taking the road less traveled: redirecting pre-nursing students into other helping professions...
TRANSCRIPT
Taking the Road Less Traveled:
Redirecting Pre-Nursing Students into Other Helping Professions
Beckie Croissant and Liz OsbornUniversity of Northern Colorado
The Field of Nursing• Fastest growing occupation in the United States
• Nurses make up the majority of the healthcare industry, and that number is going up, with 581,500 more nursing jobs expected by 2018
• Reasons for high interest in nursing profession• High starting salary• Flexible schedules and locations• Large range of career opportunities within the nursing field
• Ranked as one of the highest professions for honesty and ethics
The Problem: National
• High demand, competitive admission process, and limited faculty to teach courses and clinical placement sites
• In 2013, over 53,600 qualified nursing applicants were denied admission to a nursing program in the U.S.
The Problem: UNC• High Demand• Approximately 900 pre-nursing students of which about 300 enroll per year• Around 250 returning pre-nursing students per year • Typically we have at least twice as many qualified pre-nursing applicants each year than
we can admit into the program • In January 2014, our nursing program had 184 qualified applicants for 72 seats
• Competitive Admission Process• Entirely GPA based• In January 2014, the GPA cutoff for admission to the Nursing program was a 3.76
• Loss of Students• AY 2013-2014, 147 out of 296 (50%) pre-nursing freshman dropped out of the
pre-nursing program after their first year
*Totals are calculated from UNC’s in-state tuition and fees for the 2013-2014 academic year ($7,366 per student)
• Of those 147,• 1/3 changed their major and stayed at UNC (green)• 2/3 left UNC resulting in the loss of approximately
$722,000* annually in tuition and fees for UNC (blue)
Stayed Left UNC
The Plan• The loss of our pre-nursing students led to the development of a retention
and redirection effort at UNC called Bear-Way• Bear-Way is an initiative within the College of Natural and Health Sciences
that works in collaboration with the School of Nursing • The program is designed to:• Give pre-nursing students an additional layer of academic advising and support by
meeting with a specialized advisor• Discuss and develop potential parallel academic plans• Help students to reach their goal of earning a bachelor's degree from UNC
• Pre-nursing students are sorted into three tiers based upon their cumulative GPA • Tier 1 - students who have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 to 4.0• Tier 2 - students who have a cumulative GPA of 3.0-3.49• Tier 3 - students who have a cumulative GPA of 2.99 and below, and are considered our
murky middle
• The Education Advisory Board (EAB) defines "The Murky Middle" as students who have mid-range GPAs between a 2.0 and 3.0 GPA. These students are at a higher risk of dropping out of college.
The Solution• Bear-Way Advisor• Targeted Campaigns• One-on-One Meetings
• Tone is positive and encouraging• Discuss "Why do you want to be a nurse?"• Degree Works - GPA Predictor and What If Analysis• SSC Platform - Major Explorer• Coordinated Care Approach• Other Discussion Topics
• Pre-Nursing Advisor • Works with all tiers in group and individual advising regarding
• Ways to be successful in college• Study skills• Time management• Resources
• Ways to increase School of Nursing GPA• Other nursing degree options
• Dual Enrollment program• ADN-BSN• Second Degree program• Bear-Way program
The Results • The Bear-Way program’s goal for the first year was to retain 10 percent of Tier 3
students. In AY 2014-2015, 143 Tier 3 students were invited to meet with the Bear-Way Advisor.
Stayed PN Left UNC Changed Major
• Of those invited, 45 students participated• 12 students changed their major (yellow)• 31 stayed pre-nursing but started taking
courses toward a new major (green)• 2 left the institution (blue)
• Feedback from Students and Parents• Qualtrics Survey• Emails
I like how you put an
effort into working with
students who have
lower than a 3.0 GPA.The Bear-Way advisor was
very helpful. She helped me decide a major that most of my credits would transfer to.
The Bear-Way advisor helped me from quitting [school] by helping me
make a new course plan.It was very beneficial to me.
Very beneficial in that
it helped me discover
other options for my
academic career.
After putting so much passionate work into the nursing program, it was nice to have an alternative
so that I could stay on track academically.
Thank you for meeting with
my daughter yesterday. We
all feel much better now that
we have a solid plan going
forward.
Thank you so much for your help in developing a plan B (or
C, D, E...I lost count) and for supporting me and other
students like me in chasing our dreams. You are awesome and
so important!
• Our goal was to retain 10 percent (14 students). Through our retention and redirection efforts…• We retained 22 percent (39 students)
• Resulting in $287,274 in revenue for UNC
But more importantly, this positively impacted 58 students’ lives
• In addition, 19 Tier 1 and 2 students participated in the Bear-Way program• All of which were retained resulting in an additional $139,954 in revenue for UNC
• Total of $427,228 in tuition and fee revenue
SUCCESS!
Contact InformationBeckie Croissant, Student Services Specialist and Bear-Way Advisor
(970) 351-2774
Liz Osborn, Pre-Nursing Academic Advisor
(970) 351-1694
ReferencesGallup (2014). Americans Rate Nurses Highest on Honesty, Ethical Standards. Retrieved January 22, 2015 from
http://www.gallup.com/poll/180260/americans-rate-nurses-highest-honesty-ethical-standards.aspx
Johnson and Johnson (2015). Why be a Nurse? Retrieved January 22, 2015 from https://www.discovernursing.com/why-be-a-nurse#.VMEXPN4jxD4
Mullaney, T. (2014). Nursing Degree Programs Turned Away More Than 50,000 Qualified Applicants in 2013, Survey Finds. Retrieved January 22,
2015 from http://www.mcknights.com/nursing-degree-programs-turned-away-more-than-50000-qualified-applicants-in-2013-survey-
finds/article/331283/
US News (2014). Study: Income Gap Between Young College and High School Grads Widens. Retrieved January 19, 2015 from
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/02/11/study-income-gap-between-young-college-and-high-school-grads-widens