Foothill College is preparing to launch a Bachelor of Science program in respiratory therapy as soon as 2024, earning Foothill the distinction of being one of only two community colleges in the state to offer two bachelor’s degree programs.
Students can earn a two-year Associate in Science degree in respiratory therapy at Foothill that prepares them for entry-level positions in the field as a registry-eligible graduate therapist, but Foothill administrators saw the program as ripe for expansion.
Assembly Bill 927, passed last year, extended the baccalaureate degree pilot program established in 2014 that enabled community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees in workforce fields with high demand and unmet need. After the original bill passed, Foothill introduced its first Bachelor of Science program, a four-year degree in dental hygiene.
Brenda Hanning, Foothill’s respiratory therapy program director, said the program will allow students to forge a more direct path to a career in health care and help legitimize Foothill as a place to pursue a comprehensive education, not a supplemental one. Currently, approximately half of the students entering the two-year respiratory therapy program have already earned a bachelor’s degree, and Hanning hopes that offering a baccalaureate degree will simplify their educational objectives.
“My goal would be that Foothill and other community colleges not be seen as a stepping stone toward a four-year degree, but a destination,” Hanning said. “It’s going to be a win-win, because they’re not going to have all this debt, and, yes, they’re going to not only get a bachelor’s, but they’re going to have a career.”
Nancy Cheung, dean of Foothill’s Health Sciences & Horticulture Division, sees implementation of the respiratory therapy program as a huge stride in terms of providing students more equitable access to education. While many students – especially economically disadvantaged students and students of color – could not afford or would not be accepted to a four-year university, they now have the opportunity to gain a competitive degree for less than the cost of one year’s tuition at a CSU or UC.
“This bachelor’s degree program comes at a perfect time, because we are really trying to see how we can help these underrepresented students be successful – primarily the Black students, the Latinx students and nontraditional students,” Cheung said.
Like the current associate degree program, admission to the respiratory therapy program will be based on a lottery system. A hard launch date is not yet confirmed, but Foothill administrators expect the first cohort of students to begin coursework by spring 2024.
Career prospects
Respiratory therapy has received an increased amount of visibility in the past couple of years due to the role respiratory therapists have played in the treatment of COVID. Respiratory therapists manage the ventilation of critically ill patients as well as provide acute and chronic care to patients with pulmonary disease. Throughout the pandemic, that meant operating the essential lifesaving ventilators used on those suffering severe cases of COVID.
As other Foothill classes remained remote during the pandemic, respiratory therapy students were among the first to return to campus for classes, while at the same time providing real-life support in hospitals. The department also loaned ventilators to hospitals in need of more equipment due to a high volume of patients.
Graduates of the associate degree program have high chances of job placement, with the four-year program likely to boost candidate competitiveness even higher. Respiratory therapists in California earn an average median yearly income of approximately $82,000.
“Students go straight from the program into high-paying jobs,” said Simon Pennington, associate vice president of college and community relations at Foothill. “They’re paying back the investment that was made in their education by serving the community.”
For more information on Foothill’s respiratory therapy program, visit foothill.edu/resptherapy.
