FSU to limit admissions to nursing program

Fayetteville, N.C. — Fayetteville State University will admit fewer students to study nursing this fall as program leaders focus on improving test scores among already enrolled students, Chancellor James Anderson said Friday.

Anderson shared the plan with the policy committee of the UNC system's Board of Governors Thursday.

"The prior emphasis was on the number of students admitted, not their quality," Anderson said.

In the past, the program averaged 30 to 35 new students per year. Anderson estimated that in 2009, the program would cut that number to 15.

In 2008, only 24 students from Fayetteville State – 39 percent – passed the nursing exam on their first try, according to the state Board of Nursing. The average pass rate was 88 percent among North Carolina's 68 programs that train registered nurses.

Hannah D. Gage, chairwoman of the Board of Governors, expressed a desire to see the program succeed.