of May 2022 was $133,000 — the highest compensation for registered nurses in the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Martha Buck, a doctoral nursing student at University of San Diego, attended the University of Alabama for her bachelor’s degree before working eight years as an emergency room nurse in various hospitals around the country. Buck said she chose to continue schooling and attend the private doctoral program in San Diego — regardless of the $168,346 price tag — because of its reputable curriculum and resources dedicated to clinical training.

“After weighing the different options at different schools, I felt like I was getting more bang for my buck or a better value coming to USD,” Buck said. “Even though it was more expensive, the program seemed more robust.”

Buck said her eight-year nursing career has been fulfilling, but she chose to get her doctoral degree because she desired a more independent career as a nurse practitioner. Certified nurse practitioners can diagnose ailments, prescribe treatments and conduct tests on patients while being paid $158,130 on average in California, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“I liked the idea of health care in general… I realized nursing is a really neat way to be around a ton of different people from different walks of life,” Buck said.

Despite the potential return on investment, the president of the California Nursing Association, Catherine Kennedy, said California could lose more potential nurses if admissions for public schools stagnate and private school prices remain high.

“I’ve talked to [prospective] nurses here in the state of California that can’t get into a program here,” said Kennedy, who has worked as a nurse for 42 years. “They end up going next door to Nevada, and they’re going to private schools, and it’s pretty pricey.”

Private programs expand despite challenges

To meet the demand for nursing education in California, 11 new private programs have opened in the past seven years — six of those between 2021 and 2022.

However, a shortage of nursing faculty has created another bottleneck in the field. Fewer clinical trainers and difficulties in attracting faculty have significantly impacted the training capacity of hospitals and universities. Private and public schools alike struggle to find the instructors needed to support and teach students.

“When I talk to clinical faculty, or I’m interviewing clinical faculty, and I tell them how much I pay, they’re like ‘I can make that much working a shift,’” said Eileen Fry-Bowers, the dean of the School of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of San Francisco.

The average yearly salary of a college nursing instructor in California is $104,000, which is $29,000 less than the average registered nurse salary, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nursing instructors must have clinical training experience, an advanced nursing degree, and one year of experience teaching or assisting in a classroom to become a certified instructor through the state registered nursing board.

Fry-Bowers believes there needs to be more incentives for nurses to fill teaching positions. She said that increasing workforce development grants, adding more scholarships for advanced nursing degrees, and reconsidering the requirements for nursing faculty would all help to develop more faculty to teach students.

Trainer shortages in hospitals

In January this year, the state registered nursing board set the requirement for clinical training to 500 hours of direct patient care. This hands-on experience is guided by trained nurses to prepare future graduates to support patients in hospital settings. However, hospitals are already struggling with a nursing shortage, which means clinical trainers are in short supply as well.

Kimberly Dunker, dean of nursing at Pacific Union College — a private, Seventh-day Adventist college in Angwin in Napa County — said clinical trainer shortages have had significant impacts. With 848 students in the program, Pacific Union graduated 67% of their nursing students on time in 2021, lower than the 85% statewide average, according to the state registered nursing board.

“If you don’t have [trainers]…that are able to supervise those nurses in the hospital setting, it really causes a delay,” Dunker said.

Eleanor Eberhard, the chief operating officer and chief nursing executive at Sequoia Hospital, a small facility in Redwood City, says the hospitals can only support so many students. The location trains between 15 and 20 students each semester, with two or three instructors working with the students. Nurses at the hospital are paid to work as preceptors, experienced nurses who teach in clinical settings.

Nursing schools are finding “very creative” solutions to prepare faculty to teach classes and obtain enough clinical placements for their students, Fry-Bowers said. The administrative staff at the University of San Francisco work with hospitals, which determine available shifts for student nurse training, and then the staff have to find faculty who are available at that time to work with students.

“It’s a puzzle, and [all the pieces] need to fit together in order for us to deliver the product to our already enrolled students, let alone increase those numbers,” Fry-Bowers said.

Nursing students practice injection procedures in the clinical skills lab at the University of San Francisco in San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2023. Photo by Amir Aziz for CalMatters Large programs like the University of San Francisco have over 100 clinical partners where students train, some as far as 60 miles away from campus.

