Fresno City College graduates first bachelor’s class in dental hygiene

Fresno City College crossed a new academic line with its first bachelor’s graduates in dental hygiene, a milestone that keeps a four-year degree within reach for students who want to stay in Fresno County. FCC’s May 2026 board report says 28 Dental Hygiene students were set to receive Bachelor of Science degrees, and the inaugural cohort was an all-women class that balanced long clinic hours, patient searches and late-night studying.

Vanessa Cervantes said the program mattered because it let her move forward without leaving home or taking on a steeper price tag. She is a mother of two, and her path stretched longer than expected because of pregnancy, breastfeeding and time taken to start a family; when she compared options in Visalia, she said the cost there would have been triple FCC’s. Nyove Gonzalez described the class as part of a historic moment and said the first bachelor’s degree in Allied Health showed what FCC could build next.

FCC’s bachelor’s pathway is built for entry-level practice in a structured health care setting, while the bridge option for licensed hygienists with an associate degree and active RDH license can be completed in one year through upper-division online coursework focused on leadership, communication and critical thinking. The launch has been years in the making: FCC said 30 students were in the inaugural class in September 2024, and a June 2025 board report said 30 graduates were honored at the dental hygiene pinning ceremony after two years of academic and clinical training.

The broader policy backdrop is statewide. California’s community college baccalaureate program was created to make bachelor’s degrees more affordable and expand employment opportunities, and it became permanent when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 927. The system allows up to 30 new community college bachelor’s programs a year, and the Chancellor’s Office says California Community Colleges now includes 116 colleges serving about 2.2 million students. That matters in the Central Valley, which the California Health Care Foundation says spans Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa and Tulare counties and has 1.8 million residents, and in a dental field where the California Dental Association says shortages of registered dental hygienists and dental assistants continue to threaten access to care.

For Fresno City College, the launch also underscores how large a local institution this has become. FCC says it is the largest of the four colleges in the State Center Community College District and offers 120 associate degrees, 96 certificates of achievement and more than 80 career and technical pathways, giving the college room to build more degree options without losing its community-college mission.