SUNY Empire Among 16 Campuses Awarded Funds to Expand High-Demand Nursing Enrollment

The State University of New York announced that more than $1.4 million has been awarded from its Nursing Emergency Training Fund to expand campus healthcare degree programs for students interested in pursuing a nursing career. This is the fund’s second investment in less than 12 months, and part of an effort to meet Governor Kathy Hochul’s goal of growing the state’s healthcare workforce by 20 percent over the next five years.

In May, SUNY announced that more than $3.2 million was awarded to 16 campuses to help increase nursing program enrollment capacity. Including this second round of funding, SUNY projects a total of 2,500 spots will be created for prospective students. SUNY Empire was included in the second round of funding.

SUNY Empire has established a partnership with Nassau Community College, SUNY Orange, and CUNY Hostos Community College to increase student enrollment by creating a path from an associate degree to bachelor’s degree. These partnerships are expected to increase student enrollment in SUNY Empire’s registered nurse (RN) to a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree transfer program, and allow students the option to seamlessly transfer to SUNY Empire once they obtain their associate degree. The partnership allows students to transfer 63 credits earned from their previous campus to SUNY Empire, reducing the time to earn a degree.