Elimination
of Funding for Graduate Nursing Education Would
Intensify the Growing Shortage of Nurse Faculty
WASHINGTON, DC, February 9, 2007 - Today,
the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) expressed
its concern that proposed cuts to nursing education programs
contained in President Bush's FY 2008 budget request would
reverse the progress made by federal legislators to address
the nation's nursing shortage. The President has requested
a 30% reduction in funding for Nursing Workforce Development
Programs (Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act),
which includes the elimination of Advanced Education Nursing
Programs. In addition to cuts to nursing education, the
President's budget is calling for a steep decrease in funding
for Health Professions Education Programs (Title VII) which
would endanger the nation's ability to provide necessary
health care services, especially to vulnerable populations.
"Though many efforts to address the
U.S. nursing shortage are having a positive impact, nursing
schools are struggling to further expand student capacity
to meet the growing demand for professional nurses,"
said AACN President Jeanette Lancaster. "Nursing colleges
and universities rely on federal support to educate new
nurses and future faculty. All of the progress Congress
has made to strengthen the nursing workforce and support
faculty preparation would be in jeopardy if funding to essential
nursing education programs is eliminated or sharply cut."
In the FY 2008 budget proposal, the president
is calling for a $44 million decrease in funding for Nursing
Workforce Development Programs from $149.7 million to $105.3
million. Specifically, programs funded under Advanced Education
Nursing, which provided support to 11,949 graduate nursing
students in FY 2005, would be eliminated. Though this action
eliminates more than $58 million in grants and traineeships
for graduate nursing students and future nurse faculty,
the President is calling for a $13 million increase in the
Nurse Loan Repayment and Scholarship Programs which are
focused on preparing entry-level nurses.
"Nursing schools today are unable to
accommodate all qualified students wishing to enter entry-level
nursing programs given the pervasive shortage of nurse faculty,"
added Dr. Lancaster. "Focusing solely on funding the
education of new nurses will not work as a effective solution
to the nursing shortage since schools are already limited
in the number of students they can accept due to an insufficient
supply of nurse educators. Congress, instead, should focus
on strengthening the nurse faculty population by restoring
funding to Advanced Education Nursing Programs which support
graduate education while increasing funding for the existing
Nurse Faculty Loan Program within Title VIII."
As documented by AACN, nursing schools are
struggling to find adequate numbers of teachers to accommodate
the rising interest in nursing careers among new students.
A limited supply of students enrolled in graduate programs,
coupled with an expected wave of faculty retirements, will
further constrain the faculty population. Last year alone,
AACN found that 42,596 qualified applicants were turned
away from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs due
primarily to a lack of nurse educators.
Besides nursing education, the President
is also calling for a decrease in funding for Health Professions
Education Programs from $135 million to $10 million. Cutting
programs that support the preparation of physicians, pharmacists
and other health professionals will likely limit the nation's
supply of health care providers and add to the growing issue
of health disparities and access to quality health care.
AACN was pleased to see at least a modest
increase for agencies and programs focused on social and
biomedical research and on improving patient safety. In
FY 2008, the President is calling for a $1 million increase
in funding for the National Institute of Nursing Research
and an $11.3 million increase for the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality. Overall, the budget for the Department
of Health and Human Services would grow by $28 billion,
a 4% increase for a total of $698 billion.
"AACN is committed to working with Congress
and other stakeholder organizations to restore and hopefully
increase funding for federal programs that support the preparation
of nurses educators," said Dr. Lancaster. "Legislators
must make funding graduate level nursing education a top
priority and invest in a long-term strategy to enable nursing
schools to expand student capacity and accommodate all qualified
applicants."
Specific funding levels for nursing education
programs that were proposed in the President's FY 2008 budget
are listed on AACN's Web site at http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Government/FY2008Chart.pdf.
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is
the national voice for university and four-year-college
education programs in nursing. Representing more than 600
member schools of nursing at public and private institutions
nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy,
data collection, publications, and other programs work to
establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement
those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve
health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate
and graduate nursing education, research, and practice.
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CONTACT: Robert
Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
