(A) The Critical Needs Nursing Initiative Scholarship, Loan, and Grant Program is established to provide incentives and stipends to enable candidates seeking a higher degree to become qualified to teach full-time at an accredited nursing program at the public institutions of higher learning at the two-year, four-year, and graduate level in this State. Funding for this program shall be provided by the Commission on Higher Education from the Critical Needs Nursing Initiative Fund. Loans, scholarships, or grants within available funds shall be awarded to qualified in-state resident nursing students in or entering into the teaching profession at an accredited nursing program at a public institution of higher learning in South Carolina.

(B) Funds shall be allocated to four-year and graduate level institutions based on the institution's share of the total resident South Carolina student nursing population in that category of student, full-time or part-time. Disbursements of the applicable funds shall be made by the commission to the institution, which in turn shall disburse the funds to the students.

(C) From the Critical Needs Nursing Scholarship, Loan, and Grant Program, if sufficient funds are available, the General Assembly declares and expresses its intent that the following scholarships, loans, or grants should be provided in the following recommended priority order and in the amount so specified:

(1) Funding for thirty loans not to exceed forty thousand dollars per loan for a term not to exceed twenty-four months to be provided for full-time students enrolled in Masters in Nursing graduate programs.

(2) Funding for thirty loans not to exceed thirty thousand dollars per loan for a term not to exceed thirty-six months to be provided for part-time students enrolled in Masters in Nursing graduate programs.

(3) Funding for five loans not to exceed fifty thousand dollars per loan for a term not to exceed forty-eight months to be provided for full-time doctoral education students enrolled in nursing or a related field that would prepare the person to teach in a nursing program.

(4) Funding for five loans not to exceed one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars per loan for a term not to exceed sixty months to be provided for part-time doctoral education students in nursing or a related field that would prepare the person to teach in a nursing program.

(5) Funding for ten scholarships at five thousand dollars each to be provided to increase the number and amount of awards for scholarships to students pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from an accredited nursing program, including those students who have graduated from an associate degree program.

(6) In order to better recruit and retain a diverse nursing faculty and student pool, funding for five grants of up to fifty thousand dollars each to be provided to four-year institutions of higher learning with an accredited nursing program.

(D) For the purpose of this section, "loan" shall be defined as cost of attendance, tuition, fees, room and board, or educational materials for those who desire to become nurse faculty.

(E) For the purpose of this section, the commission shall promulgate regulations relating to distribution and allocation of funding for the initiative. The regulations shall also provide a mechanism to recoup loans from those students who, once graduated from an accredited nursing program, do not become employed as a full-time faculty member in one of the qualifying institutions for a minimum of three years. Funds generated from any such repayments must be retained in a separate account and utilized for the purpose that the funds were originally appropriated.

(F) In regard to student loans, grants, and scholarship programs, the Commission on Higher Education may determine and distribute funds from the Critical Needs Nursing Initiative Fund to the institution for allocation to eligible students consistent with the guidelines of this chapter.

HISTORY: 2008 Act No. 276, Section 2, eff June 5, 2008.