The U.S. is projected to be short 78,610 full-time nurses in 2025, lowering slightly to 63,720 in 2030. Organizations across the country have affirmed recognition of this health crisis.
Melissa Vrban is a Registered Nurse and Clinical Coordinator at the University of Iowa Hospital. She helps train nurses recently hired in the operating room.
“We just don’t have enough educational programs to keep up with the pace of and the need of nurses,” Vrban said. “So if you’ve got 200 students trying to get into a program that only takes 50, how nice would it be to have another school or another program that would pick up those other 150 students that want to be nurses?”
According to 2023-2024 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, 65,766 qualified applications were turned away from bachelor’s or graduate nursing programs due to constraints of learning space, clinics, faculty and budgets.
Clinics and hospital sites are often short on workers. Nurses can quickly burn out from fast-paced work days and long hours of strenuous care, such as lifting patients in the operating room. As a result, nurses may be compelled to leave the field to pursue other careers well before retirement age.
Claire Maddux is a Registered Nurse at Boys Town National Research Hospital. She works in the pediatric inpatient unit caring for children with more severe medical conditions.
“Many nurses feel their pay does not increase in proportion to their experience, responsibilities or the complexity of their work, and this is a major reason they leave the profession,” Maddux said. “Ensuring the wages accurately reflect the level of skill and responsibility required would help retain experienced nurses.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, overwhelming numbers of inpatients were sent to hospitals and put pressure on already understaffed nursing resources. The COVID-19 Impact Assessment Survey provided data that 52% of nurses considered leaving because work was affecting their health. Higher pay and more manageable schedules were motivating incentives for nurses to stay.
“Nursing is incredibly rewarding, but it requires resilience and the ability to stay calm under stress,” Maddux said.
In 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill plans to limit federal loans borrowed for college. The Trump Administration recategorized professional degrees, and graduate nursing programs were ruled out. Nurses who want to pursue advanced nursing degrees will be limited on the amount of student loans they can take out.
