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Legislature OKs nursing scholarship
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Posted on Jul 02 2005
The Senate has approved a bill creating a scholarship program for nursing students in efforts to attract more local citizens into the profession and solve the current shortage of nursing staff at the Commonwealth Health Center.
The Senate passed House Bill 14-221, which grants up to $12,000 a year for four years to eligible nursing students.
“There is a need to create a scholarship program to encourage more CNMI students to become nurses. …Individuals in this field are necessary to efficiently and effectively operate the CHC and other private medical clinics,” the bill, authored by Rep.David Apatang, said.
The measure said the program would give high importance to the applicants’ Scholastic Achievement Test or the American College Testing scores.
It said the highest overall scholastic achievement is to be determined by combining the applicant’s cumulative grade point average from grades 9 to 12 and the applicant’s highest SAT and/or ACT scores.
To keep the scholarship, recipients must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
The bill appropriates $200,000 annually to the program from revenue generated through Public Law 13-38.
The bill said that the program shall expire after six years.
The proposal requires scholars to take the National Council Licensure Examination within nine months after graduation.
