This is interesting! http://thecurrent-online.com/news/po...option-coming/

Beginning in spring of 2011, the College of Nursing has the possibility of presenting a part-time student option within its college. The demand for a part-time option for students has been desired for years at the University of Missouri-St. Louis could finally be coming into play.

In September, the Missouri State Board of Nursing will either deny or approve the additional option. Should it be approved, the option will begin in January and UM-St. Louis will be the only public university in St. Louis to offer a part-time nursing program.

Although it is part-time, the College of Nursing standards remain the same. Student admission requirements, coursework, and outcome are equal to the full-time and full-time accelerated options. The difference is that the average nursing student takes 15 to 18 credit hours in a semester, while the part-time option will generally have students taking nine credit hours in a semester.

“The full-time traditional option [takes] two-and-a-half years after the students’ general education courses are completed whereas the part-time option, the nursing coursework takes three years. It takes longer because they’re going at a part-time pace, obviously. The part-time option, they’re taking about five to nine credit hours a semester and they’re going year round,” Jill Maldeney, admissions advisor for the College of Nursing, said. “With the full-time traditional option, they don’t go in the summer. They take more like 15 to 18 credit hours a semester. That’s the main difference,” Maldeney said.

The other difference is that in the part-time option, labs and clinical courses will be conducted during the evening and on weekends.

Traditionally, nursing programs have been solely full time due to the demands of the courses.

“Primarily it’s been the tradition that college students in nursing typically are full-time students because nursing is so demanding. It’s very difficult to go to school on a part-time basis and carry [the courses],” Sandy Linquist, associate dean for undergraduate program of nursing, said. “It’s very difficult to work part time or full time, and go to school full time. So the tradition has been that students who go in nursing are scheduled to be full-time students.”

However, there are benefits to the part-time program that the college speculates will bring in several more prospective students.

“This is a way of providing them with a different option in terms of how fast they have to complete the clinical nursing major courses. It allows people to work full time or meet their family commitments a little bit better. It’s tough when you’re going to school full time and you have kids, and a full-time job,” Lindquist said. “It’s practically impossible to be successful in a very challenging field like nursing when you have all those activities or commitments going on simultaneously. I think it’ll give them a greater opportunity to be successful in terms of that,” Lindquist said.

The college is currently accepting applications for the spring semester. 32 students have signed up as of yet.