special project and institutional grants

special project and institutional grants Sec. 211. Sections 805 and 806 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296d, 296e) are amended to read as follows: 82 Stat. 781 “improvement in nurse training “Sec. 805. (a) From the sums available therefor from appropriations under section 808 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1970, and the next fiscal year, grants may be made to assist any public or non-profit private agency, organization, or institution to meet the cost of special projects to plan, develop, or establish new programs or modifications of existing programs of nursing education or to effect significant improvements in curriculums of schools of nursing or for research in the various fields of nursing education, or to assist schools of nursing which are in serious financial straits to meet their costs of operation or to assist schools of nursing which have special need for financial assistance to meet accreditation requirements, or to assist in otherwise strengthening, improving, or expanding programs of nursing education, or to assist any such agency, organization, or institution to meet the costs of other special projects which will help to increase the supply of adequately trained nursing personnel needed to meet the health needs of the Nation. “(b) In determining priority of projects for which applications are filed under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority in the following order: “(1) the relative need of the applicant (if a school of nursing) for financial assistance to continue in operation or avoid curtailing enrollment or reduction in the quality of training provided; “(2) the special need of the applicant for financial assistance in connection with its merger with a school of nursing; “(3) the relative need of the applicant for financial assistance to maintain or provide for accreditation as a school of nursing; and ‘ “(4) the extent to which the project will increase enrollment of full-time students receiving nursing training. “institutional grants “Sec. 806. (a) The sums available for grants under this section from appropriations under section 808 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1970, and the next fiscal year shall be distributed to the schools with approved applications as follows: Each school shall receive $15,000; and of the remainder— “(A) 75 per centum shall be distributed on the basis of— “(i) the relative enrollment of full-time students for such year, and “(ii) the relative increase in enrollment of such students for such year over the average enrollment of such school for the five school years preceding the year for which the application is made; with the amount per full-time student so computed that a school receives twice as much for each such student in the increase as for other full-time students, and “(B) 25 per centum shall be distributed on the basis of the relative number of graduates for such year. In computing the increase under clause (A) (ii) of the preceding sentence for any school, there shall be excluded a number equal to the increase required by subsection (b) (except in the case of a school to which the third sentence of such subsection applies). “(b) The Secretary shall not make a grant under this section to any school from any appropriation for a fiscal year ending after June 30, 1970, unless the application for such grant contains or is supported by reasonable assurances that for the first school year beginning after the fiscal year for which such grant is made and each school year thereafter 82 Stat. 782during which such a grant is made the first-year enrollment of full-time students in such school will exceed the average of the first-year enrollment of such students in such school for the two school years having the highest such enrollment during the five school years during the period of July 1, 1963, through June 30, 1968, by at least 2½ per centum of such average first-year enrollment, or by five students, whichever is greater. The requirements of this subsection shall be in addition to the requirements of section 802(b)(2) (D) of this Act, where applicable. The Secretary is authorized to waive (in whole or in part) the provisions of this subsection if he determines, after consultation with the National Advisory Council on Nurse Training, that the required increase in first-year enrollment of full-time students in a school cannot, because of limitations of physical facilities available to the school for training, be accomplished without lowering the quality of training provided therein. “(c) (1) For the purposes of this part and part D, regulations of the Secretary shall include provisions relating to determination of the number of students enrolled in a school, or in a particular year-class in a school, or the number of graduates from a school, as the case may be, on the basis of estimates, or on the basis of the number of students who were enrolled in a school, or in particular year-class in a school, or were graduates from a school in earlier years, as the case may be, or on such basis as he deems appropriate for making such determination, and shall include methods of making such determination when a school or a year-class was not in existence in an earlier year at a school. “(2) For purposes of this part and part D, the term ‘full-time students’ (whether such term is used by itself or in connection with a particular year-class) means students pursuing a full-time course of study in an accredited program in a school of nursing.”