The recession has definitely left its mark on universities and community colleges. Funding is being slashed, educators' salaries are frozen, faculty workloads are increasing, supplies are in short demand, and fear and uncertainty abound.
The State Constitution of North Carolina requires a balanced budget each year (unlike our federal government). There is an estimated $3 billion shortfall this fiscal year. State employees are currently being required to "give back" to the state 0.5% of their salaries, to help make up for this fiduciary crisis. This is in exchange for a "furlough" of 10 hours, which most educators will never see.
The latest projected cuts to education in North Carolina (for the year 2010-2011) are most disconcerting - a projected decrease in funding for 2010-11 by $59.2 million. This translates to:
16.1% cut from the state university system
14.2% cut from the state community college system
14.2% cut from the state public school system
Some sources of financial aid to students have dried up, but others remain available (such as Stafford Loans).
In my college of nursing, we are restricted on photocopying, travel, and use of supplies. We are rationing paper and ink cartridges. Workloads have increased. Nursing classes have been doubled in size. Students are packed in classrooms like sardines. People are very worried that actual job cuts (to faculty and staff) are next.
I consider myself most fortunate to still have a job that I love in the midst of this terrible recession.
Our graduates are having difficulty finding employment. Only 40% of the latest group of graduates (May) have found nursing jobs. Many have placed applications at multiple facilities, including longterm care, with little success.
How is your school of nursing faring in these tough financial times?
Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
I just wanted to reply to several of these posts. First of all I am a North Carolinian living in Michigan. I have been hearing from my sister who is a public school art teacher about how dire things are in my home state. Since we have been in recession here in Michigan for about 7 years as opposed to the two years for the rest of the country, I have a great deal of empathy for what all of you are going through. Our unemployment is up to 15% as of May(highest in the nation) but I know southern states are not far behind us. I work as nursing faculty for a small private college here in Michigan and the interesting thing is our overall collge enrollment is up. Mainly because many people are receiving $$ through No Worker Left Behind programs and other state and federally funded "back to work" initiatives. This has had a great impact on our college in that we are financially stronger than we have ever been. In fact we are moving into a brand new health science building in the fall since we are rapidly outgrowing our old facility.
Our applicant pool for our nursing program has doubled which is a good thing because in recent years we have had just enough applicants to fill our 60 seats. This means that all applicants have gotten in not just the best. This has impacted our attrition rates since more students are finding it difficult to complete the program. and failing out. We had our highest number of failures this year that we have ever had.
However, our graduates are finding it much harder to obtain their first job. So far we have been able to place everyone this year. Many are going into LTC rather than the hospitals. The hospitals up here have been hurting for awhile since the auto industry downturn started several years ago and people up here have not had insurance for quite a while. Our hospitals are trying to maintain theri nurse extern and nur residency programs but teh numbers of students and grads who are being taken into these programs has been severely reduced. I agree with the writer who suggested that nursing students complete a CNA course, that is a great way to get experience with alll types of procedures. Fortunately the program I work in is an ADN school so our students get tons of hands on practice--our clinicals are all 5-9 weeks long, two 6-9 hour days each week, with direct patient care in each one. But I do see a distinct difference between our ADN program and the BSN program at our local university. Lots of observing there much less patient care.
As for students going into the profession for the money, that is also true for us. With an added reason, this is one area that they can still get a job of some type. Maybe not the job of their dreams but at least a job. That is precious to everyone up here. The point about needing to make money to pay for student loans is also true. While the back to work programs help with some college costs, students still come out with huge loans and need a way to repay them.
Finally a comment on nursing faculty. Our workload is horrendous(60-70 hours/week). Our pay is horrible($50,000/year tops). We recently did a market study of our own to try to convince our college to increase pay and got laughed at. But I cannot think of another place I would rather work. I have a great team of colleagues to work with(I consider myself fortunate) and an eager group of students to guide. I also work as a perdiem nurse educator for a small local hospital and the difference is night and day.
I believe we have to be patient in these times, try to instill as much professionalism as we can in our students, provide them with as many opportunities for learning as we can and hope for the best.
in hawaii, state employees are bracing for furloughs of three days a month over the next two years, the equivalent of a 14 percent pay cut. in idaho, lawmakers reduced aid to public schools for the first time in recent memory, forcing pay cuts for teachers.
and in california, where a $24 billion deficit for the coming fiscal year is the nation's worst, gov. [color=#004276]arnold schwarzenegger has proposed releasing thousands of prisoners early and closing more than 200 state parks....
in all, states will face a $121 billion budget gap in the coming fiscal year, according to a recent report by the national conference of state legislatures, compared with $102.4 billion for this fiscal year....
the anemic economy decimated state tax collections during the first three months of the year, according to a [color=#004276]report released friday by the rockefeller institute of government. the drop in revenues was the steepest in the 46 years that quarterly data has been available.
the blow to state coffers, which the report said appeared to worsen in the second quarter of the year, reflects the gravity of the recession and suggests the extent to which many states will probably have to resort to more spending cuts or tax increases to balance their budgets.
over all, the report found that state tax collections dropped 11.7 percent in the first three months of 2009, compared with the same period last year. after adjusting for inflation, new changes in tax rates and other anomalies, the report found that tax revenues had declined in 47 of the 50 states in the quarter.
VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN
49 Articles; 5,349 Posts
Thank you for your insightful comments, Robbi.