The University of Hawai‘i at Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene announced today that nursing student enrollment for the fall semester is at an all-time high, up 58 percent from 2004 and 15 percent from last year. Of the 592 nursing students enrolled, 361 are pursuing Bachelor of Science nursing degrees.

During these challenging economic times, the school was able to extend admission to prospective nurses because of the support from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2009, the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System and the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene were selected for the VA Nursing Academy’s Enhancing Academic Partnership Program after submitting a collaborative grant to the VA earlier in the year.
While recently visiting veterans at the Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical Center and Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawai‘i, Eric Shinseki, U.S. secretary of Veterans Affairs, personally congratulated Hawai‘i’s VA Nursing Academy team members for their commitment to providing the education and training necessary for health care providers to deliver the care that veterans need.
“The Hawai‘i VA Nursing Academy will allow our young men and women in the local area to stay close to their homes and receive the education necessary to assist our veterans,” Shinseki said.