USF gets $1.3 million to help fight nursing shortage

The University of South Florida Health College of Nursing secured nearly $1.3 million in extra funding from the state and local healthcare agencies to help in its efforts to combat Florida’s nursing shortage, the university announced Thursday.

The investment includes $642,143 from the state’s Linking Industry to Nursing Education, or LINE, Fund for the 2026-2027 academic year, matched dollar for dollar by six healthcare organizations. The LINE Fund is a state program that incentivizes collaboration to meet demand for nurses, according to USF’s release.

The money will support scholarships, student success coaching, certification costs and other initiatives intended to prepare more nursing students for employment with local healthcare providers.

“When our healthcare partners and the state of Florida invest in nursing education, they are investing in the future of healthcare,” Usha Menon, dean of the College of Nursing and senior associate vice president of USF Health, says in the release. “I’ve seen firsthand the difference this program makes for our students, opening doors and expanding opportunities as they prepare to become the nurses our communities need.”

Tampa General Hospital is providing $500,000 in funding, the release says, accounting for nearly 78% of the industry-backed contribution. Other partners include:

• Moffitt Cancer Center: $50,000
• Empath Health: $25,000
• Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital: $25,000
• Sunshine Health: $25,000
• Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital: $17,143

The Florida Board of Governors approved USF’s match Sept. 3 as part of a $6 million allocation covering 23 proposals from 10 state universities, including Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. Across the university system, the funding is projected to support more than 2,100 nursing scholarships and the admission of nearly 1,000 additional nursing students, according to a release from the board.

USF's award comes on the heels of a substantial expansion of its nursing facilities. In August, the university opened a three-story, 42,000-square-foot addition designed to strengthen clinical training and hands-on learning. As part of its expansion initiative, the college committed to graduating an additional 500 undergraduate students by 2028 and says it is on track to exceed that goal.

USF also launched a four-year nursing pathway for incoming freshmen at its St. Petersburg campus this fall. The program adds another route into the profession alongside the campus’s accelerated second-degree program, which has served students with bachelor’s degrees in other fields since 2019.

Founded in 1973, the College of Nursing enrolls nearly 2,000 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral students. It also hosts the Florida Center for Nursing, a state-funded workforce center focused on nursing recruitment and retention. USF says the college graduates more new nurses than any other institution in Florida.