The dean of South Dakota State University’s College of Pharmacy is “cautiously optimistic” that student interest in a pharmacy degree will return to near normal levels next fall.

In the early 2000s to 2010, SDSU would receive 300 applications for 60 and later 80 openings in the pharmacy program. In the recent past, the school averaged 80 to 120 applications for 60 openings.

“We were probably the last school to see that, with regard to the drop in applications and difficulty in filling a class,” said Dan Hansen, dean of the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professionals, noting a downturn in applications during the pandemic. “The freshman class that would have started in fall of 2020, that was really the first year we started to see some noticeably lower interest in pharmacy.”

Pharmacy history lesson

Hansen said in 2000 there were only 80 pharmacy schools in the country. Predictions called for a need for more pharmacists with the aging of the baby boomer generation, people living longer and an increased use of pharmaceuticals.

“At the same time, there was a huge shortage of pharmacists,” Hansen said.

There was an explosion in the creation of new schools of pharmacy, going from 80 to 142. SDSU increased its pharmacy class size from 60 to 80. As the capacity for teaching pharmacy students doubled nationwide, enrollment stayed flat.

“You didn’t see a dramatic increase in applications with the additional seats,” Hansen said.

Soon pharmacy positions reached a saturation point. On the East Coast the job market for pharmacists dried up.

“The narrative got out that there were no jobs available in pharmacy,” Hansen said. “Applications started a downward trend” as student looked to other professions.

During the pandemic, the burnout rate for pharmacists was historically high as they took on more work due to personnel shortages.

Starting a turnaround

Hansen is optimistic about the size of the pharmacy class that will enter as freshmen in the fall, though he refuses to speculate on its size.

“I think our numbers will be back,” Hansen said, “stronger than they have been in the last few years.”

The college typically recruits freshmen to enter its program. Those who choose pharmacy take two years of pre-pharmacy and four years of pharmacy school to earn a doctorate.

During a strategic enrollment assessment, with advice from employers who hired SDSU grads, the College of Pharmacy returned its class size to 60 from 80.

“That was the number we felt comfortable targeting to meet demand and not saturate the market,” Hansen said.

Lower enrollment

Lower class sizes mean less money for the College of Pharmacy.

“Our program, much like every other program, is predominately run on tuition and fees,” explained Hansen, who said professional programs have higher costs for equipment that are passed on to students.

“We’ve done a good job of making strategic decisions over the last few years to right-size our budget, control expenses and also generate additional revenue,” Hansen said.

The college has grown in recent years, adding degrees in medical lab science and respiratory care. A new doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences has helped spark an increase in research grants.

Hansen explained that the majority of faculty are SDSU employees, but half their salaries and benefits are paid by site partners. When professors aren’t in the classroom or working with students in a pharmacy setting, they’re serving as clinical pharmacists for Sanford, Avera or Monument Health.

Recruiting tough

Hansen has been recruiting students for 13 years. “Recruiting into health care careers, now, is more difficult than it’s ever been.”

During the pandemic, the light shone on health care workers was not always positive.

“The burnout that all health care professions saw in that two- to three-year period was significant,” Hansen said. A number of people walked away from health care careers and many older workers took early retirement.

The irony of lower application numbers is that pharmacy jobs, and many others in health care, are plentiful with employers offering lucrative inducements to new hires. Hansen noted some recent graduates getting sign-on bonuses of up to $75,000 for a two-year commitment to work in a retail pharmacy in the Midwest.

“The demand is just significant and the pipeline just isn’t, right now, keeping up with what’s needed,” Hansen said.

There are two methods for handling a shortage of pharmacists, Hansen said, asking staff to work longer hours or cutting the hours of the pharmacy. He has seen pharmacies in Minnesota cut back to three days a week or shorten their hours of operation.

Get Hansen talking about his program long enough and he begins to sound like the recruiter that he is.

“I would put our health care programs up against anyone,” Hansen said, noting that it’s important for his program to have top flight, chemistry, biology and math programs.

“Those math and science courses that you take within those departments are what prepare you for pharmacy school or nursing school,” Hansen said.

“If they’re not good, you don’t have a good base to build on when you enter those professional programs.”

As Hansen tells it, the time to apply for a major in a health care field is now.

“There’s never been a better time to apply for those careers because there’s programs here that are hungry for additional students,” Hansen said, “and there’s employers that are hungry for additional grads. The workforce demand is there.”