The University's Nursing School received a record-high number of applications last year for this fall's incoming class, Nursing School Dean Jeannette Lancaster said.
The Nursing School received 310 applications, but the school only could accept 49 new students. The school also admitted 20 transfer students and 54 students seeking advanced degrees last year, for a total of 120 new students. The school has always been limited in its enrollment because of professor shortages and lack of facilities, Lancaster said.
She explained that more students will be accepted to the Nursing School when the University constructs a new facility across the street from McLeod Hall, which currently houses the Nursing School classrooms.
"The hope would be that between now and 2007 we can increase by 25 percent," Lancaster said. "We need to educate the next generation of faculty."
The expansion will allow for the hiring of more professors. The school hired eight faculty members last year and six this year, but some new hires were replacing professors, Lancaster said.
The inability to accept a large number of students into the University's nursing program reflects a nursing shortage nationwide. Colleges and universities nationwide rejected 16,000 applicants last year because of a similar lack of resources, which is problematic because of the national nursing shortage, according to Lancaster.
"Virginia is very much a mirror image of the nation," she said. "People are living longer and are more likely to need health care."
Lancaster said the increased number of students electing to enter the nursing field is a response to Sept. 11 and students' desires to help others through a career in medicine.
"A lot of people are reevaluating how they want to spend their lives," Lancaster said.
Student Council Nursing School Rep. Meg Halford said students are attracted to the nursing profession because nurses always will be needed regardless of economic conditions. She said the University's nursing program is appealing because of its small size that allows students to interact with their professors.
"In order for students to have the best education, classes have to be kept small," Halford said.
The Nursing School currently is in the process of selecting an architect to design the building, and the plan for the new facility is scheduled to be decided upon in February. Construction on the new facility is expected to begin in 2006, and it is expected to be completed in 2008.
The Nursing School must procure additional funds before breaking ground, Lancaster said. The school has received $6 million from the Commonwealth and has raised $9.8 million itself. Initially, the new facility was projected to cost $12 million, but Lancaster said the project most likely will cost more than $12 million because of unanticipated building costs.
Lancaster said the school has not yet decided what the new building will house but said it might include new technology facilities.
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