The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded Barry University’s Division of Nursing $643,892 for nursing students.The loan program is geared toward helping close the gap in the nation’s nursing shortage by allowing nurses wanting to continue their education and return to school to earn their master’s or doctoral degrees in nursing education.
A nurse accepted into the Nurse Faculty Loan Program can expect an 85 percent forgiveness policy, meaning only 15 percent of the loan would be paid back, if they begin teaching as a full-time faculty member at any college or university, including Barry, for five years after graduation.
Since 2009, the HRSA grant has allowed 40 nurses to return to school for their PhD who would otherwise not have been able to. This year another dozen will be afforded the same opportunity.
Barry’s Division of Nursing began admitting students to its Doctor of Nursing Practice degree (DNP) program in 2008 to prepare students for advanced nursing as qualified clinical preceptors, for undergraduate and graduate nursing students as well as for academic faculty positions. In 2010, the division began admitting post-baccalaureate students to its DNP program and in the fall 2011 semester, the DNP program will be offered online as well.
“The key to addressing the nursing shortage in the state of Florida is the production of nursing faculty,” said College of Health Sciences Associate Dean and Division of Nursing Chair Claudette Spalding, PhD, ARNP. “This loan program makes the difference in the recruitment and production of nurses who will become the faculty needed by all of Florida’s nursing programs.”
Continuing a nursing tradition
The nursing program at Barry University has a more than 50-year tradition nursing education excellence. The mission of the Division of Nursing is to produce professional nurses who possess a solid foundation of nursing scientific knowledge and are prepared to assume leadership positions in academia, health care institutions, or research settings. The programs are designed to help students become advocates, role models, liaisons, and change agents for the nursing profession.
The Division offers the Master of Science in Nursing program, which includes specializations in acute care nurse practitioner, family nurse practitioner, nursing administration, and nursing education. It also offers the traditional PhD in Nursing, along with the Post-Master’s and Post-Baccalaureate DNP programs.
The Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree is available in a traditional format for freshmen, transfer students, and qualified licensed practical nurses, along with an accelerated format for non-nurses who already hold a bachelor’s degree in another field.
Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, is the second-largest private, Catholic university in the southeastern United States. Students can choose from more than 100 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, health care, human performance and leisure sciences, law, podiatric medicine, public administration, and social work.
In addition to nursing, Barry University also houses more than 50 health care programs in a variety of fields, including anesthesiology leading to the certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) designation, clinical biology, counseling, health services administration, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, and podiatric medicine.