“We’re competing with other schools,” said Tammy Valenta, program director for the Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing at Samuel Merritt University in Oakland. “Even though we don’t always get as many hours as we hoped for…our students graduate with at least 800, often more than that.”

Even with faculty and clinical placement shortages, Samuel Merritt University plans to support program growth by directing their training to more community-based, outpatient settings working with the elderly, mothers and children, or unhoused people.

West Coast University — like some other private programs — rotates students at different hospitals, private practices, emergency rooms, student health centers and various other clinical sites.

The future is expanding for nursing programs

Despite being outpaced by private program growth, some public nursing programs in California are expanding. Earlier this year, UC Davis received about $6 million and Riverside City College received about $2.7 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Labor to expand their programs. A $40 million gift from the William & Sue Gross Family Foundation will enable UC Irvine to double its faculty and enrollment over the next 10 years. In Huntington Beach, Golden West Community College’s School of Nursing received approval from the California Board of Registered Nursing to add 80 more students to its associate degree program. That will bring enrollment to 200 and add an option for students to also earn their bachelor’s degree in partnership with Cal State San Bernardino.

Nursing Association President Kennedy said that she believes expanding educational and professional pathways through community colleges and associate degrees could help to reduce the nursing shortage. This could potentially decrease pressure on private schools to continue enrolling with insufficient staff and address the financial burden of nursing programs on students.

“There’s a lot of barriers for kids that want to go into nursing at the community college level where it’s much cheaper,” Kennedy said. “Make (post-graduate employment) equitable for both programs so that we can get the nurses out of college and working.”

Topline:

Key topics: The candidates each had about 45 minutes to individually answer questions from Erin Stone, an LAist senior reporter focused on climate and environment.

Here are some of the topics they covered:

• Extreme heat
• Emergency preparedness and recovery
• Protecting communities from pollution
• Water
• Public transit

About the organizers: The event is organized by a coalition of local environmental and environmental justice groups including: Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters, SCOPE-LA, Sierra Club, Clean and Healthy California, Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance and Communities for a Better Environment

LAist will have more coverage and analysis of the conversations Friday morning.

The Trump administration is taking steps to advance a mysterious and unprecedented project to compile state-by-state lists of people it has decided are eligible citizens over the age of 18 who can vote in the upcoming midterm election. But it will no longer meet its own deadline to publish that information on a portal on Friday, which is 60 days before Election Day.

Department of Justice attorneys told opposing counsel in two separate lawsuits that instead of meeting the Sept. 4 deadline, they would give 48-hours notice to plaintiffs' counsel before the state citizenship portal was launched, according to recent court filings.

The U.S. has never attempted to create a comprehensive list of American citizens before this administration. Maintaining voter lists is the responsibility of states, not the federal government, as the Constitution dictates that states control elections. But President Trump has repeatedly taken steps to try to exert executive control over elections.

The basis for the federal government creating state citizenship lists is an executive order Trump signed on March 31. A lower court had blocked implementation of key parts of that executive order in 23 states and Washington, D.C., but the Supreme Court stayed that injunction late last month, opening the door for the plan to be implemented after all.

The March 31 executive order directs U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Social Security Administration to create "State Citizenship Lists" of individuals the agencies believe are citizens in each state, and send those lists to state officials "no fewer than 60 days before each regularly scheduled Federal election."

The next section of the executive order says the U.S. attorney general will prioritize investigating and prosecuting state and local officials who issue federal ballots to anyone not eligible to vote.

"States here have a strong incentive to actually use these lists to try to avoid federal investigation," said Jules Torti, counsel at the nonprofit Protect Democracy, in an interview with NPR. "But we know that these lists are going to be based on really inaccurate data. So the risk of disenfranchisement here is really, really palpable."

The privacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center, along with individual voters, filed a motion Thursday asking a federal judge in Maryland to block the administration from creating the citizenship lists and publishing them on a portal. Specifically, they seek to block a June 8 implementation memo authored by USCIS director Joseph Edlow that outlines the plan.

The motion, which was brought by Protect Democracy, along with another nonprofit legal group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, argues the administration's plans to share Americans' personal data between agencies and then disseminate the data to states violates multiple federal laws, including the Privacy Act, the Social Security Act and the Administrative Procedures Act. Under the Privacy Act, federal agencies must give the public 30 days notice and the opportunity to comment before they collect and disseminate Americans' personal data for a new purpose.

