At the University of Texas at Arlington School of Nursing, storage rooms and kitchens have been converted to office space. Faculty were asked to take on additional class loads, and large conference auditoriums across the campus were being filled with nursing courses attracting more than 100 students.

But despite these efforts to make room, UTA nursing school administrators were forced to turn away nearly 300 qualified students from its baccalaureate RN program that admits about 100 students each fall. More than 700 applied for admission to the program, from a pool of nearly 10,000 who contacted UTA's nursing school about the admissions process in 2003.

Many four-year nursing schools across the country had similarly tough choices, according to the latest enrollment survey from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. As potential nurses answer the call to help out the nation's nursing shortage and fill the projected need for 1 million additional RNs by 2010, about 11,000 qualified students were turned away last year from schools simply because of a lack of faculty, clinical sites and resources.

In 2002, the number of turndowns was 4,049, according to the AACN. The number of students turned away is the highest in the three years that the association has conducted the survey.

The survey found that total enrollment rose from 116,099 students in 2002 to 126,954 last year. The 16.6 percent surge in applicants over 2002 was reported in the AACN's Dec. 22 report (even greater than the preliminary 15.9 percent estimate the organization predicted earlier in the month). That percentage could grow in February, when the AACN is expected to finalize its survey with results from late-reporting schools.

"Though the enrollment numbers are encouraging this year, the crisis is far from over," AACN Executive Director Geraldine Bednash, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, said.

Geographically, the largest increase in enrollment was in the Northeast, where schools reported a 22.1 percent increase in entry-level baccalaureate program enrollment. The South rose by 16.7 percent, the Midwest by 15.9 percent and the West by 8.6 percent.

"It's good news that enrollment's going up. It's a little bit frustrating not being able to accommodate all the qualified applicants," association spokesman Robert Rosseter said. "We don't want all these students not getting in, to get frustrated and not pursue nursing."

Other schools forced to turn away a multitude of qualified applicants include the University of Iowa (159), State University of New York-Stony Brook (200), Old Dominion University (280) and the University of Utah (153).

At San Francisco State University, the school waded through 400 applications for 90 slots in its BSN program, and another 200 applications for the accelerated program open to 50 students, according to the survey.

"Nursing is a very stable profession, and nurses are in high demand across the country," said SFSU Nursing Director Beatrice Yorker, JD, RN.

Contact Glen Fest at glenf@nurseweek.com

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