Just received word yesterday that our college of nursing is facing anywhere from a 4 to 7% cut in budget. Our state, overall, faces a billion dollar or so shortfall in revenues, and colleges and universities are being targeted. This translates to less adjunct help, very few new faculty positions, larger clinical groups, larger class sizes, no raises, less supplies, less money available for research, and fewer perks such as travel reimbursements. We will need to make do on "less," yet our enrollment is steadily increasing. The year ahead certainly poses challenges for nursing faculty, as colleges and universities are only insulated so far in these troubling economic times.
