Reports of Master Plan's death may have been premature

From time to time, we have noted erosion of the Master Plan. CSU gets (limited) doctoral degree authority. Community colleges get (limited) 4-year degrees. But now a new LAO report suggests the end of a CSU doctoral program.

Specifically, LAO suggests the legislature let the law giving CSU's authority to run a doctoral program - Doctor of Nursing Practice - sunset. The LAO report cites three reasons:

• The state is No Longer Facing Nursing Shortage

• CSU Continues to Report Trouble With Attracting Doctorally Prepared Nursing Faculty 

•  Only a Few DNP Graduates Helping CSU With Regular Hiring Needs

It suggests - guess what! - that if CSU is having trouble finding faculty for its non-doctoral nursing programs, there is no need for CSU to produce them. It could just pay better and attract qualified candidates.

You can find the LAO report at: http://lao.ca.gov/reports/2017/3521/Doctor-of-Nursing-Programs-010517.pdf