UNC Greensboro is moving its Nursing Ph.D. program online to make it more convenient for working nurses.
“Nurses are very busy. Most of them work different shifts, there's costs for gasoline for driving to campus, parking costs have gone up," said Susan Letvak, UNCG’s School of Nursing Ph.D. program director. “And really, it's a time commitment.”
In addition to its Ph.D. program, the school’s post-master's Doctor of Nursing Practitioner program will also be solely online.
“If anything COVID taught us, [it's] that we can be highly effective with education, using technology [like] Microsoft Teams, etc. Students actually like that learning model," she said.
Nursing students will have opportunities to go to campus once or twice a semester to meet faculty and their peers. Letvak said UNCG is looking at moving other nursing programs online as well.
The program will be entirely online as of August. Classes are expected to have eight to 10 students per group. There are several ways to help pay for the program. The university offers scholarships and an opportunity to be a research assistant. Letvak said that some research assistants also receive tuition waivers.