$1M SUNY Investment Expands Nursing Education Pathways Statewide
By Office of the President | Feb 3, 2026
Downstate and Old Westbury continue to strengthen their long-standing collaboration to expand access to high-demand healthcare careers, advancing academic pathways that help address critical workforce needs.
Earlier agreements between the two institutions established direct academic pathways for eligible Old Westbury students into Downstate’s accelerated and graduate programs in nursing, physician assistant studies, and physical therapy. Under these agreements, up to 20 Old Westbury students each year who meet program admissions standards can receive priority enrollment consideration at Downstate, offering a more straightforward route into high-impact health professions.
Recent funding through the SUNY High Needs Nursing Fund further advanced the partnership. In December, Chancellor John B. King, Jr. announced a nearly $1 million investment systemwide to enhance nursing education pathways and expand health workforce capacity across New York State. Downstate and Old Westbury received almost $170,000 to advance their joint initiative, Nursing Education Pathway: Train to Retain, building on existing transfer agreements and establishing a coordinated academic pipeline into Downstate’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing Education programs.
A key feature of the initiative is the creation of a seamless transition for students from the Accelerated program into the Master of Science in Nursing Education program, strengthening the pipeline of master’s-prepared nurse educators needed to support nursing education programs and address long-term workforce shortages.
These efforts come at a time when demographic shifts and workforce pressures are intensifying demand for nursing professionals. National projections show that the United States will continue to experience significant gaps between supply and demand for registered nurses as the population ages, with the need for nurse services increasing sharply as baby boomers age and require more medical and long-term care services. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing notes that demand for registered nurses is expected to remain strong through the next decade, with hundreds of thousands of openings annually when retirements and workforce exits are factored in, even as educational capacity struggles to keep pace.
The COVID-19 pandemic also highlighted persistent workforce challenges, temporarily reducing nurse employment and placing extraordinary strain on health systems. While employment levels have rebounded, concerns remain about long-term retention, burnout, and the need to attract and prepare the next generation of nursing professionals and educators.
Together, these initiatives strengthen academic and workforce pipelines across Brooklyn, Long Island, and New York State, preparing future healthcare professionals and the educators who train them to meet the evolving needs of a diverse and aging population.