Becoming a nurse at the U isn’t easy.
Last year, only 100 of the 266 applicants were admitted into the U College of Nursing reported Maureen Keefe, the school’s dean. The college is short 30 faculty members. It doesn’t have the funding to hire sufficient faculty. It’s also difficult to retain U nursing faculty because salaries aren’t competitive with other states, Keefe said. But the less than 50 percent chance of admittance isn’t stopping students from trying. For many, nursing is an ideal job.
“Nursing would allow me to incorporate several things that I love into a career,” said Andrea Webb, a nursing school applicant in an earlier interview.
After graduation, Utah nursing students are essentially guaranteed a job. Utah, like many other states, has a severe nursing shortage. Last year, 1,500 vacant positions were reported by the Utah Nursing Association.
Recruiting from other states is a minimal option because neighboring states are suffering shortages similar to those in Utah and salaries are not competitive.
There are enough nursing school applicants to fill the state’s shortages, but the state’s nursing schools don’t have the funding to teach them. Last year, the state’s eight nursing schools graduated 710 students and received 1,609 applications, Keefe said, who is also chairwoman for the Utah Nursing Leadership Forum.
While nursing schools statewide are 205 faculty members short, the 30 lacking at the U is especially felt because the U is the only school offering nursing master’s and doctorate degrees.
To educate more students, the schools need more faculty and because of Utah’s low salaries, those new faculty members will probably come for the U’s master’s and doctorate programs. If the U is short on faculty, it can’t educate the additional faculty needed by the rest of the state.
To hire more faculty and retain current faculty, this year, Keefe and other health-care representatives asked the legislature for a $6.5 million increase in funding for the six state-sponsored nursing programs. But due to budget restraints, the additional funding was denied. Keefe predicted the decision but she was encouraged by the Legislature’s efforts to find some funding. “We feel like we’ve been heard,” she said.