I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3173

To create a pilot program to increase the number of graduate educated 

nurse faculty to meet the future need for qualified nurses, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 30, 2005

Mrs. MCCARTHY (for herself, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. 

BOSWELL, Mr. MCNULTY, Ms. HERSETH, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. OWENS, 

Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. ALLEN, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. LEACH, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, 

and Mrs. CAPPS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To create a pilot program to increase the number of graduate 

educated nurse faculty to meet the future need for qualified nurses, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nurse Faculty Higher 

5 Education Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) In their 2004 survey of 561 schools of nurs2 ing with baccalaureate and graduate programs, the 

3 American Association of College of Nursing found 

4 that U.S. nursing schools turned away 32,797 quali5 fied applicants. The National League for Nursing 

6 estimates that in the 2003–2004 academic year, all 

7 types of RN-preparation programs could not accom8 modate over 125,000 qualified applications. Insuffi9 cient faculty was the top reason cited by nursing 

10 schools for not accepting all qualified applicants. 

11 (2) The mean ages of doctorally prepared nurse 

12 faculty holding the ranks of professor, associate pro13 fessor, and assistant professor are 56.8, 54.6 and 

14 50.8 respectively and the average age of doctorally 

15 prepared faculty is 54.2 years. 

16 (3) The average age at retirement of nurse fac17 ulty is 62.5 years and it is expected that 200 to 300 

18 doctorally prepared faculty will be eligible for retire19 ment each year from 2005 through 2012 just as 

20 more than 1 million replacement nurses will be need21 ed. 

22 (4) The current faculty shortage will be greatly 

23 compounded in the next few years by the retirement 

24 of many of the current nurse faculty in the United 

25 States. 
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1 (5) Nursing salaries for faculty are not com2 petitive when compared to similarly educated nurses 

3 in clinical or administrative positions, as the average 

4 salary of a master’s prepared nurse faculty member 

5 in 2003 was $60,357 compared to $80,697 for a 

6 master’s prepared nurse practitioner working in an 

7 emergency department. 

8 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM. 

9 Title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

10 U.S.C. 1133 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

11 the following new part: 

12 ‘‘PART E—NURSE FACULTY PILOT PROJECT 

13 ‘‘SEC. 771. PURPOSES. 

14 ‘‘The purposes of this part are to create a pilot pro15 gram—

16 ‘‘(1) to provide scholarships to qualified nurses 

17 in pursuit of an advanced degree with the goal of be18 coming faculty members in an accredited nursing 

19 program; and 

20 ‘‘(2) to provide grants to partnerships between 

21 accredited schools of nursing and hospitals or health 

22 facilities to fund release time for qualified nurse em23 ployees, so that those employees can earn a salary 

24 while obtaining an advanced degree in nursing with 

25 the goal of becoming nurse faculty. 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 772. ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED. 

2 ‘‘(a) COMPETITIVE GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Sec3 retary may, on a competitive basis, award grants to, and 

4 enter into contracts and cooperative agreements with, 

5 partnerships composed of an accredited school of nursing 

6 at an institution of higher education and a hospital or 

7 health facility to establish not more than 5 pilot projects 

8 to enable such hospital or health facility to retain its staff 

9 of experienced nurses while providing a mechanism to have 

10 these individuals become, through an accelerated nursing 

11 education program, faculty members of an accredited 

12 school of nursing. 

13 ‘‘(b) DURATION; EVALUATION AND DISSEMINA14 TION.—

15 ‘‘(1) DURATION.—Grants under this part shall 

16 be awarded for a period of 3 to 5 years. 

17 ‘‘(2) MANDATORY EVALUATION AND DISSEMI18 NATION.—Grants under this part shall be primarily 

19 used for evaluation, and dissemination to other insti20 tutions of higher education, of the information ob21 tained through the activities described in section sec22 tion 771(2). 

23 ‘‘(c) CONSIDERATIONS IN MAKING AWARDS.—In 

24 awarding grants and entering into contracts and coopera25 tive agreements under this section, the Secretary shall 

26 consider the following: 
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1 ‘‘(1) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—Providing 

2 an equitable geographic distribution of such grants. 

3 ‘‘(2) RURAL AND URBAN AREAS.—Distributing 

4 such grants to urban and rural areas. 

5 ‘‘(3) RANGE AND TYPE OF INSTITUTION.—En6 suring that the activities to be assisted are developed 

7 for a range of types and sizes of institutions of high8 er education. 

9 ‘‘(4) PRIOR EXPERIENCE OR EXCEPTIONAL

10 PROGRAMS.—Institutions of higher education with 

11 demonstrated prior experience in, or exceptional pro12 grams for preparation of nurse educators or nursing 

13 faculty (or both). 

14 ‘‘(d) USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available by 

15 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under this part 

16 may be used—

17 ‘‘(1) to develop a new national demonstration 

18 initiative to align nursing education with the emerg19 ing challenges of healthcare delivery; and 

20 ‘‘(2) for any one or more of the following inno21 vations in educational programs: 

22 ‘‘(A) to develop a clinical simulation lab23 oratory in a hospital, health facility, or accred24 ited school of nursing; 
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1 ‘‘(B) to purchase distance learning tech2 nologies; 

3 ‘‘(C) to fund release time for qualified 

4 nurses enrolled in the graduate nursing pro5 gram; 

6 ‘‘(D) to provide for faculty salaries; and 

7 ‘‘(E) to collect and analyze data on edu8 cational outcomes. 

9 ‘‘SEC. 773. APPLICATIONS. 

10 ‘‘Each partnership desiring to receive a grant, con11 tract, or cooperative agreement under this part shall sub12 mit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such 

13 manner, and accompanied by such information as the Sec14 retary may require. Each application shall include assur15 ances that—

16 ‘‘(1) the individuals enrolled in the program will 

17 be qualified nurses in pursuit of a master’s or doc18 toral degree in nursing and have a contractual obli19 gation with the hospital or health facility that is in 

20 partnership with the institution of higher education; 

21 ‘‘(2) the hospital or health facility of employ22 ment would be the clinical site for the accredited 

23 school of nursing program; 

24 ‘‘(3) individuals will also maintain their employ25 ment on a part time basis to the hospital or health 
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1 facility that allowed them to participate in the pro2 gram, and will receive an income from the hospital 

3 or health facility, as a part time employee, and re4 lease times or flexible schedules to accommodate 

5 their class schedule. 

6 ‘‘(4) upon completion of the program, individ7 uals agree to teach for 2 years in an accredited 

8 school of nursing for each year of support the indi9 vidual received under this program; and 

10 ‘‘SEC. 774. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

11 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated for this 

12 part not more than $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 and 

13 such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 suc14 ceeding fiscal years. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 775. DEFINITION. 

16 ‘‘For purposes of this part, the term ‘health facility’ 

17 means an Indian Health Service health service center, a 

18 Native Hawaiian health center, a hospital, a Federally 

19 qualified health center, a rural health clinic, a nursing 

20 home, a home health agency, a hospice program, a public 

21 health clinic, a State or local department of public health, 

22 a skilled nursing facility, or ambulatory surgical center.’’.

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