Nurse Faculty Loan Program - Abstract – Nishikawa NFLP 2024-25 Project Title: Expanding Nurse Faculty Workforce Through Financial Support of Education Hawai‘i Pacific University School of Nursing 500 Ala Moana Blvd Bldg 1-424 Honolulu, HI 96813 Project Director: Jessica Nishikawa DNP, APRN, FNP-C Phone: 808-236-5808 Jnishika@hpu.edu Grant Funds Requested: $162,000.00 The State of Hawai‘i is faced with a critical nurse faculty shortage. While these concerns are felt nationwide, Hawaii faces unique challenges due to geographic isolation and high cost of living. A large-scale survey from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing identified a nurse faculty vacancy rate of 10% in the State of Hawaii, the highest in the nation (AACN, 2022), with one-third of the faculty workforce at or near retirement age (HSCN, 2021). The purpose of this project is to increase the number of nursing faculty employed in academic positions after graduation through financial support, recruitment, retention, career guidance, and mentoring through funding support. The Hawai ‘i Pacific University (HPU) School of Nursing (SON) collaborates and works closely with the Hawaii State Center for Nursing and Hawai ‘i’s healthcare employers to develop strategies to ensure nursing workforce issues are addressed statewide. In the Fall of 2021, the SON launched the fully online MSN program and post-master’s DNP program and developed an online BSN to DNP program. This shift in modality has helped attract a wider pool of students through improved access and flexibility, providing more opportunities for students to pursue advanced degrees. In the two and a half years since the launch, the graduate program has grown from approximately 30 students to over 250 students. Since the last NFLP grant submission, the graduate program has nearly doubled its student population. The HPU SON will provide current and new students with information about the NFLP on admission and year, before the Fall semester. The Project Director and the Financial Aid office will work with students who accept this loan to ensure they understand the loan commitment terms. Academic progress, student demographic data, and employment data will be tracked throughout the loan period. The Financial Aid office will administer the loan and ensure that all loan requirements are fulfilled. The proposed funding would support the six previously supported NFLP students who are continuing their program of study, and allow funding to support two new students in the MSN and DNP program.
