The States With The Largest Nursing Faculty Shortage

• Nursing schools struggle to find candidates with the right degree and specialty who will work for the salary schools can offer.
• The national faculty vacancy rate has held near 8% for several years. Western states carry the highest need.
• The shortage is being addressed at the national, state, and school level.

In 2021, more than 91,000 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing programs at every level because the programs lacked faculty, preceptors, classroom space, or clinical sites, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). More than half were denied entry to prelicensure bachelor's programs. AACN is most concerned about the students turned away from master's and doctoral programs, because that pool feeds the faculty pipeline.

Here is where the faculty shortage stands, what drives it, how it connects to the broader nursing shortage, and what is being done about it.

Nursing Faculty Vacancies Around the U.S.

The national full-time faculty vacancy rate has stayed close to 8% for several years. AACN reported 8% in 2021, 8.8% in 2022, 7.8% in 2023, and 7.9% in 2024, with 1,693 vacancies across the 467 schools that responded. Most open full-time positions share the same features:

• A doctoral degree is required or preferred.
• They are nontenure track.
• The role teaches bachelor's nursing classes.
• The role covers both clinical and classroom components.

Full-Time Vacancy Rates by Region, Academic Year 2022-2023

Region	States	Vacancy Rate
West	Alaska, Hawaii, California, Colorado	10%
South	Texas, Florida, Maryland, Kentucky	9.8%
Midwest	Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, Nebraska	6.9%
North Atlantic	Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maine, New York	8.1%

The regional pattern has held. AACN's 2024 survey again found the highest vacancy rate in the West (9.8%) and the lowest in the Midwest (5.6%).

What Drives the Shortage

Two main factors. First, the workforce is aging. The average nursing faculty member is between 48.6 and 62.5 years old depending on title and degree, per AACN. A third of faculty teaching bachelor's or master's programs planned to retire by 2025.

Second, programs cannot fill the openings, because they cannot:

• Offer salaries competitive with clinical jobs
• Find faculty with the right specialty mix
• Find enough doctorally prepared faculty

Advanced practice registered nurses, for instance, make tens of thousands of dollars more per year than nurse educators, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Programs also need faculty to train future faculty, and the pipeline is thin: enrollment in doctor of nursing programs dropped 13 percentage points from 2013 to 2021, and more than 14,700 qualified applicants were turned away from advanced degree programs in 2021 for lack of faculty, preceptors, and clinical sites.

Some schools need full-time faculty but never post the positions, because of:

• No money to hire
• No leadership commitment to more full-time lines
• Salaries that cannot match the private sector

How Faculty Vacancies Feed the Nursing Shortage

The western states, from Colorado to California plus Alaska and Hawaii, are the one region where the faculty shortage and the staffing shortage line up. They have the highest faculty vacancy rate and low nurse-to-patient ratios, with most western states under 10 nurses per 1,000 people.

Elsewhere the data does not connect cleanly. North Dakota and Iowa sit in the region with the lowest average faculty shortage, yet still have fewer than 8 nurses per 1,000 people. Idaho and Nevada have more than 10 nurses per 1,000 people but sit in the region with the most faculty need. Nevada has the second-highest nurse salary in the nation adjusted for cost of living and ranks among the best states for nurses. Other reasons for the disconnect: nurses earn their degrees remotely, work in a different state after graduating, leave nursing from burnout, or go into travel nursing for better pay and flexibility.

Addressing the Shortage

Schools, states, the federal government, and groups like AACN and Jonas Philanthropies all work the problem.

Some universities, such as Florida State University, offer rolling admissions so you can start in spring, summer, or fall instead of waiting for the next fall term. Nursing schools partner with hospitals to expand clinical sites, and with community colleges so you can take classes toward your associate and bachelor's degrees at the same time.

States like Maryland and Hawaii have funded their nursing programs to hire more faculty. Preceptors who teach clinicals can earn tax incentives in Maryland, Hawaii, Georgia, Colorado, South Carolina, and Virginia, with similar legislation pending in New York, Rhode Island, New Mexico, and Oregon.

The federal government offers loan repayment built for nurse educators. The Health Resources and Services Administration provides up to 85% debt cancellation for educators who teach for three to four years through the Nurse Corps Repayment Program or the Nurse Faculty Loan Program.

AACN's NursingCAS lets you apply to multiple prelicensure or graduate programs with one set of materials. It partners with over 250 schools to fill vacant seats and placed more than 14,700 students in advanced degree programs in 2021 alone.

Jonas Philanthropies funds scholarships for doctoral nursing students focused on the nation's most pressing healthcare needs, including veterans health, aging, palliative and end-of-life care, psychiatric mental health, and global nursing.