Lawmakers OK plan to finish teaching 150 Portland nursing students [View all]

The emergency funding board of the Oregon Legislature unanimously approved the full $1.6 million Portland Community College says it needs to get about 150 former ITT Technical Institute nursing students to graduation.

ITT Tech closed abruptly Sept. 6 in response to stricter regulations from the U.S. Department of Education. That left about 500 of the private school's students without a path to completing their degrees. The nursing school was particularly hard hit because nursing programs around the country are packed full.

The funding means students with fewer than five terms left to graduate will be able to enroll as PCC students in January. The program will not accept new students and will close after the last of them graduate in a little more than a year.

Ben Cannon, head of the state's Higher Education Coordinating Commission, praised the lawmakers in a statement.

"Pending PCC's final determination, within just a few months members of the first cohort will complete their degrees and begin their nursing careers, contributing to Oregon's economy and helping to meet critical workforce needs," Cannon said. "This modest public investment will immediately and significantly change the trajectories of their lives."