Nurse education, practice, quality and retention - workforce expansion program - enhancing nursing education resources to address the nursing shortage in northeastern & central pennsylvania grant…

The Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Professionals awarded Luzerne County Community College $1,521,954 on September 30, 2025, under the Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention Grants program (CFDA 93.359) to expand nursing education capacity and support student success in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

The college will increase sustainable enrollment in its Associate of Applied Science Registered Nursing program by at least ten percent over the four-year project period, expand equitable access for non-traditional, diverse, and marginalized student populations, develop and implement a nursing faculty-led academic success program, and provide financial support to nursing students who commit to clinical experiences in medically underserved areas within the college's service region. The project will hire one temporary full-time ESL faculty member, two grant-funded nursing clinical adjunct faculty, two existing clinical liaisons in extra-duty faculty load assignments, and two grant-funded full-time nursing faculty student success coaches. Performance will be tracked through one-year retention rates, graduation rates, licensure passing rates, and placement rates, with an external evaluator compiling aggregated student demographics and conducting statistical analysis annually.

Work is performed in Pennsylvania. The period of performance runs through September 29, 2029.

Nurse education, practice, quality and retention - workforce expansion program - enhancing nursing education resources to address the nursing shortage in northeastern & central pennsylvania grant proposal will address the shortage of licensed nurses in acute- and long-term care facilities. The purpose of the funding is to: 1. Increase sustainable enrollment capacity in the lccc AAS registered nursing program by at least 10% over the course of the four-year project. 2. Ensure that non-traditional, diverse, and marginalized student populations have equitable access to entry into the lccc AAS nursing program 3. Develop and implement an effective nursing faculty-led academic success program to support nursing students. 4. Provide financial support to nursing students who commit to clinical experiences in areas designated as most medically underserved (MU) in the lccc service area. This will be accomplished, in part, by hiring a temporary full-time ESL faculty member, two grant-funded nursing clinical adjunct faculty, two existing clinical liaisons extra-duty assignments (faculty load), and two grant-funded full-time nursing faculty student success coaches. Student success rates will be measured by compiling one-year retention rates, graduation rates, licensure passing rates, and placement rates for all nursing students, non-traditional students, and marginalized students. To ensure that the project continues to align with the project plan, annually the following will be collected and/or compiled by an external evaluator (consultant): - aggregated student demographics, mainly counts/ percent of nursing students by gender, ethnicity, primary language (ESL or not ESL), family income, expected family contribution (EFC), and pell eligibility status. - descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) will also be compiled for each demographic group and the overall cohort. Correlation and significance testing (e.g., t-test or anova) will be performed for each of the four student success outcomes to see if there are practical and/or statistically significant differences between the extent nursing students engage with their success coaches by key demographic groups and the overall cohort.