Gift of Opportunity: Scholarships propel Master of Nursing students at MSU to graduation

Contact: Marianne Todd

MERIDIAN, Miss.—When Mississippi State University-Meridian’s newest Master of Science in Nursing graduates receive their degrees this August, they’ll enter the profession equipped to serve communities across the state and beyond. Four of these grads attribute their success, in part, to scholarships they received from the Mississippi Nurses Foundation.

MNF is a charitable organization that administers nine donor-advised scholarships and awards $1,000 scholarships to at least one nursing student each fall and spring semester in each nursing school in Mississippi.

“This scholarship has made a tremendous difference in helping me complete my degree,” said Shatara Naylor, a spring 2026 MNF scholarship recipient who works part-time as a respiratory therapist at both Ochsner Rush Health and Baptist Anderson hospitals.

Naylor, a Meridian resident who is married with two children, said she pays for her tuition out of pocket.

“Without these gifts, I think I would be pressured to either work more or seek more financial help,” she said. “These contributions have enabled me to focus more on being proactive in class and give my full attention to being a good nurse.”

The MSU-Meridian program’s inaugural MNF scholarship recipient was Latrina Sherman of Meridian. Awarded in fall 2024, Sherman graduated in 2025 and now is working on her post-master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Tasi Ransom, a Meridian native who lives in Pearl with her husband and four children, received the spring 2025 MNF scholarship, which helped offset childcare expenses and the commute to class each day. She also graduated last August and now is a registered nurse serving in a private duty capacity for medically fragile children.

Current MSN student Jessica Swindle of Ethel, a part-time wound care specialist at Attala County Nursing Center, said the scholarship has helped her with a more than three-hour daily commute during a time of rising gas prices.

Caring for her 12-year-old child and three grandparents, Swindle said she initially applied to the MSN program in 2024 but was forced to abandon her educational plans to care for her grandparents who had fallen ill. She reapplied last year and was accepted.

“As a single mother and licensed practical nurse serving the elderly in our community, this award means so much,” Swindle said. “It brings me one step closer to advancing my education and continuing to provide compassionate care.”

MSU’s School of Nursing was granted national accreditation in June 2025 following review by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education board of commissioners. This fall’s incoming cohort will include more than 50 students. The 12-month program—the state’s first direct-entry MSN degree program—seated its inaugural cohort in the fall of 2024 after accepting 36 students from a competitive nationwide applicant pool. One of just 90 in the nation, the program allows college graduates with non-nursing degrees to enter the nursing profession.

Students graduate practice-ready after completing a rigorous patient-centered curriculum, and they are prepared for national licensure as registered nurses.

For more information on MSU-Meridian’s accelerated Master of Science in Nursing degree program, call 601-696-2277 or visit www.nursing.msstate.edu.

Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu.