The Recessions Effect on College Majors

Drawbacks of a competitive major


PHOENIX - With the recent recession in the United States and budget cuts in schools, students are enrolling more in majors that will guarantee them money in the long run.
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According to a study by the Princeton Review, Nursing is the fourth most popular major for college students in America. Forbes Magazine reported that in 2008, 94,192 degrees were awarded to women in the Nursing field. Even though it seems enrolling in a nursing program is almost guaranteed for many aspiring students, it is becoming harder and harder to enroll into programs in specific schools such as ASU because of budget restrictions.  

A student wishing to enroll in the nursing program must first take two years full of pre-requisite classes and basically has to get straight A’s to have a chance of making it into the program. The students then take an entrance exam at the end of sophomore year and the score of that is combined with their GPA. This score will determine whether the student makes it into the program or not. According to the State Press, “The average GPA of those accepted was a near-perfect 3.976.”

Robyn Robledo, A sophomore-nursing student decided to enroll at ASU because they, “had one of the best nursing programs around.” She was unaware of the competitiveness going on in the nursing program.

“We were told that there were about 400 students about to apply that were in our class and only 80 would get in...You have to be the top of the class,” said Robledo.

Only 80 students out of 216 students that applied are allowed to join because of the lack of teachers for the program. State law requires only a certain amount of students per faculty member for nursing. This is because students need personal instruction from their teachers. 

According to Robledo the nursing majors were informed that “not enough students want to become teachers who will teach other students to become nurses so there’s hardly any teachers around.”

This problem is in part due to the lack of funds given to these teachers so therefore it is not a desirable job. According to www.AZcentral.com, A clinical associate professor will make about $51,000 per year. They would make more money being a nurse than teaching. This causes a slim number of teachers so fewer students will be accepted into the program.

Students who don’t make it into the program will have to take alternative routes to achieve their goals. If they choose to take the community college route, they might be placed on a three to four semester waiting list before they can continue their studies. A second alternative would be to try to get in to the ASU nursing program again but the wait time between the times they can apply gets longer after each time. The third alternative would be to transfer to a nursing program outside of Arizona.


Robledo doesn’t let the possibility of potentially not getting in to the nursing program discourage her.

“Even though it might take me longer, meaning I might have to transfer to another school or take a few years off, that’s not going to stop me from being a nurse," Robledo said. “It’s just going to take me a little bit longer.”

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The Nursing and Health Innovation building NHI II located on the Arizona State University Downtown Campus.
photo by: Cygnusloop99