Nurses are often viewed as heroes by their patients, thanks to their skills and compassion. For new nursing graduates, heroism may be needed early on in their careers when they are hit by the twin challenges of college debt and possible unemployment.
A Nursing Economic$ article posted online ahead of print, Nursing Student Loan Debt: A Secondary Analysis of the National Student Nurses' Association (NSNA) Annual Survey of New Graduates breaks it all down, from loan burdens to a slightly improved job market. The print version of the article will appear shortly in the September/October issue of the journal.
To get some answers, authors Veronica Feeg, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Diane Mancino, EdD, RN, CAE, FAAN, went to the nurses themselves and analyzed four years of data from the NSNA New Graduate Annual Survey (2010-13).
"Understanding educational loan debt, school choice, and borrowing patterns of nursing students specifically is essential to forecast and plan for an adequate supply of educated nurses in the future," the authors write.
The good news first: hiring new nursing grads appears to be improving in all regions of the country, with the south and central portions showing the best rates.
On the down side, only 55%-59% of Bachelor of Science (BSN) students reported being employed in the four years analyzed (2010-13). That's better than the numbers reported by associate degree nurses (ADNs), which ranged from 42%-45%.
As far as debt, for those same four years, approximately 70% of all graduate nurses report graduating with debt, vs. about 27% with no debt.
"We discovered nursing students are similar to all undergraduate college students with average student loan debt (approximately $30,000 per borrower)," the authors write. As expected, BSN grads owe more than the ADNs.
The authors also point out that funding today for advance practice RNs dominates grant programs offered through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The only HRSA undergraduate funding available for nursing education supports individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The authors conclude that while nursing students may face lower debt overall than their liberal and social science counterparts, the data analyzed in this study suggest they are more likely to be in debt than in the past.
"Policymakers and educators need to be aware of the debt that is carried by these new graduates," the authors advise. "It is imperative strategies be created to support a workforce that is prepared to meet the health care challenges faced by the next generation of nurses."