Sacramento State’s impacted nursing program has modified its prerequisites to include general education coursework, allowing rejected applicants to consider alternate majors, program coordinator Suzanne Sutherland said.Set to take effect next fall, the change is the result of a California State University system-wide effort to coordinate the nursing programs.”Students applying to the program at Sac State can cross-apply to other CSU campuses,” Sutherland said, adding that the demand on the nursing program at Sac State is especially high compared with many other CSU campuses.The student interest for Sac State’s nursing program exceeds the limited money and space available to the program, making it one of two impacted programs on campus.-Currently, 500 students are considered pre-nursing majors at Sac State, Sutherland said. However, the clinical program has the capacity to admit less than 30 percent of the applicants per semester. For the fall 2003 semester, only 54 of 184 applicants were accepted.”Hopefully, the new prerequisites will keep students from taking classes they wouldn’t have wanted to take,” Sutherland said. “This way they can easily switch to a different major.”Next fall, the nursing program will accept 60 applicants under the old requirements, and 60 under the new. Previously, nursing students entering the program could expect to graduate in five semesters. With the new list of prerequisites, nursing students can complete the program in six semesters.”One of the reasons we changed it was so that students will be declared nursing majors and will be accepted into the program one semester earlier,” Sutherland said. Pre-nursing majors are encouraged to apply during the spring of their freshman year. “In theory, first semester sophomores can enroll in the clinical program,” said nursing adviser Kristine Novak.

—Tough to get started–

Admittance to the competitive program is based on a points system, which awards students points for high test scores and grade point averages.

“Last fall, the average GPA of the accepted students was 3.6,” Novak said.

High demand for entry into the nursing program is a problem that is not specific to Sac State. Across the CSU system, 12 other campuses have impacted nursing programs.

“The national nursing shortage means a shortage in nursing professors as well,” Sutherland said.

Although entry into nursing programs is competitive, once the nursing students graduate it will be extremely easy to find a well-paying job.

“First year salaries for nurses used to be about $44,000, and that may have increased,” Sutherland said.

Along with hefty salaries, many hospitals are trying to compensate for the nursing shortage by offering signing bonuses.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nursing is projected to be the fastest growing occupation in the United States until 2008.

—Competitive program–

For many pre-nursing students, however, the dollar signs are not what attracted them to nursing, and the competitiveness of the program is not enough to discourage them.

“My dad was sick in the hospital, and watching his nurses sparked my interest in nursing,” pre-nursing student Edidiong Uwan said. “I just want to help. The nursing shortage and all the money are just extra incentives.”