The University of Central Florida's Board of Trustees will consider approving nearly $700,000 dollars in matching funds from the state of to help boost its nursing program.
The Florida Hospital Associationestimates that by 2035, Florida will face a shortage of 59,000 nurses.
The money would come from the Florida Board of Governors and would help pay for more equipment to train current nursing students.
It would also provide more scholarships in order to attract and train the next generation of nurses at UCF’s nursing school.
The funding is part of Florida’s new Linking Industry to Nursing Education (LINE) Fund aimed at boosting the number of nurses in the state.
According to the Florida Hospital Association, 70 percent of hospitals in the state already face critical staffing shortages of nursing professionals.
And nurses are quitting at a record rate: over 32 percent are leaving the field.
The nursing shortage in the state is only expected to get worse as the state’s population grows.
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