BLINN COLLEGE NURSING MONEY
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board had given the Blinn College Nursing Program $18,000 to continue meeting the state’s growing demand for health care professionals.
Michael Hutton, Blinn’s Director of Associate Degree Nursing Program, says this money will be used mostly for the students who want to be registered nurses..
Hutton says this is going to the students in the Bryan campus.
The State Legislature appropriated $33.75 million to the Nursing Shortage Reduction Program this year. The fund hold schools accountable by providing up front funding to schools such as Blinn with a graduation rate of 70 percent or higher, while schools that fail to meet that threshold must apply for funding based on a plan to produce more graduates with strong oversight by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
The program began in 2009, and since then the enrollment in Texas nursing schools has increased by nearly 16 percent.
I am greatful to see that the money is going to the nursing program of our own Blinn College that originates in Brenham. However, I am aware that the Assiciate Degree Nursing program is available to prospective nursing students in Bryan and Schulenberg. The money should be distributed between both campuses equally. I understand the program is larger in Bryan and I am also aware there are needed items and much needed updates of materials on the Schulenberg campus for the nursing students. I feel the distribution of funds should be rethought.