The EPIC lawsuit also argues the government does not have access to accurate, up-to-date information on American citizens, especially those who move frequently, have changed their names, or are foreign-born. For example, Social Security's citizenship data often isn't updated when people naturalize, and the SAVE data system, operated by USCIS, frequently doesn't include records for people who became citizens as minors when their parents naturalized.

Torti said it is "deeply concerning" that the administration is still planning to go ahead with the creation of citizenship lists but is no longer going to meet the deadline, since that means the lists will be completed even closer to Election Day.

"It means additional chaos, additional confusion for the state election officials and just for voters," Torti said. "And I think that's the point. The point here is to create chaos in advance of the election."

Neither the Department of Justice, nor the Department of Homeland Security, which is tasked with compiling the citizenship lists, responded to NPR's request for comment.

The June 8 implementation memo stated that the portal for state election officials would be available around June 30 and a second portal where citizens could check their information would be available at a later date – but that deadline passed without further updates.

The federal government has secured a domain for the state citizenship lists portal. While the portal is not currently online, it was briefly live in recent days with a landing page that said "Coming Soon," according to court filings.

Lawyers representing Democratic party groups that had challenged the March 31 executive order in a separate lawsuit filed in April, accused the administration in a recent filing of failing to notify the court or the parties about its plans to move forward with the state citizenship portal. They asked the judge to require the federal government to give immediate updates about their plans to implement the executive order.

This latest legal battle over the administration's plans to compile state citizenship lists comes as the Department of Homeland Security is ramping up its efforts to analyze state voter rolls with the goal of identifying potential noncitizens who are registered to vote. Previous audits have found instances of noncitizens casting ballots to be incredibly rare. 

Additionally, last week, ICE published a request for information on a federal procurement site seeking vendors who can compile public voter rolls and voter history files from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories, "to support Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) fraud detection and data segmentation activities."

NPR's Hansi Lo Wang contributed reporting to this story. 
Copyright 2026 NPR

A group of California lawmakers called on federal officials to halt and reject a proposed land exchange in Yosemite National Park that would allow a private developer to take control of a strip of land in the park for an access road to the park’s main attractions.

The letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Wednesday was signed by a bipartisan group of 61 state legislators led by Assemblymember Greg Wallis, a Republican who represents Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

“Republicans and Democrats from both houses of the Legislature are standing together because some things are bigger than politics,” Wallis said in a statement. “Yosemite is not a subdivision. It is not a bargaining chip. And it is not for sale. Secretary Burgum and the administration should put an end to this proposal.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum (center) visited the Tunnel Tops in San Francisco in 2025 after he and then-Attorney General Pam Bondi toured Alcatraz ahead of their announcement to reopen the former federal prison.

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Katie DeBenedetti

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KQED

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The group argued that the proposed land exchange is counter to the mission of the National Park Service and the founding of Yosemite in 1864, which set aside the start of the park for public use and protection for the first time in the history of the federal government.

“What is being proposed now runs directly against that founding principle, more than a century and a half later,” the letter states.

It continues later: “Our national parks belong equally to every American. They are not the Department’s to trade away, and they are not for sale.”

The proposal was first reported by news outlet NOTUS, which published a story last week alleging that members of the Trump administration were meeting with representatives of Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a private equity group that owns an 83-acre parcel next to the park. In an email to KQED, Kingsbarn’s lawyer Lanny J. Davis confirmed the group is pursuing the land exchange to build a new access road from its property to the park.

Previous owners have pushed for the same deal since the early 2000s and failed in court.

State Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), who signed on to the letter, called the proposal “indefensible,” and said he’s looking at state laws to ensure a similar proposal could never slip through.

“If the Trump administration can’t defend this publicly in broad daylight, then they shouldn’t be doing it,” he said.

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Marin) told KQED’s Forum on Wednesday that he’s worried there isn’t enough opposition among his Republican colleagues in Congress to stop the Trump administration’s efforts.

“I have not seen a single Republican colleague willing to stand up to Donald Trump when he decides that he’s just going to do something,” Huffman said. “So that is my concern, that he just plows ahead with this — even if it has dubious legal authority, or even if it’s an open violation of the law. He’s doing stuff like that anyway. And in this Congress, there’s no one here to stop him.”

