Nova Southeastern University has been awarded more than $3.5 million in funding from the State of Florida ($1.75 million) as well as three healthcare partners ($1.75 million) – HCA/East Florida, Baptist Health/South Florida, and Memorial Healthcare System – to address our state’s critical nursing shortage. NSU will use this funding to provide dozens, if not hundreds, of student scholarships, mentorship opportunities, clinical faculty appointments and equipment upgrades that will continue to put NSU at the forefront of nursing education.
In 2022, the Florida Legislature passed Senate Bill 2524, creating the Linking Industry to Nursing Education (“LINE”) funding program. The LINE Fund was created to incentivize collaboration between nursing education programs and health care partners to combat the growing nursing shortage in the state. The Legislature allocated $19 million for LINE funding and of that amount, $4.6 million was earmarked for private colleges and universities, via a competitive grant process. Nursing programs seeking funding are required to partner with, and obtain funding from, a healthcare provider. The State – through the Florida Department of Education – then matches the healthcare partner funding on a dollar-to-dollar basis.
In October 2022, NSU’s Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing submitted its LINE Program application for $1,762,621. This amount was to match a commitment of funds from private donors: $500,000 from HCA, $1,062,619 from Baptist, and $200,000 from Memorial Healthcare System. On December 16, 2022, the Department of Education issued Prioritized Funding List, scoring the 26 applications from private colleges and universities that applied for funding. NSU tied for the second-highest score among 26 private colleges and universities and received the third-highest award amount of $3,525,242 as a result of the match.
On February 9, 2023, the Department formally issued its award notification to NSU for the State’s matching funds. The College of Nursing is working diligently to implement its clinical adjunct faculty recruitment measures, purchase and integrate new equipment, and – most importantly – to identify and begin issuing scholarships to eligible NSU students in partnership with HCA, Baptist, and Memorial.