A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE NURSING FACULTY FELLOWS PROGRAM AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS for SCHOLARSHIP LOANS UNDER THE PROGRAM.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Chapter 90 of the General Statutes is amended by adding the following new Article to read:
"Article 9H.
"Nursing Faculty Fellows Program.
"§ 90-171.97.  Nursing Faculty Fellows Program established; administration.
(a)	As used in this Article, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the term:
(1)	'Commission' means the North Carolina Nursing Scholars Commission established under Article 9D of this Chapter.
(2)	'Program' means the Nursing Faculty Fellows Program established under this Article.
(b)	There is established the Nursing Faculty Fellows Program. The North Carolina Nursing Scholars Commission shall administer the Program in collaboration with the State Education Assistance Authority (SEAA). The purpose of the Program is to provide up to a two-year scholarship loan to selected recipients and extracurricular enhancement activities for scholarship loan recipients. The Commission shall determine selection criteria, methods of selection, and shall select recipients of scholarship loans made under the Program. The Director of the State Education Assistance Authority shall coordinate the Program through the Commission.
(c)	The Program shall provide a two-year scholarship loan in the amount of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) per year, per recipient, to individuals who may be eligible to be selected as nursing faculty in the university, community college, and hospital schools of nursing by completing a full-time program in nursing education in an approved program, as follows:
(1)	Approved programs are those programs offered by colleges and universities in this State.
(2)	The number of scholarship loan awards per year shall be based on the State's need for nursing faculty and within funds available, but in no event shall more than 100 nursing faculty fellows scholarship loans be made in each year.
(3)	In order to attract faculty fellow graduates to a particular school of nursing, that school of nursing may use a portion of its funds for nursing faculty to cover one-half of the cost of the two-year scholarship loan program in exchange for a two-year commitment to the school from the nursing faculty fellow. To qualify for this option, a school of nursing must maintain an attrition rate of not more than twenty‑five percent (25%) for the previous two years and meet all North Carolina Board of Nursing standards for program approval.
(d)	The Commission shall adopt stringent standards to ensure that only the best potential students receive scholarship loans under the Program. The standards may include standardized test scores, undergraduate performance, job experience and performance, leadership abilities, and other standards the Commission deems appropriate. The Commission shall consider the qualifications of all applicants in a manner that is fair and without regard to gender or race, and that takes into account the geographic diversity of the State. The Commission may award scholarship loans under the Program only to applicants that meet the Commission's standards, are domiciled in this State, and agree to work as nursing faculty in a North Carolina school of nursing.
(e)	The Commission may form regional review committees to assist in identifying the best applicants for the Program. The Commission and the review committees shall make an effort to identify and encourage men and minorities and others who may not otherwise consider a career as a nursing faculty member to apply for the Program.
(f)	Upon the naming of recipients of loans from the Program, the Commission shall inform the State Education Assistance Authority (SEAA) of its decisions. The  SEAA shall perform all of the administrative functions necessary to implement this Article, which functions shall include: rulemaking, dissemination of information, disbursement, receipt, liaison with participating educational institutions, determination of the acceptability of service repayment agreements, and all other functions necessary for the execution, payment, and enforcement of promissory notes required under this Article.
"§ 90-171.98.  Terms of loans, receipt and disbursement of funds.
(a)	All scholarship loans shall be evidenced by notes made payable to the State Education Assistance Authority (SEAA) and bear interest at the rate of ten percent (10%) per year beginning 90 days after completion of the Program, or 90 days after termination of the scholarship loan, whichever is earlier. The scholarship loan may be terminated upon the recipient's withdrawal from school or by the recipient's failure to meet the standards of the Commission.
(b)	The SEAA shall forgive the loan if, within four years after graduation from a nursing faculty education program, the recipient teaches in a North Carolina school of nursing for each year a scholarship loan was provided. If the recipient repays the scholarship loan by cash payments, all indebtedness shall be repaid within 10 years.
(c)	All funds appropriated to or otherwise received by the Program for scholarships, all funds received as repayment of scholarship loans, and all interest earned on these funds, shall be placed in a revolving fund. The revolving fund may be used only for scholarship loans granted under the Program."
SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the State Education Assistance Authority the sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) for the 2003‑2004 fiscal year and the sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000) for the 2004‑2005 fiscal year.  These funds shall be used to provide scholarship loans as authorized in this act.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2003.