News Release

Nursing school expands
enrollment for BSN students

CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing is expanding enrollment opportunities for students seeking a bachelor of science in nursing degree (BSN).

The school will continue to offer a traditional 24-month nursing option and an accelerated 14-month option, but will admit students to each option twice a year, in January and May, starting in 2007. This change will allow the school to graduate 220 new nurses each year as compared to its 125 new nurse graduates in 2000-2001.

"The first group of baby boomers will be turning 60 this year, and North Carolina needs to be prepared for increased demands for nursing care," said Dr. Linda Cronenwett, the school’s dean. "By moving to twice-a-year admissions and teaching BSN students year-round, we can maintain the quality of our prelicensure program while meeting the needs of the state through expanded enrollment."

UNC’s enrollment expansion comes in response to recommendations made by the N.C. Institute of Medicine Task Force on the N.C. Nursing Workforce. In 2004, the task force recommended that nursing programs statewide increase the number of prelicensure registered nurse graduates 25 percent over the 2002-2003 levels by 2007 and place priority on increasing the percentage of North Carolina’s nurses with baccalaureate nursing education.

The UNC School of Nursing’s traditional 24-month option will expand from about 120 graduates per year to about 160 per year. Enrollment includes first and second degree candidates. The accelerated 14-month option will expand from about 40 to 60 graduates per year. Enrollment is limited to second degree candidates. Alternate extended study options will still be available for students as needed. Overall, lecture classes are expected to be smaller in size. Lab and clinical group sizes will not change and will remain small to accommodate clinical supervision and instructional needs, school officials said.

The school is adjusting the nursing curriculum to adapt to the newly expanded enrollment. The new curriculum requires the same number of credit hours – 65 – as the current undergraduate nursing program and is based on three semesters of course offerings a year: spring, summer and fall. It will offer a total of 20 courses taken by both 14- and 24-month students, though the pace of progression through the program will vary based on the option selected.

Each course in the new curriculum will be offered two to three times per year. The changes create a common curriculum for undergraduate students allowing for greater mobility between the traditional 24-month option and the accelerated 14-month option.

In addition, the school will work to develop new community agency partnerships and work with existing clinical sites to expand scheduling options for students that include weekend and evening hours. In addition, the school will collaborate with other schools of nursing statewide.

Under the fully implemented expanded enrollment plan, students will graduate three times a year – about 110 in May, about 30 in August and about 80 in December – for a total of about 220 graduates a year.

"There will be a period of adjustment for students, faculty, clinical partners – all of us – as we move to operations that are year-round," said Dr. Beverly Foster, who directs the school’s undergraduate program. "But, ultimately, the expanded enrollments will allow us to continue preparing highly skilled nurses who are well-prepared to meet the growing health-care needs of our society."

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School of Nursing contact: Amanda Dindino Meyers, (919) 966-4619 or Amanda_Dindino@unc.edu