Floyd, Harbin Make Five-Year Commitment to GHC’s Nursing Program
Floyd Medical Center and Harbin Clinic have pledged critical donations to the Georgia Highlands College Legacy major gifts campaign to support the nursing program for the next five years, the college announced today. Floyd Medical Center has committed $25,000 a year for a total of $125,000 by 2013; Harbin Clinic will give $5,000 a year for a total of $25,000 by 2013.
GHC President Randy Pierce called the donations a solid start to pay for a program that is only half funded by University System of Georgia allocations. “The coming academic year is a particularly critical one for our nursing program, as we face the discontinuation of funds from several sources that have supported us for the last few years. We are very lucky to be able to count on this essential support of the largest health care providers in our service area, especially as we strive to increase the number of graduates that go directly to our local health care providers. The partnership benefits us all.”
The program costs for the 2008-2009 academic year are projected to be more than $2 million for minimum personnel, facilities, equipment and services to meet accreditation requirements. State funding for the program through the University System of Georgia provides $884,429 of that amount; through a separate USG initiative to support key critical academic programs, the college has received an additional $117,000 to fund two faculty positions. Because of the regional nursing shortage, there is increasing demand for nursing graduates, and GHC has dramatically expanded its programs to accommodate this demand.
Nevertheless, Georgia Highlands must find donor sources to make up the $1 million difference between allocated funds and real costs to meet the need for more graduates. The institution has performed this kind of financial tap dance in past years by securing funds from the Regent’s Intellectual Capital Partnership program known as ICAPP, which provided $172,734 for 07/08 through the program’s health professional focus, allowing 30 additional students to enroll. In tandem with ICAPP, health care partners like Floyd Medical Center, Redmond Regional Hospital, Harbin Clinic, Cartersville Medical Center, Tanner Carrolton, Tanner Villa Rica, Specialty Hospital, and more recently, WellStar Health System have ponied up substantial funds to keep the nursing program growing.
Last year, GHC obtained a three-year Nursing Educational Task Force grant for $189,036 from the Board of Regents. The caveat for keeping and renewing this money lies in the stipulation that GHC must produce a specific number of graduates. And therein lies the rub. The additional $1 million required to sustain the nursing expansion at Georgia Highlands is earmarked for faculty salaries and benefits. To retain accreditation, nursing schools must maintain a 20 to one student/teacher ratio in the classroom setting and no more than a 10 to one student/teacher ratio in the clinical setting. If faculty levels drop, so must student numbers. And if student numbers drop substantially, the college loses its NETF grant. It’s the proverbial Catch 22 at the heart of the funding dilemma.
GHC’s reputation for excellence is well known among health care providers in Northwest Georgia, who depend on GHC nursing graduates to bring solid skill sets and knowledge to the job. Administrators at the college are optimistic about finding money to fill the funding gap. Said Barbara Rees, “As demand for our nursing grads escalated, our program expanded to fill it. We are expecting to graduate 120 license-eligible candidates in the next year, up from 90. So we have overcome any awkwardness we may have felt in asking for support because we have stepped up to the plate in easing the acute nursing shortage in the region. The training we provide is first-rate and our health care partners know it. They generously have demonstrated their appreciation through needed financial contributions.”
Georgia Highlands College is a two-year unit of the University System of Georgia, serving more than 4,000 students at six sites in Rome, Cartersville, Acworth, Marietta and Carrollton.
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