AACN
Reports an Increase in Nursing School Enrollments
for the Third Consecutive Year;
Increase Falls Below Projected Need to Reverse the Nursing
Shortage
WASHINGTON, DC, December 1, 2003 - According to preliminary
results released today by the American Association of Colleges
of Nursing (AACN), enrollments in entry-level baccalaureate
programs in nursing increased by 15.9 percent in fall 2003
over last year. Though this increase continues a three-year
upward trend, this growth is still not sufficient to address
the current registered nurse (RN) shortage which is expected
to intensify over the next 10 years.
“With
renewed calls on the national level for a more highly educated
nursing workforce, it is very encouraging to see a growing
interest in baccalaureate degree nursing as a career goal,”
said AACN President Kathleen Ann Long, PhD, APRN, FAAN.
“The dramatic growth in enrollments this year is a
testament to the innovative work of schools nationwide to
expand student capacity in nursing programs despite limited
resources.”
AACN
determines enrollment trends by comparing data from the
same schools reporting in both 2002 and 2003. This year’s
increase follows an 8.1 percent increase in entry-level
baccalaureate nursing programs last year (2001 to 2002)
and a 3.7 percent increase the preceding year (2000 to 2001).
Prior to the last three years of enrollment increases, nursing
schools nationwide experienced a six-year period of enrollment
declines that saw the student population shrink from 127,683
in 1995 to 103,999 in 2000.
Though
this year’s increase was substantial, AACN sees the
need for much larger annual increases in student enrollments
to meet the growing demand for nursing care. In a report
published in the November/December 2003 issue of Health
Affairs, Dr. Peter Buerhaus and his colleagues found that
“because the number of young RNs has decreased so dramatically
over the past two decades, enrollments of young people in
nursing programs would have to increase at least 40 percent
annually to replace those expected to leave the workforce
through retirement.”
“Though
the trend line is moving in the right direction, we recognize
that schools are falling short of meeting the demand for
well-educated nurses,” added Dr. Long. “AACN will
continue to work with federal legislators and stakeholders
to fund programs that expand student capacity at the baccalaureate
and higher degree levels.”
The
final results of AACN’s 23rd Annual Survey of Institutions
with Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Nursing Programs will
be released in late December 2003. These results will include
changes in enrollment and graduations in RN-to-baccalaureate,
master’s degree, and doctoral programs; nursing school
enrollment changes by geographic region; and changes in
the total enrollment of baccalaureate nursing students.
Printed reports will be available in February 2004.
Why
are nursing school enrollments up?
Nursing
schools across the country have been successful in expanding
student capacity despite a growing shortage of nurse faculty,
deep cuts in state funding, and competition for clinical
placement sites needed to educate nursing students. Nursing
programs at colleges and universities cite many reasons
for the enrollment increases, including forming partnerships
between schools and clinical settings to support mutual
needs; bringing career changers into the profession through
accelerated degree programs; advocating for more federal
funding for nursing education; and reaching out to men and
students from diverse backgrounds.
For
example, entry-level enrollments at the University of Rhode
Island (URI) have more than doubled with 129 students entering
the baccalaureate program in fall 2003 as compared to 55
students last year. Dr. Dayle Joseph, dean of URI’s
College of Nursing, notes the positive impact of Johnson
& Johnson’s national marketing campaign to generate
interest in nursing careers as well as the school’s
targeted recruitment efforts aimed at attracting under-represented
groups into nursing. “We’ve made great strides
in bringing diversity to our student body with 15 percent
of the total nursing population being male and 18 percent
from minority backgrounds,” said Dr. Joseph. “We
are now working on making the faculty more diverse.”
Enrollment
at Georgia Baptist College of Nursing is also at an all-time
high with 391 students enrolled in the institution’s
baccalaureate and graduate programs. The jump in enrollments
is attributed in part to the school’s flourishing second-degree
program. “In many cases, we are working with students
who have already been successful at earning at least a four-year
degree in anything from music to community health,”
said Kim Hays, associate director of admissions at Georgia
Baptist. “These students have now decided to pursue
their dream of becoming a registered nurse.”
Though
interest is running high in nursing careers, not all students
can be accommodated at schools of nursing. “I have
1,051 students in the pipeline who are interested in pursuing
a nursing major, but can only admit 120 students each year,”
said Dr. Robyn Nelson, chair of the Division of Nursing
at California State University-Sacramento. “We don’t
have the funds, the space, or the faculty to handle more
students, despite the great need for nurses in California.”
The American Association of Colleges
of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year-college
education programs in nursing. Representing more than 580
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.
###
CONTACT: Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
