I was surprised at the low number. Still, the presence of nursing schools in most states with no waiting list suggests that many students are choosing to wait to get into a preferred school. But that just changes the question; why don't the busier schools expand capacity? It can't be done overnight, but we have been hearing about this crisis for years.

There appears to be a shortage of nursing faculty, especially for "positions requiring or preferring a doctoral degree."

A bottleneck in schools makes it hard to produce more qualified instructors, but the deeper cause is compensation:

Higher compensation in clinical and private-sector settings is luring current and potential nurse educators away from teaching.

According to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the average salary of a nurse practitioner, across settings and specialties, is $94,050. By contrast, AACN reported in March 2013 that master's prepared faculty earned an annual average salary of $80,690.

It's still hard to figure. The schools are refusing to admit new students, thereby declining additional revenue, which could be used to attract professors.