AUBURN, Ala. (EETV) - The Auburn University School of Nursing has decided to “redistribute the entry points to the major” and now students are finding a way to voice their opinion.
The change.org petition claims that the School of Nursing will now accept half the usual number of students into both the fall and spring nursing cohorts.
The petition has over 1,400 signatures and claims that the changes are unfair to undergraduate students who chose to come to Auburn University based off of its nursing program, and now may not be accepted.
The petition claims that these changes were put into effect after the current pre-nursing students had already submitted their applications. Students are upset that after putting two years of hard work into Auburn’s nursing program, they may have to start looking for a plan B.
The petition especially puts focus on out-of-state students who are paying higher tuition in hopes of graduating from the nursing school. “If we knew about these changes before, we would've saved our money and time and went to a school in our state to save money and to a school that we knew we had a chance to get into the nursing program,” said the anonymous student who created the petition.
Auburn University School of Nursing Dean, Gregg Newschwander, defends the school’s decision. "We have data that suggests re-sequencing the courses in the school will result in better outcomes for students,” said Newschwander, “Once we were aware of the problem, we had a responsibility to act to change it. Waiting for another year or two to make the change would not be acceptable.”
