Concordia University Texas is trying to make its nursing program more accessible as the state continues to experience a nursing shortage.
Starting this fall semester, the private Lutheran university’s Dallas campus will provide all eligible students in the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program a scholarship worth $10,000.
The workforce development scholarship aims to support future nurses who want to work in Texas.
“We know that there is a huge need for nurses,” Dr. KC Pospisil vice president of Academic Operations, said. “We know about the shortage of nurses in not only DFW, but nationwide. And so, we want to do our part in helping students to select nursing as their vocation and be able to come to Concordia and get their nursing degree.”
A 2022 survey from the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies found the position vacancy rate for registered nurses in the state grew from 5.9% in 2019 to 17.6% in 2022, while the demand for nurses is projected to grow over the next decade.
The scholarship will be distributed throughout the program’s four semesters. Applications for the fall are open until June 14.
While the funding will help incoming nursing students, nursing professor India Sample said Concordia is also feeling the effects of a high demand for nursing faculty.
“When people think of the nursing shortage, they only think of bedside nursing,” Sample said. “But with the nursing shortage, you also have a shortage in those who are able to come and be faculty and teach nursing students.”
According to a report from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, U.S. nursing schools denied almost 66,000 qualified applications for baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2023 because of an inadequate number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space and instructors.
