Demand for more nurses drives tech schools, colleges to create new paths to BSN degrees

Imagine attending two colleges at the same time to earn a four-year nursing degree in five semesters.

Or being enrolled in two colleges at the same time, but taking classes at a four-year school the first year, a two-year school the next two years, and then returning to the four-year school to complete a bachelor's in nursing. Maybe you live in a residence hall on the four-year campus the whole time and make friends and participate in activities at both schools.

The demand for more nurses, a shortage of nursing seats in traditional college programs and a national push for more nurses to have bachelor's degrees instead of two-year degrees is prompting schools to think outside the box. And it's creating a business opportunity for four-year universities to partner with two-year schools — technical colleges that have well-established clinical training programs for degrees that employers say no longer are enough for an evolving profession.

As workforce needs change, Cardinal Stritch and Mount Mary universities in Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay within the past two years have created alternative paths to a bachelor's degree in nursing. The goal is to offer more options to both increase the number of students pursuing nursing and capture the tuition dollars they pay.

The four-year schools partner with state technical colleges to offer degree programs that enroll students in both schools at the same time. Their partners include Gateway Technical College in Kenosha, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Waukesha County Technical College, Madison Area Technical College and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay.

Students get different types of courses from each type of school that, together, lead to the much-coveted bachelor's in nursing degree. Students don't have to worry, then, about mapping a transfer from a two-year to a four-year school because the programs are streamlined with dual enrollment.

There may be some cost savings, but it depends on how quickly students move through the programs and whether they transfer credits earned either through advanced courses in high school or at other colleges.

It's too soon to know whether the new paths will move students through as quickly as their marketing suggests.

Students also don't automatically pay less for the classes they take at the less-expensive two-year college. Tuition for Mount Mary's program this fall will be the same $520 per credit for classes, whether they are taken at the two-year college or Mount Mary.

Stritch and UW-Green Bay have their programs set up so students pay less for the technical college classes. 

UW-Green Bay was the first in the state to start a 1-2-1 partnership. Its program with Northeast Wisconsin Technical College — a 15-minute drive from the UW-Green Bay campus — launched in fall 2016. It's modeled after a similar program in another state.

In a 1-2-1 nursing program, the first year of classes is at the four-year school, the next two years are at the technical college, and the fourth year is back at the four-year school.

"We know the nursing workforce is aging and retiring, we need more nurses, and employers are looking for BSN degree-holders," said Jennifer Schwahn, a nursing adviser who coordinates the NURSE 1-2-1 program at UW-Green Bay.

Most students in the 1-2-1 program are traditional college students ages 18 to 22, Schwahn said. The program offers the same courses at UW-Green Bay as courses taken there by nurses with a two-year degree who want to complete a bachelor's in nursing. 

The cost of the 1-2-1 UW-Green Bay and NWTC program adds up to about $35,500, including books and fees, Schwahn said. The program has 24 seats for each entering class.

The $35,000 compares with a cost of $35,000 to $40,000 in the alternative nursing path at Cardinal Stritch University and $76,000 for students starting in the 2018-’19 academic year in the alternative path at Mount Mary University.

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Of the first group of 24 students in the UW-Green Bay program in fall 2016, 11 continued the second year at NWTC. Some decided nursing wasn't for them, and others slowed their progression and will need more than four years to complete the degree, Schwahn said.

The program attracted more than 80 applicants for the 24 new spots available next fall, she said. That will allow the school to be more selective for the 1-2-1 program.

The newest partnership was announced this week between Mount Mary and Waukesha County Technical College. Mount Mary also has a concurrent-enrollment partnership with Milwaukee Area Technical College, said Cheryl Bailey, dean of the Mount Mary School of Natural and Health Sciences.

The 1-2-1 program guarantees students a seat in nursing classes. That's a critical roadblock students face elsewhere in traditional two-year and four-year degree nursing programs that don't have enough room to fill the growing demand for students seeking nursing degrees.

The programs UW-Green Bay and Cardinal Stritch developed similarly offer guaranteed seats in nursing.

Brian Smith, a former emergency medical technician in Kenosha, decided he wanted to be a nurse. He is able to focus entirely on studies to push through the Cardinal Stritch-Gateway Technical College bachelor's degree program.

Smith, 38, said he likes the fact he potentially could finish in five semesters instead of four years. 

"I like the fast track," he said. "It allows me to knock it out faster. A four-year program is a long time."

Smith is enrolled full-time in Gateway Technical College's two-year nursing program. The Stritch portion is all online courses.

"Online is more research. More papers," Smith said. "The (two-year college) courses are a lot of book work. It's well-paced, once you get into the pattern." 

Kelly Dries, a nursing professor and dean of the Ruth S. Coleman College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Stritch, acknowledged that a student must be motivated and all-in to complete a four-year degree in five semesters.

But she believes it's possible because she and a colleague who designed it both worked at technical colleges and know the workload in those courses to balance courses needed from Stritch.

"It's an innovative pathway," Dries said.

It's too early to know whether students will be able to keep up with such a fast-track pace.

The first year has the heaviest course load, Dries said. A student may take four courses at the two-year college their first semester. The same semester, they take an additional three courses from Stritch — one six-week, online course at a time.

To stay on the five-semester track, students must take Stritch courses throughout summers, while the two-year colleges are on break.

"Not having the time off could be an issue," Smith said.

In addition to Gateway, Stritch partnered with Milwaukee Area Technical College, Madison Area Technical College and Waukesha County Technical College for the new intensive, concurrent bachelor's program.

The Stritch program is structured so all students take the same courses in the same sequence to keep the workload manageable, Dries said.

While the in-person technical college courses teach nursing skills, the online Stritch classes focus more on leadership and deeper dives.

Online classes cover evidence-based practices, "leadership for change," health-care economics, population-focused health, promoting better health for patients with chronic diseases, information management and health-care technology, and a capstone course that has students working at jobs in their field while tackling a problem they identify in that workplace.

Seventy of the 120 credit hours for the bachelor's degree typically would be earned at the tech school, while 50 credits are online Stritch classes. 

Stritch also started a traditional, four-year bachelor's degree nursing program in 2014 and has an RN to BSN program.

"Having options is always valuable," said Shannon Probasco, talent business partner for Froedtert Health, referring to the new Stritch program.

"Any program that's well-thought out and provides students with the information they need ... if it can be condensed and they get the same value and benefit out of it, why not?"