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Vital Signs

Nursing School Enrollments Finally Start to Rise—But Not Enough

After six straight years of declines, enrollments in entry-level baccalaureate nursing programs actually increased in 2001—by nearly 4%. But don’t start celebrating just yet. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), this growth is still insufficient to meet the nation’s projected need for a million new nurses over the next 10 years.

The findings of AACN’s just-published 21st Annual Survey of Institutions with Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Nursing Programs, which polled 548 schools nationwide, reveal that the total number of students enrolled in generic (entry-level) BSN programs in fall 2001 was 72,408, up from 69,858 in fall 2000—an increase of 3.7%. Enrollment figures improved in every U.S. region, with the biggest gain occurring in the South (4%).

Even more encouraging, a number of individual schools reported sizeable increases in undergraduate enrollments that surpassed the national average, including Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore (16%), Loma Linda University School of Nursing in California (18%) and the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Nursing in San Antonio (23%).

Why this sudden reversal of the downward trend? AACN cites a combination of factors:

• More aggressive recruiting and marketing efforts by schools in response to the nursing shortage.
• New state laws and federal funding programs that provided nursing schools with more money for expanding outreach programs, or even financial incentives for increasing their student capacity.
• Schools’ efforts to reduce faculty shortages, which in some cases were causing qualified students to be turned away from nursing programs.
• Increased efforts to recruit more minority and male students.

Although total enrollments of racial and ethnic minority students in generic baccalaureate nursing programs declined very slightly in 2001 (by 0.2%), due primarily to a small drop in the number of Asian/Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian students, the number of black, Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native students enrolled in these programs all increased—by 5.8%, 8.6% and 2.8%, respectively.

In fact, total enrollments of students of color also rose slightly in RN-to-baccalaureate programs (0.3%), in master’s degree programs (0.4%), doctoral programs (0.3%) and postdoctoral programs (0.7%). Some particularly noteworthy improvements were a 16.6% increase in American Indian/Alaska Native students enrolled in RN-to-BSN programs, jumps of about 11% each in enrollments of black students in master’s and in doctoral nursing programs and an 8.6% ascent in the number of Hispanic/Latino students entering doctoral programs.

Still, not all the news in the 2000-2001 survey was good. Not only do AACN leaders believe the turnaround in generic baccalaureate enrollments is too little too late, but overall enrollments in programs that enable RNs with diplomas or associate’s degrees to earn a bachelor’s degree (RN-to-BSN programs) continued to decline.

Moreover, overall enrollment levels in graduate and higher degree programs remained anemic, with master’s degree programs showing virtually no change from 2000 and doctoral programs up by only 1.5%. However, the number of nurses in post-doctoral programs soared by 39%, from 51 students in 2000 to 71 in 2001.

“We are pleased to see enrollments go up, but recognize that we are falling far short of meeting the present and future demand for well-educated nurses,” AACN Executive Director Dr. Geraldine Bednash concludes. “We need to mobilize resources now to improve nursing school infrastructures, boost faculty recruitment efforts, define the roles of the professional nurse and reach out to diverse student populations if we are to see a real forward momentum.”

Is the Tide Finally Turning?

5-Year Enrollment Trends in Generic (Entry-Level) Baccalaureate Nursing Programs at 358 Schools:

1997   71,132
1998   67,340
1999   64,069
2000   63,169
2001   65,412

Source: American Association of Colleges of Nursing