RICHMOND, Va. — VCU's Nursing School is nearly doubling admissions this fall.
The change was made amid a national and statewide nursing shortage as a way to help fill the gap.
"We need nurses," interim dean Dr. Patricia Kinser said. "In the commonwealth just last year, one quarter we had thousands of nursing positions that were unfilled."
Instead of its usual 140 admitted students, the nursing school will be opening admissions for an extra 120 students.
Like the Spring cohort, the Fall cohort will consist of a six-semester program that will take three years to complete. Students admitted into the program will experience what Kinser describes as Competency-Based education where they are taught what to how to think, but also apply the necessary medical skills in a realistic setting.
"Part of the reason we moved forward with expanding this program is because it was getting more and more competitive and unfortunately, we were turning away qualified students," said the Nursing Schools Assistant Director for Recruitment Alex Fisher. "We just want to make this program accessible to as many qualified students as we can."
Students will also have access to a Clinical Learning Center where they practice on realistic mannequins, virtual reality simulation, high-fidelity simulations where their knowledge can be applied in a safe environment before transitioning to a hospital or primary health setting where they can work more directly with patients.
"In order to be successful, we will be hiring more faculty because we do need more qualified faculty to teach our nursing students and we’re partnering very with our clinical partners such as VCU Health so that they can help us have placement for students to have those really important clinical experiences at the bedside or out in the community setting," Kinser said.
Eliminating financial barriers is another factor that Kinser says is essential to expanding the university's curriculum. Thanks in part to donors' partners, the university is able to provide scholarships to upwards of 90% of students who have a financial need.
"We are very committed to making sure our students don't graduate with a huge financial burden," Kinser said.
Kinser said the cause of the shortage is that supply is not keeping up with demand.
An aging faculty workforce, nurses choosing to retire, and burnout among those left to pick up the slack is ballooning the number of vacancies faster than they can be filled. Which can have serious consequences for those looking for healthcare.
"That can necessitate canceling or rescheduling surgeries," Kinser said. "Public health is such an important aspect of what nurses do, but if there are shortages there might not be enough nurses in a school setting or there might not be enough nurses in the public health field where their going out and meeting with patients and trying to prevent or delay they need for having to go to the hospital."
According to a 2025 survey conducted by the Virginia Health Care Association and Virginia Center for Assisted Living, over 90% of Virginia facilities had certified nursing assistant vacancies, nearly 80% had LPN vacancies and over 70% had vacancies for registered nurses.
"Everybody knows that this is an important initiative to contribute to the nursing workforce," Kinser said.
Chief Nursing Officer for Bon Secours Richmond Cassie Lewis says its also critical to maintain the nurses currently on the frontlines.
"We need to make sure we invest in our preceptors, who are existing nurses at the bedside who are actually the ones taking those new nurses and actually training them starting to build their skill set at the bedside," Lewis said.
Lewis says the Bon Secours system has a pipeline of nurses through its two affiliated colleges and financial incentives to encourage continued career development in order to help meet the need.
"It’s part of our strategy to ensure we’re not just creating a pipeline but also nourishing the pipeline for future generations of nurses getting into the organization," Lewis said. "We lucky here in Central Virginia that the big healthcare systems do collaborate and are part of something much bigger than themselves,"
VCU School of Nursing says that by the time its nursing school expansion is completed over the next five years, it will likely have the largest public nursing program in the state.
"This is all part of an endeavor to improve our nursing workforce and to expand our nursing workforce," Kinser said.
Kinser says the there is a five year plan to continue to expand VCU nursing program and once completed will make it the largest public Nursing Program in the state.
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