The Lutheran School of Nursing in St. Louis, Mo., is closing because of financial struggles and low enrollment.
The school, which opened in 1898, has faced staffing and student shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic, reports The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Tina Hetch, CEO at South City Hospital, said keeping the school open was no longer an option. The school is part of the hospital.
The school had been struggling for several years. In 2015 and 2016, its pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination fell just below the 80% required for registered professional nursing schools.
The school was placed on “conditional approval status” and raised its scores above the cutoff level in 2017 and 2018.
But a 2019 report by the Missouri State Board of Nursing detailed problems with finances, faculty turnover and facilities. The school had to move out of a building because of problems with mold and pests.
In February 2022, the school announced that it was not enrolling students for the coming term because of a “moratorium of admissions from the Missouri State Board of Nursing.”
