Barriers to completion for nontraditional nursing students in a baccalaureate degree nursing program

Nontraditional students comprise a larger number of nursing school enrollments than ever before. These students bring with them unique needs and perspectives to nursing education. Often nontraditional students face barriers not experienced by traditional students. The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of nontraditional nursing students regarding barriers to completion within a generic baccalaureate of science in nursing program. With their unique needs and the current nursing shortage the author utilized a phenomenological study to identify barriers to completion as identified by nontraditional students within a generic baccalaureate nursing program. This qualitative study incorporated case study to investigate those barriers to completion of nontraditional nursing students in a generic baccalaureate nursing program.