Chamberlain’s President on Where the Nursing Pipeline Breaks, From Wait Lists to Burnout

Disclosure: Chamberlain University advertises with Nurse.org. Chamberlain did not sponsor or pay for this interview, and our advertising relationships do not influence our editorial coverage or school rankings. Learn more in our advertising policy.

If you have ever precepted a new grad, you know the nursing pipeline starts long before orientation. On this episode of Nurse Converse, host Jana Price, MBA, BSN, BA, RN, CEN, TCRN, sits down with Amelia Manning, President of Chamberlain University, to talk about the pressure points nurses feel every shift: not enough nurses, not enough seats in nursing school, the cost of getting there, and the burnout waiting on the other side.

Amelia stepped into the president role at Chamberlain in May 2026. She came to Chamberlain from Tulane University, where she was dean of the School of Professional Advancement, and before that spent 20 years at Southern New Hampshire University, most recently as chief operating officer. Here is what she shared, and what it could mean for nurses and the students coming up behind them.

Want to see more Nurse.org articles in your Google results? Add us as a preferred source.

Jana opened with the question nurses debate constantly: are we short because nurses are leaving the bedside, or because not enough new nurses are coming in? Amelia’s answer was that it depends on where you look.

In some parts of the country, there simply are not enough nurses to meet local needs. In others, the numbers may look fine on paper, but not enough nurses are choosing to stay at the bedside. On top of that, she pointed to a workforce squeezed by retirements, nurses moving into other roles, burnout, and growing demand for care.

“There are places where you may have theoretically enough nurses, but not enough that are choosing to remain at the bedside.” – Amelia Manning

For nurses, that framing matters. It means fixing the shortage is not only about graduating more students. It is also about keeping the nurses we already have.

Many people who meet every requirement still cannot get into nursing school. Amelia named two big reasons. First, schools can only enroll so many students, which leaves some applicants on wait lists that she said can stretch for years in certain states. Second, health systems can only host so many students in clinicals at one time.

“They may desire or dream to be a nurse, but there is not a seat for them, or there is a wait list for years in certain states and certain schools.” – Amelia Manning

Amelia described how Chamberlain approaches this. The school offers a three-year BSN that runs year-round, with new sessions starting every eight weeks, plus day, evening, weekend, and online options. She said the average Chamberlain student is 37 and often juggling a job, family, and community responsibilities.

On clinical placements, Amelia credited long-standing relationships with local health systems and national partners, including DaVita and Select Medical. She said Chamberlain has 26 campuses, with a 27th opening in Nashville. Chamberlain’s own announcement lists January 4, 2027 as the start date for Nashville BSN classes.

Paying for Nursing School and What Employer Pipelines Mean for Nurses

Jana, who shared that she has “quite a bit of debt” from her own degrees, asked how students are supposed to afford school. Amelia said more than 90% of Chamberlain students receive some form of financial support from the school, such as grants and scholarships.

She also highlighted partnerships with health systems. Through the Aspiring Nurse Program with SSM Health, students get a scholarship up front, clinical placements inside SSM Health facilities, and student loan repayment after they graduate and go to work there. SSM Health has said the program is projected to produce more than 400 nurses a year. A newer collaboration with Advocate Health follows a similar model with a focus on specialty practice.

“The intent is really to ensure that the student has what they need to be able to afford the education.” – Amelia Manning

If you or someone you mentor is considering a program like this, Chamberlain’s program pages say Aspiring Nurse students fund tuition with loans up front, must graduate and pass the NCLEX-RN, and must work for SSM Health for up to four years to receive loan repayment. These programs can open real doors, and they are also a commitment worth understanding.

Every nurse remembers the NCLEX. Amelia called passing it the event Chamberlain has to prepare students for, and said the work starts in the very first course.

Her key point will sound familiar to anyone who has watched a strong student freeze on test day: knowing the material and being a confident test taker are two different things. She said Chamberlain uses assessments throughout the program to spot gaps, down to the individual student, and then works with that student to close them. She called it “personalized education at scale.”

“You may have students who have the skill but may not be good confident test takers.” – Amelia Manning

>>Listen to The Latest Nurse News Podcast

Jana was honest about her own experience: the first year of nursing is the hardest. So where does the school’s job end and the employer’s job begin?

Amelia pointed to simulation labs and clinical rotations as ways to build confidence in a safer setting. But she agreed that the jump into practice can be jarring once students lose that safety net. What she likes about the SSM Health and Advocate Health partnerships is that students train inside the systems where they will likely work.

“They are getting to know their coworkers as they are going through that journey.” – Amelia Manning

Jana shared that she was hired straight out of her own preceptorship, and called that school-to-job relationship “priceless.”

Jana, who has moved away from the bedside herself, asked whether nursing school can really do anything about retention. Amelia believes it can. She pointed to what Chamberlain calls Chamberlain Care, built on three ideas: care for self, care for colleagues, and care for patients.

“Those three things, care for self, care for colleagues, and care for patients… is incredibly important and impactful in creating nurses who stay at the bedside longer.” – Amelia Manning

She was clear that this is only part of the answer. Staffing and other workplace factors matter too. But she sees it as the piece schools can actually control.

Jana closed with the big question: if Amelia could change three things about nursing education in the U.S., what would they be?

First, make nursing education less exclusive and more inclusive, so nurses reflect the communities they serve. Second, keep education modern and relevant as technology changes the work. Amelia mentioned AI certificates that Chamberlain and its parent company, Covista, offer with Google Cloud. Third, ground nursing education in care for patients, for each other, and for yourself.

“There’s no question that nurses will continue to be needed at the bedside. That is a tremendously human centric role.” – Amelia Manning

Jana ended the episode with a reminder of why so many nurses stay: over the years, she said, her patients changed her and made her a better person.

🤔 Did your school prepare you for your first year, or did you learn it all on the job? Share your thoughts in the comments below.