NSU 2-year nursing degree cut

Nicholls State University’s nursing program has been in existence since the mid-1980s; however, aspiring nurses will no longer be able to earn a two-year degree there after spring 2009.

University officials are phasing out the associate’s degree program, shifting resources to its four-year nursing degree instead.

The move has been planned for nearly a decade in anticipation of the launch of a two-year degree program at Fletcher Technical Community College, said Dr. Sue Westbrook, dean of the College of Nursing and Allied Health at Nicholls.

Fletcher received approval for its degreed nursing program in fall 2007.

“Current students in the Associate of Science nursing program at Nicholls will be fully accommodated with alternative educational routes, but new applicants for admission will not be accepted after the spring class graduates,” Westbrook explained.

Because the Bayou Region’s economy could not support three nursing programs – Fletcher’s two-year program and the two-year or four-year option at Nicholls, Westbrook said the phase-out seemed sensible.

“Now, Fletcher can expand its associate’s program and we can expand our bachelor’s program and we can both continue in the direction we started,” she said.

The Louisiana Board of Regents and the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors approved the phase-out in May.

In 2000, Nicholls began scaling down the number of students admitted to its two-year nursing program, only admitting eight to 10 students yearly, instead of the average 10 to 12.

In the meantime, Fletcher admitted nearly 20 students last fall, according to Westbrook.

“This phase-out process will be conducted in such a way as to prevent any undue stress upon scarce clinical sites, as well as to prevent interruption in output of two-year nursing graduates,” she explained.

“Nicholls will do everything that is required to assist students in the clinical component of the two-year nursing program with their timely graduation,” she said.

Nicholls and Fletcher have agreed that nursing graduates of the community college’s two-year program will be credited if they enroll in the university’s four-year degree program.

“We will also assist declared, two-year nursing majors not yet admitted to the clinical component with alternatives,” Westbrook said.

Nicholls State University is phasing out its two-year nursing degree after the spring 2009 session. Nicholls will continue to provide its bachelor degree program. Above, Nicholls students participate in realistic medical settings at Betsy Cheramie Ayo Hall. * Photo by DOUG KEESE /NSU

Doug Keese