Belmont University’s School of Nursing received a $285,000 Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to address the national shortage of nurse educators who are committed to educating the next generation of nurses and family nurse practitioners.

Dr. Cathy Taylor, dean of the College of Health Sciences and Nursing, stated, “Congratulations to the School of Nursing and primary authors, Dr. Martha Buckner and Dr. Linda Wofford, for securing funding to initiate an exciting new chapter for graduate nursing at Belmont. This award will enable us to support talented students and directly impact the growing national shortage of nurse educators in a meaningful way. It’s a win-win.”

In addition to the traditional Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) education in the family nurse practitioner (FNP) role, students will obtain coursework specific to the role of a nursing educator. Students in the Belmont NFLP will benefit from mentor-ship, strong nurse educator preparation, as well as monetary support to pursue doctoral education and loan forgiveness. Easing the financial barrier to doctoral education will improve the supply of nurse educators and nurse practitioner preceptors.

The program will provide loan forgiveness of up to 85 percent of Belmont tuition, fees and associated costs if graduates are employed full time as family nurse practitioner preceptors or faculty in any school of nursing in the United States for four years following graduation. Students will have one year after graduation to secure appropriate employment.

Associate Dean of Nursing Dr. Martha Buckner added, “We believe our track record of success in preparation of family nurse practitioners, the strong foundation of the DNP program and Belmont’s focus on teaching and learning make this the ideal place for students to pursue doctoral nursing education.”

To qualify for the program, students must be accepted and enrolled in either the post-BSN or post-MSN Doctor of Nursing Practice program at Belmont University.

To learn more about the program, visit http://www.belmont.edu/grad-nursing/nflp.html.

This Belmont NFLP grant is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $316,081.00 with 9 percentage financed with nongovernmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.