This article reports that across the United States, rural communities rely on local community colleges to provide a steady pipeline of emergency responders, well-educated qualified nurses, and allied health professionals capable of staffing local medical centers and hospitals and complementing physicians in the delivery of care, from emergency medical services to treatment of chronic conditions. Unlike large urban centers, where competing entities and associations often vie for the lead on local issues, rural communities rely more heavily on their two-year colleges to spark dialogue and conversation about topics of local interest. In spite of the nation's critical demand for more registered nurses (RNs) and allied health professionals from associate degree programs, some critics question whether two-year colleges should be educating these professionals at all. Several national associations representing the interests of bachelor's-level nursing educators and nurse-administrators have proposed that states mandate bachelor's-level education for all RNs, alleging that RNs who practice with bachelor's degrees have superior skills that enable them to provide hospitals with better patient outcomes. Rural community colleges, many of which exist in areas with little or no access to four-year programs, have roundly rejected such measures. Rather, they have counter-proposed that states work to strengthen "all" RN programs to allow for increased graduations and to make advanced learning possible for RNs who "choose" to continue their education, be it through certificate, bachelor's, master's, or doctoral programs.