Columbus State University officials are optimistic that $3 million in competitive grant awards from the Board of Regents Nursing Education Initiative will alleviate the nursing shortage statewide.
CSU is to receive $141,043 to increase nursing faculty salaries to more competitive levels; increase admissions to 96 applicants to the bachelor’s of science in nursing program; and increase student retention and graduation rates to produce 66 additional graduates by 2010, a school statement said.
June Goyne, chair of CSU’s Department of Nursing said that:
“Beginning around 2010, nursing faculty retirements are going to begin increasing exponentially across the state. Unless more nurses with master’s degrees are attracted to nursing education careers, the state’s ability to graduate nurses is going to fall dramatically while the need for nurses continues to rise. Right now, nursing faculty salaries that are not competitive with clinical salaries for similarly educated nurses is our major obstacle.”CSU’s efforts are part of a statewide goal of dramatically increasing the number of nurses in the state. Click here for more GPB News coverage of this story.
