Nursing-class demand growing

The university doesn't have the staff to handle all of the additional students.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Overall enrollment at Youngstown State University may have slipped, but Dr. Dianne Bitonte Miladore says the demand to get into the university's nursing program continues to grow.
Bitonte Miladore, a member of the YSU Board of Trustees, said YSU has students wanting to enroll in nursing this fall, but the university can't take them all without first increasing faculty to cover more classes.
She addressed the issue at a board of trustee's retreat last week, suggesting that YSU should perhaps look at offering two-year nursing (licensed practical nursing) and other health-care programs to help people fill the growing demand for those positions.
The university's nursing department now offers both bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing as well as school nurse licensure through the Dr. Dominic A. and Helen M. Bitonte College of Health & amp; Human Services.
The college is named after Bitonte Miladore's parents.
"There is some urgency," she said, noting that qualified students who can't get into YSU's nursing program will go elsewhere for their education.
Here's the problem
However, YSU's budget won't allow the university to just add faculty, said Dr. David C. Sweet, president. He said the university provost is working on making adjustments to the budget to allow changes in staffing to be made.
The budget has already experienced revenue shortfalls this year because of a lower-than-anticipated enrollment, and there have been some cutbacks.
Enrollment dropped about 300 students last fall after four straight years of enrollment increases. The spring enrollment stands at 12,192.
Division heads were instructed in February to immediately cut spending by at least 1 percent to offset a $1.2 million shortfall in the $131 million general fund budget. They've also been instructed to come up with another round of spending cuts between 1 percent and 1.5 percent in preparation for the 2006-07 budget. Next school year's budget is expected to be $1.2 million in the red, even if a 6 percent tuition increase being considered by the trustees is put into place this fall.
Other details
Increased enrollment should mean increased revenue that should pay for additional instructors, said Dr. Sudershan K. Garg, also a YSU trustee.
Sweet said there are 169 applicants for 100 open slots in the nursing program this fall, but he doesn't know how many of those applicants are actually qualified for the program.
YSU must be careful to maintain its program standards for accreditation purposes, he said.
Perhaps attending a two-year program with the possibility of entering a four-year program down the road might be a way to handle the overflow of students, he said.
Bitonte Miladore noted that the United States is experiencing a shortage of 180,000 nurses.
YSU had just 92 students in its nursing program in 2000 but had 355 enrolled last fall, including 40 graduate students.
Students don't actually enter the nursing program until their sophomore year, and the university had 600 freshmen last fall who had identified pre-nursing as their intended major, according to the department.
gwin@vindy.com