C. D. Smith

The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (Board) is empowered by the State Legislature (Miss. Code [1991 Supp.] § 37-129-1, et seq.) and required to establish by rules and regulations and promulgate uniform standards for accreditation of Schools of Nursing in the State of Mississippi in so far as concerns the eligibility of graduates of such schools to take the examination prescribed by law to become registered nurses authorized to practice the profession of nursing as registered nurses in Mississippi, and in so far as concerns student nurses attending such schools being eligible to participate in any of the following student nurse scholarship programs or other program of assistance now existing or hereafter established by legislative enactment. Nursing Education Loan Scholarship Program (NELS) available to junior, senior and graduate students who are pursuing a baccalaureate or higher degree in nursing: •Nursing Education Loan/Scholarship BSN (NELB) •Nursing Education Loan/Scholarship RN to BSN (NELR) •Nursing Education Loan/Scholarship Masters (NELM) •Nursing Education Loan/Scholarship Ph.D. (NELP) Nursing Teacher Stipend Program is available to NELS participants who are pursuing an advanced degree in nursing and who contractually agree that upon degree completion will teach at an accredited school of nursing in the State of Mississippi: •Nursing Teacher Stipend (NTSP-Masters) •Nursing Teacher Stipend (NTSP-Ph.D.) The Board is also required to issue to such Schools of Nursing upon an annual basis certificates of accreditation as may be proper under such standards. The Board, in recognizing that each unit in nursing offering nursing degree programs has individual characteristics and goals, maintains that each shall implement its own philosophy, purposes, and objectives. All programs in nursing shall be based on sound educational principles under the guidance of a competent faculty. The total program of nursing education shall meet the required standards of accreditation as prescribed by the Board. Mississippi nursing schools (units in nursing) should prepare students for nursing careers according to the type of program that they offer. Rigid conformity to a specific and fixed curriculum is not expected. Rather, the Board approves programs which are of superior caliber and encourages creative and intelligent experimentation based on sound principles.