Some community colleges that offer an associates degree in nursing have agreements with 4 year colleges that allow a graduate to receive automatic admission to the 4 year college’s BSN program if they meet some basic requirements. These may be known as Matriculation Agreements.
For instance, in eastern PA. Luzerne County Community College has a Matriculation Agreement for BSN with Misericordia University. That same community college also just announced a joint degree BSN program with nearby King’s College.
http://citizensvoice.com/news/lccc-king-s-offer-dual-enrollment-nursing-program-1.2085506
However, keep in mind that the community college nursing programs often are competitive for admission and also may have a waiting list to start nursing classes.
Another example in Pennsylvania is a joint BSN degree program between Harrisburg Area Community College (which provides most of the nursing classes and a nursing diploma) and Millersville University, a public university that awards the BSN.
This is a way of reducing costs for the first 2 years, and still being assured of the ability to complete a BSN in 4 years. Some of the 4 year colleges that are partners have their own nursing programs (such as Misericordia) while others do not (such as Millersville and Kings).
Please note that there are also many matriculation agreements between community colleges and 4 year universities that specifically do not allow transfer into the university’s nursing program. The example I listed above was only for students who successfully completed a community college’s nursing degree.