Enrollment Growth in U.S. Nursing Colleges and Universities Hits an 8-Year Low According to New Data Releas...(2009. The primary barriers t...),Health

The primary barriers to accepting all qualified students at nursing colleges and universities continue to be insufficient faculty, clinical placement sites, classroom space, and budget cuts. For a graphic showing the number of qualified applicants turned away from entry-level baccalaureate nursing programs over the past seven years, see http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/pdf/TurnedAway.pdf.

To help address the primary obstacle to enrollment growth - the nurse faculty shortage - AACN is leveraging its resources to secure more federal funding for professional nursing programs, offer regional faculty development conferences, administer minority faculty scholarship programs, collect annual data on faculty vacancy rates, identify strategies to address the shortage, and focus media attention on this important issue. For more details on the nurse faculty shortage and AACN's response, see http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Media/FactSheets/FacultyShortage.htm.

About the AACN Survey

Now in its 28th year, AACN's Annual Survey of Institutions with Baccalaureate and Higher Degree Nursing Programs is conducted by the association's Data and Research Center. Information from the survey forms the basis for the nation's premier database on trends in enrollments and graduations, student and faculty demographics, and faculty and deans' salaries. AACN data reflect actual counts reported in fall 2008 by nursing schools, not projections or estimates based on past reporting.

The annual AACN survey is a collaborative effort with data on nurse practitioner programs collected jointly with the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties and data on clinical nurse specialist programs collected with
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