CALAIS – Nursing students will be able to take all prerequisite and clinical courses in Calais under a program formally unveiled this week at Washington County Technical College.

The nursing program is designed for Washington County residents who want to enter the nursing profession but can’t afford to leave home. Students at WCTC and the University of Maine at Machias are eligible.

There are 15 students at the Calais campus who are taking the prerequisite courses so they can begin the clinical part of the course in September.

Agreement for the program was announced in mid-January, but WCTC President William Flahive formally unveiled the program Wednesday.

In the collateral arrangement between the University of Maine in Augusta and WCTC, students who are interested in a degree in nursing may take all prerequisite and clinical courses at the Calais campus, then are eligible to sit for the registered nurse licensure examination. The cost of the course through WCTC is less than half of the cost of the same course at UM at Augusta, WCTC officials said.