Nursing Students’ Perceptions of Academic and Social Support Services

— Higher education has responded to the nursing shortage by adopting academic and social support services that have increased student retention and higher graduation rates. This qualitative study aimed to explore the perceptions of experiences that led nontraditional former Bachelor of Science in Nursing students at a career college to switch from their nursing program to another program within the first two years of college, contributing to the nursing shortage. This study also explored the participants' perceptions about the influences that academic and social support services at the College had on students' decisions to switch programs. Tinto's student integration model of academic and social integration was used as a lens to explore the participants' views. Data was collected from semistructured interviews with eight nontraditional former nursing students. The analysis included open coding. Codes were categorized from which nine themes emerged: (a) participants expressed feeling overwhelmed, (b) lack of career pathway assessments, (c) intrusive advisor, (d) family support and encouragement, (e) an effective academic coach, (f) financial resources, (g) coping strategies and studying skills, (h) not participating in nursing program events, and (i) reliable vehicle. The study's findings revealed that nontraditional former BSN students' needs differ from traditional students