For nurses who want to teach, Connecticut State University is talking about instituting a program to allow them to earn a graduate-level teaching degree.
The Southern and Western state university campuses are considering the creation of a Doctor of Education program in nursing, permitting the two universities jointly to offer the advanced nursing degree. If approved by the Governors for Higher Education, it would make it one of three such programs nationwide (the University of Alabama and Columbia University are the other two.)
“In addition to a well documented shortage of nurses in Connecticut and throughout the nation, there is a shortage of nursing faculty,” said Southern Connecticut provost Selase Williams in a prepared statement. She said faculty shortages make it more difficult for schools to increase the number of nursing students they enroll. Therefore, the need to increase the number of nursing teachers is critical.
Lisa Rebeschi, chairwoman of the nursing department, added her voice for the program, saying nationally, 55,000 qualified students have been rejected each year when applying for acceptance into nursing programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. “These are students who are qualified and would likely become very good nurses. Schools just don”™t have enough nursing faculty to teach more students.”
If approved, the nursing doctoral program would be designed for part-time students, allowing nurses to continue working while they pursue their degrees, typically taking three years to complete the required 51 credits. The cost of the program was not available.
Students are increasingly turning to the state”™s university system. Costs are lower and while options may not have the bells and whistles of private universities, they guarantee a quality education. With the federal government allowing adult children to stay on parents”™ health care insurance up to age 26, graduate studies may now become more practical.
The University of Connecticut”™s four colleges ”“ Central (New Britain), Eastern (Willimantic), Southern (New Haven) and Western (Danbury) ”“ have experienced an overall uptick in student registrations for both undergraduate and graduate programs.
Jerry Wilcox, director of institutional research and assessment at Western Connecticut State University, said tuition for the 2011 school year has risen. “For full-time, in-state undergraduates, the tuition is $7,909; for full-time in-state graduates, it has risen to $8,898, approximately a 6 percent increase.”
For the 2009-2010 school year, Western had 4,882 full-time and 1,735 part-time students. For the 2010-2011 school year, Wilcox estimates student enrollment has risen 3 percent to 4 percent.
Some costs have been defrayed in the state”™s university system and have been embraced at the community college level as well. As a result of the 2008 Higher Education Act, students can now rent their books for usually half the cost or buy used and re-sell, but more than half are taking advantage of the rental option. Students are expecting their own institutes of higher learning to go with the flow, making textbook rentals available.
The state universities voted July 26 to rescind the salary adjustments provided to the chancellor and four university presidents effective with the July 1 payroll as a cost-saving measure.
