CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing will reduce overall undergraduate enrollments by about 25 percent because of ongoing state budget cuts, the school announced Monday. The enrollment reductions begin with admissions for the summer semester, which starts on May 9, 2011.
In January, UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp instituted campus-wide cuts equal to a 5-percent permanent state budget reduction to take effect July 1. That move anticipated expected reductions to the university's state appropriations that could reach as high as 15 percent for fiscal 2011-2012. These anticipated cuts come on top of nearly 10 percent in permanent cuts that the School of Nursing has absorbed over the last two years.
"We are committed to offering high-quality, rigorous and safe programs for entry into nursing practice at the baccalaureate and advanced practice levels," said School of Nursing Dean Kristen M. Swanson. "The budget challenges have left us little alternative but to reduce the number of students we enroll."
The enrollment reductions must be implemented now because postponing them until January 2012 would not allow adequate savings to meet budget requirements. The school continues to explore additional means to absorb the anticipated budget cuts.
School of Nursing students have two options for preparation to enter into practice as a registered nurse (RN): the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) six-semester program or the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) four-semester program for applicants with a baccalaureate or higher degree in another field of study. Together, the BSN and ABSN programs have been graduating approximately 200 new nurses each year.
"Given the nursing shortage it is truly unfortunate to find ourselves reducing enrollments to the levels we realized 10 years ago," Swanson said. "However, we cannot sacrifice the quality or safety of nursing education, so our difficult choice was to reduce the number of students."
The school traditionally admits both BSN and ABSN applicants in January and May, but beginning with the May 2011 admissions cycle only BSN applicants will be admitted in May and only ABSN applicants admitted in January. The pacing of enrollments enables economies of scale. Students can overlap in some lecture courses while clinical requirements are spread out over the academic year.
