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Senate committee backs tuition-equalization change for nursing program to address workforce shortfall
Summary
Lawmakers gave a unanimous do-pass recommendation to House Bill 541 to adjust the tuition-equalization grant code for a nursing program (Chamberlain) that serves many nontraditional students; sponsor cited projections of a 20% registered-nurse shortfall and an estimated 25,000 deficit by 2038.
Representative Dempsey presented House Bill 541, a narrowly tailored code change to allow a tuition-equalization grant to better support a specific nursing program (Chamberlain) that primarily serves nontraditional students and second-career learners.
The sponsor told the committee the program is year-round and three years in length (versus the traditional four-year BSN) and that the program supports students who often need help paying for transportation and living costs in addition to tuition. The sponsor said the state faces a projected 20% shortfall in registered nurses and estimated a deficit of about 25,000 nurses by 2038.
Committee members reviewed passage-rate data for the program (the sponsor said Chamberlain "sat over 400 nursing students for the nurses nursing licensing exam" in one year and 331 the next) and discussed the grant’s practical effect: awards go directly to the school and increase students’ ability to remain enrolled.
Senator O. moved a do-pass recommendation and Senator Hickman seconded; the committee voted unanimously in favor and indicated the bill will move forward with the committee’s recommendation.
