A years-long effort to expand Pinellas County’s nursing workforce has reached incoming college freshmen, as the University of South Florida St. Petersburg launches its first traditional four-year nursing degree this fall.
At least 60 students have enrolled in the inaugural Freshman Nursing Pathway, which allows students to enter USF St. Petersburg directly from high school and pursue a Bachelor of Science in Nursing without first earning another degree. The program will ultimately provide up to 70 upper-division nursing seats each year.
The addition expands a nursing program that has operated at the St. Petersburg campus since 2019, but previously focused on students who already held bachelor’s degrees.
Students in the new pathway will spend their first two years completing general education courses and nursing prerequisites before advancing into clinical training. USF said students must maintain academic requirements and pass the National Council Licensure Examination after graduation to become registered nurses.
The program adds another rung to a nursing education network that has expanded across Pinellas, as Florida pumps money into training more health care workers.
The Prepping Institutions, Programs, Employers and Learners through Incentives for Nursing Education (PIPELINE) program rewards schools based on nursing graduates and their performance on licensure exams. This year’s state budget includes $1.62 million in PIPELINE funding for Pinellas County technical career programs and nearly $2 million for St. Petersburg College.
Florida created PIPELINE in 2022 alongside the Linking Industry to Nursing Education, or LINE, program. LINE matches contributions from health care providers and other partners to help schools expand enrollment, hire faculty, purchase equipment and provide students with clinical training.
The state has invested more than $485 million in the two programs since their creation, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office.
In St. Petersburg, that push has increasingly connected classrooms with the hospitals surrounding USF’s downtown campus.
Students have access to two nursing simulation laboratories inside the Children’s Research Institute. The labs contain 10 hospital beds and equipment that allows students to practice procedures including IV insertion, airway management and wound care before working with patients.
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital are both within the surrounding medical district, giving students nearby opportunities for clinical training.
USF St. Petersburg and St. Petersburg College began publicly discussing a larger joint nursing pipeline in 2022, when local leaders were looking for ways to increase the number of nurses entering the workforce. At the time, USF officials identified faculty shortages, limited clinical placements and accreditation requirements as barriers to rapidly expanding enrollment.
USF subsequently partnered with Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital through the state’s LINE program. The partnership included nearly $858,000 for nursing scholarships and faculty support, along with specialty training opportunities at the hospital.
The freshman program now gives students another entry point. Rather than beginning at USF after earning a previous degree, students can start nursing coursework as freshmen and complete their education on the St. Petersburg campus.
The first class arrives as Florida continues struggling to produce enough nurses to meet demand. State lawmakers have increasingly tied nursing education dollars to measurable outcomes, including graduation and licensure rates, while providing matching money for partnerships between schools and health care employers.
For Pinellas, those investments stretch across several levels of nursing education, from technical programs receiving PIPELINE dollars to St. Petersburg College and USF’s four-year and accelerated bachelor’s programs.
The new USF pathway puts another 70 potential registered nurses into that pipeline each year.