Learning Objective #1: discuss three successful strategies for developing programs that retain and graduate low income and minority students.

Learning Objective #2: evaluate the effectivenes of recruitment and retention strategies to increasing workforce diversity outcomes.

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The United States is in the midst of an unprecedented shortage of registered nurses which compounds issues of illness management associated with behavioral life styles, knowledge deficits, and lack of access to care. One way for schools of nursing to address this shortage is to expand their enrollments by increasing the racial, ethnic, and economic diversity of the baccalaureate student pool. Historically, students from these populations have high attrition and low graduation rates. Information about ways to improve the knowledge, skills, competencies, and outcomes of this population could help nurse educators become proficient at successfully enrolling and graduating low income and diverse students from their baccalaureate programs. The purpose of this presentation is to share outcome data collected from three different HRSA workforce diversity programs. The presentation will emphasize different approaches to building and sustaining effective recruitment and retention programs based upon (1) student population characteristics, (2) schools of nursing teaching philosophy, (3) social justice principles, (4) faculty attributes, and (5) availability of community resources. Findings suggest that these variables are powerful indicators of effective recruitment, retention, graduation, and subsequent employment outcomes. Qualitative data reflecting students' responses to support services will also be presented. Recommendations for nurse educators interested in expanding their enrollments through the inclusion of previously underserved student populations will be made.