Leaders of nursing education programs are committed to admitting and retaining more undergraduate students, including those who are unrepresented (Everett, 2022; Hampton et al., 2021; Muirhead et al., 2022; White, 2017). These issues are a significant, serious challenge for administrators and faculty of prelicensure nursing programs and are contextualized by professional nurse workplace projections (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2022) and nursing faculty shortages (Aspen et al., 2021). Therefore, it is imperative to continue to develop programmatic initiatives that foster student retention, persistence, graduation, and achievement of RN licensure.

The attrition rates of prelicensure nursing students and NCLEX-RN® first-time pass rates of program graduates confront nursing faculty, academic coaches and tutors, and nurse administrators as they strive for successful outcomes (Chan et al., 2019; Veesart & Cannon, 2022). To address these challenges, educators have engaged faculty and students in numerous strategies to reduce the attrition of admitted students and increase the NCLEX-RN pass rates. The effect of comprehensive planning, targeted interventions, faculty commitment and support, and student tenacity has led to more students completing undergraduate programs and passing the licensing exam (Banks, 2018; Czekanski, Hoerst, & Kurz, 2018; Miller et al., 2019). See Table 1 for the 2024 ethnicity and program type of the undergraduate nursing students.

Despite implementation of the Strategies for Success program (Breckenridge et al., 2012), a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Nursing Workforce Diversity (2011) funded initiative, including preadmission testing of applicants, our Undergraduate Nursing Program and did not meet the mandated 80 % first-time pass rate for three years. See Table 2 for year, pass rate, and number passed/number tested results and includes delayed first-time testers (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs, 2022). The components of the Strategies for Success program incorporated a risk assessment profile on 13 indicators that predicted passing or failing the NCLEX-RN. The activities of the success-oriented plan targeted the sustainability of successful outcomes for nursing students and graduates (Breckenridge, 2018; Breckenridge et al., 2012; Harris et al., 2020). At-risk baccalaureate nursing students and at-risk, recent graduates were evaluated and interventions were implemented to support achievement of successful outcomes. The Strategies for Success program is available for review (Breckenridge, 2018).