In a statement to KQED, state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil (R-Modesto), whose district includes parts of Yosemite, said she will “keep pressing the Department [of the Interior] for a clear answer that this exchange will not proceed.”

Since the news of the deal broke late last week, it has sparked condemnation from a number of Democratic state leaders, including Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, as well as Attorney General Rob Bonta and Bonta’s predecessor, Xavier Becerra, who leads the race for California governor.

“The secretive backroom land-exchange scheme has gotten everyone’s attention,” said Neal Desai, senior Pacific regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association. “I can’t recall another issue — and I’ve been working in the conservation space for over a couple of decades — where the response has been this sharp and so one-sided that this is a terrible idea that should not happen.”

The backlash comes at a turbulent time for National Park Service employees, who have faced layoffs, staffing cuts and fear of retaliation for speaking up against Trump administration policies since the start of the second Trump administration.

Some former employees have also raised concerns about a potential reorganization of the National Park Service, according to a separate letter sent to Burgum’s office Wednesday. According to an email seen by KQED, park superintendents have been asked to attend in-person regional meetings in September — with no clear agenda beyond discussing “agency priorities, our FY 2026 outlook, and other matters important to the work ahead.”

The letter to Burgam, signed by 20 retired parks superintendents warns: “An ill-advised and hastily planned reorganization could dismantle that structure, putting our parks — and those who visit them — at great risk.”

Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, which organized the letter, said the email about regional meetings “raises some alarm bells.”

“The Park Service is already operating from a difficult place, from a place of crisis,” she said. “And any additional cuts, any movements or actions that would further jeopardize the capacity of the folks that are left, that’s concerning. It’s worrying, and it’ll have a devastating impact on the Park Service.”

Among the letter’s signatories is Don Neubacher, retired Yosemite superintendent, who has been a vocal advocate for parks amid the Trump administration’s changes.

Thompson said she’s worried parks leaders will be stretched even further than they already are, and local decision-making over parks could be in jeopardy.

“Morale is low,” Thompson said. “It’s a hard time to be a federal employee. Anything that … contributes to this culture of fear, it’s just not acceptable.”

This story first appeared on Long Beach Post.

Long Beach is offering up to $1,500 for local business owners and landlords to equip their storefronts with safety measures like cameras, floodlights, alarms and point-of-sale systems.

The grant program is accepting online applications now. You can apply here.

Businesses with storefronts of 1,500 square feet or less may receive grants of up to $750, while businesses between 1,500 and 5,000 square feet are eligible for up to $1,500.

Nonprofit organizations are eligible as well, and landlords can apply on behalf of commercial storefronts that are vacant or occupied. Franchises can also receive the grant.

To qualify, a business must:

• Have an active business license for a storefront within the city
• Be independently owned and operated (franchises are eligible)
• Be currently open and active for business
• Earn no more than $5 million in annual gross revenue
• Hold “active” status with the California Secretary of State for corporations, limited liability companies and limited partnerships

The funds will be provided as a reimbursement after eligible security improvements are installed. Grants will be given out until funds are exhausted.

It’s a great idea, according to Edwin Jara, who manages a pet store in Belmont Heights and was on the receiving end of a break-in earlier this year.

His store had security measures already in place — two cameras and an alarm system — but even that wasn’t enough to deter a masked burglar who grabbed $1,000 cash and a handful of dog treats.

Despite having footage of the burglar, Jara said police haven’t been able to catch the person and that a detective never responded after he filed a police report.

The grant program is being paid for with $350,000 from the city’s Redvelopment Agency along with $50,000 from Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office.

“Our local small businesses are part of the fabric of our neighborhoods, and when business owners feel unsafe, the whole community feels it,” Hahn said in a statement.

In a statement, Mayor Rex Richardson said the program is a “direct investment in the hardworking business owners who make our commercial corridors vibrant and welcoming.”

Jara said he would consider applying for a grant if the city could send someone to help him and the store’s owner fill out the application.

He was offered a separate grant to replace a glass door the burglar smashed, but the store’s owner opted not to fill out the application.

“There was a lot of stuff that we needed to do, and I don’t have a lot of that information,” Jara said.