OHIO’s affordable RN to BSN online program expands to 23 states!
As national statistics continue to show a shortage of nurses and predict the need for nurses at an all-time high, Ohio University’s College of Health Sciences and Professions and School of Nursing have expanded the Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing Online program to 13 new states across the U.S., bringing the program’s presence to nearly half the country.
OHIO’s RN to BSN Online Program: Affordable continuing education that pays
The OHIO RN to BSN online program is listed as the seventh-most affordable online BSN completion program at a public university in the entire nation, according to Nurse.org. The program is designed for registered nurses who want to advance their careers by earning a bachelor’s degree.
An increase in education correlates to an increase in salary. According to PayScale.com, the median annual salary for an RN with less than a year’s experience is $57,088 whereas an RN with a BSN and less than a year experience has a median annual salary of $70,532. Additionally, the Health and Medicine Division, according to NurseJournal.org, projects employers will require up to 80 percent of their nursing staff to have a BSN by 2020.
Continued expansion of OHIO’s RN to BSN Online Program meets growing national demand
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nursing is projected to be one of the fastest growing professions in the U.S. over the next five years, while the American Nurses Association reports more registered nurse jobs will be available than any other profession in the nation. The nursing workforce is projected to grow to 3.2 million. Coupled with the need to replace nurses who retire from the profession, job openings for nurses are projected to top one million by 2024.
According to Moody’s Investors Services, states in the south and west of the United States will show the highest need for nurses, including California, Florida and Texas. To help meet this need, OHIO’s RN to BSN online program has focused on expansion over the past five years, adding first Florida, followed by California and now Texas. Other new states include:
- Oregon
- Connecticut
- Arizona
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Virginia
- Illinois
- New York
- Minnesota
- Montana
- Kansas
- Nevada
- Utah
The program is also available to those with an active RN license in Washington D.C. These areas join Ohio, Delaware, Michigan, West Virginia, New Jersey, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Indiana to give the RN to BSN program a presence in 23 states.
According to a report from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a number of factors contribute to the rise in demand for nurses. The baby boom generation now has a need for more health care services, the current nursing workforce continues to age closer to retirement and a majority of the workforce is female and will often leave the profession or cut back on hours to have and raise children.
“Our high-quality online RN to BSN program is proven to graduate BSN-prepared nurses who are bringing added value to the workplace, advancing their career choices and positioning themselves to apply to our BSN to Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree program,” said Dr. Deborah Henderson, director of the School of Nursing. “We are proud to offer this program to additional states and open these opportunities.”