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.

This is interesting, b_b. A white paper on the faculty shortage points out that

Several states allow instructor-to-student ratio of 1:12 in clinical courses utilizing qualified preceptors, thereby expanding faculty capacity. Other states allow a 1:20 ratio (Delaware) or 1:25 (Texas) for precepted courses.

It had not occurred to me that there would be a legal limit. Elsewhere I read that states typically limit the ratio to 10 or 12 students per instructor.

Not so hard to figure now. With a legal cap on the amount of revenue an additional class can bring in, the schools have little incentive to respond to the demand of the aspiring nursing students.

Wait, maybe the government figured supply-and-demand would do its thing and schools would simply raise tuition to allow them to attract more professors with higher salaries, and students would happily pay a market rate for the guaranteed 10% of an instructor's attention. Then again, maybe not.