ESC-49-09-00007-P Senator Patricia K. McGee Nursing Faculty Scholarship Program

12/9/09 N.Y. St. Reg. ESC-49-09-00007-P

NEW YORK STATE REGISTER

VOLUME XXXI, ISSUE 49

December 09, 2009

RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES

HIGHER EDUCATION SERVICES CORPORATION

PROPOSED RULE MAKING

NO HEARING(S) SCHEDULED

 

I.D No. ESC-49-09-00007-P

Senator Patricia K. McGee Nursing Faculty Scholarship Program

PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:

Proposed Action:

This is a consensus rule making to amend section 2201.5(c)(4) of Title 8 NYCRR.

Statutory authority:

Education Law, sections 653(9), 655(4) and 679-c

Subject:

The Senator Patricia K. McGee Nursing Faculty Scholarship Program.

Purpose:

To clarify "nursing faculty preparation program" requirements.

Text of proposed rule:

Section 2201.5 of Title 8 of the NYCRR is amended to read as follows:

TITLE 8. EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

PART 2201. GENERAL ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Section 2201.5 Senator Patricia K. McGee Nursing Faculty Scholarship.

(a) Authority. The provisions contained within this regulation are made pursuant to authority granted to the Higher Education Services Corporation in sections 653, 655, and 679-c of the Education Law.

(b) Definitions. Faculty means a position that is primarily teaching, rather than administrative or research.

(c) Eligibility. In addition to those requirements already provided in sections 661 and 679-c of the Education Law, these additional requirements shall apply in the selection of the program recipients:

(1) applications for the Senator Patricia K. McGee Nursing Faculty Scholarship shall be postmarked or electronically transmitted no later than July 1st of each year, provided that this deadline may be extended at the discretion of the corporation;

(2) applications shall be filed annually on forms prescribed by the corporation;

(3) the pool of applicants shall be those who have successfully met the filing deadline;

(4) the applicant shall have been accepted into a master's level nursing faculty preparation program at an accredited nursing school, or in a doctoral program that will qualify the applicant as nursing faculty or adjunct clinical faculty, in the State of New York, at the time of application. The corporation will waive the requirement that the applicant be accepted into a "nursing faculty preparation program'' until such time as the commissioner approves programs with curriculum that comprises a "nursing faculty preparation program";

(5) first priority shall be given to applicants who have received payment of an award pursuant to section 679-c of the Education Law in the prior academic year;

(6) the applicant shall have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher if the applicant has already completed a semester in either a master's degree program in nursing, or in a doctoral program that will qualify the applicant for nursing faculty or adjunct clinical faculty; and

(7) the following formula shall be used in determining award recipients:

(i) on a 4.0 scale, the applicant's final grade point average received from the undergraduate nursing program where the applicant received a diploma or degree in professional nursing;

(ii) on a 4.0 scale, the applicant's final grade point average received from the nursing program where the applicant received a master's degree in a nursing or nurse faculty curriculum;

(iii) on a 4.0 scale, the applicant's current grade point average, provided that the applicant has already completed a semester in a master's degree program in nursing, or a semester in a doctoral program that will qualify the applicant for nursing faculty or adjunct clinical faculty; and

(iv) on a scale of 0-10 for experience as a licensed registered professional nurse, where:

(a) 0 equals less than one year experience;

(b) 2 equals one to three years of experience;

(c) 5 equals three to five years of experience;

(d) 8 equals five to seven years of experience; and

(e) 10 equals greater than seven years of experience.

(v) the corporation shall add the points from subparagraphs (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) of this paragraph and then rank the eligible candidates based upon highest scores;

(vi) tie scores shall be decided by lottery, as determined by the corporation. The lottery shall be conducted by random selection.

(8) successful applicants shall execute a service contract prescribed by the corporation.

(d) Disqualifications. The applicant shall be disqualified from receiving a scholarship award for any of the following conditions:

(1) the applicant has a service obligation to the State of New York or another entity; or

(2) the applicant is in default on a federally guaranteed student loan or State loan or has defaulted on any prior service obligation.

(e) Amounts.

(1) The amount of the scholarship award shall be determined in accordance with section 679-c of the Education Law.

(2) Disbursements shall be made each semester and pro-rated by credit hour.

(3) Scholarship awards shall be reduced by the value of other scholarships and grants.

(f) Penalty.

(1) The scholarship award monies received shall be converted to a 10-year student loan plus interest for recipients who fail to complete their education or who fail to complete their service in the allotted time.

(2) Interest for the life of the loan shall be fixed, and equal to that published annually by the U.S. Department of Education for Federal Family Education Loan Program PLUS loans at the time the service contract was signed.

(3) Interest shall begin to accrue on the day the award money was first disbursed to the school and/or recipient.

(4) Interest shall be capitalized on the day the scholarship award recipient violates the service contract or on the date the corporation deems the recipient was no longer able or willing to perform the terms of the service contract.

(5) The corporation may in its discretion waive a portion of the repayment of a scholarship award that is commensurate with service completed.

Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:

George M. Kazanjian, Senior Attorney, N.Y.S. Higher Education Services Corporation, 99 Washington Avenue, Room 1350, Albany, New York 1225, [phone], email: [e-mail]

Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:

Same as above.

Public comment will be received until:

45 days after publication of this notice.

Consensus Rule Making Determination

This statement is being submitted pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision (1) of section 202 of the State Administrative Procedure Act and in support of New York State Higher Education Services Corporation's ("HESC") 'Notice of Proposed Rule Making' seeking to amend section 2201.5 of Title 8 of the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York.

It is apparent from the nature and purpose of this proposed consensus rule that no person is likely to object to the adoption of the rule as written. The proposed rule would continue to waive the requirement that an applicant be accepted into a "nursing faculty preparation program" until such time as the Commissioner of the New York State Education Department ("SED") approves programs with curriculum that comprises a "nursing faculty preparation program." Currently, SED has indicated that there is no standardized curriculum comprising a "nursing faculty preparation program." By extending this waiver for the Senator Patricia K. McGee Nursing Faculty Scholarship Program, no scholarship applicant will be adversely impacted by this proposal.

Section 679-c of the Education Law sets forth the Senator Patricia K. McGee Nursing Faculty Scholarship by which licensed registered nurses may receive scholarships to obtain master's degrees that would qualify them to teach nursing at institutions of higher education, in return for a commitment to teach nursing for five years anywhere in New York State. To be eligible for a scholarship, an applicant must become accepted into a master's level nursing faculty preparation program in New York State. Initially, to provide schools with an opportunity to take advantage of the program, schools were given time to develop a "nursing faculty preparation program." To that end, 8 NYCRR § 2201.5(c)(4) was promulgated to waive the requirement that an applicant be accepted into a master's level nursing faculty preparation program for the first three academic years of the program. Currently, however, there is no standardized curriculum comprising a "nursing faculty preparation program" and, as such, the regulation must be amended.

Since the proposed consensus rule merely waives a currently unattainable requirement, it will have no negative effects on past, present or future recipients, or upon nursing schools. Therefore, HESC has determined that there is no basis for any person to object to the proposed rule.

Job Impact Statement

This statement is being submitted pursuant to subdivision (2) of section 201-a of the State Administrative Procedure Act and in support of New York State Higher Education Services Corporation's Notice of Proposed Rule Making seeking to amend section 2201.5 of Title 8 of the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York.

It is apparent from the nature and purpose of this rule that it will not have any adverse impact on jobs or employment opportunities. The proposal is a technical amendment which waives a currently, unattainable requirement relating to a scholarship program administered by HESC.