Free Money for Nursing School

HRSA 2012 Scholarships: Close to a Decision?

A little bird tells me that applicants for the 2012 are getting their credit checked.   What does it mean?!

First, what are we talking about here?    In case you don't know about it, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has a division called the Health Resources and Services Administration, and they give out nursing scholarships.   You definitely should check them out, just because they have some great scholarship and grant programs for nurses.  The one for 2012 is about to be announced so it's closed at the moment, but you can certainly go over there and sign up to receive an email when the program opens back up.  

Here is some further description of the program and its scholarships, right from the website:

The Nursing Scholarship Program is a selective program of the U.S. Government that helps alleviate the critical shortage of nurses currently experienced by certain types of health care facilities by helping needy students complete their nurse training. In exchange for the scholarship, upon graduation, the newly minted nurses work at these facilities for at least 2 years.

This year's award is interesting for several reasons.  For one, becuase of the increased demand in healthcare for nurse practitioners, HRSA says they might give up to half of their award monies this year out to nurses pursuing graduate-level studies (which is great news if you're one of those applicants).   Also interesting is the fact that some of the nurses who have already applied have been getting their credit checked and some have not.  Why HRSA would want to check the credit of people who they are going to give scholarships to, we're not quite sure, but this is probably a good indicator that they have their ducks in a row and will actually award the money on time (applicants who do receive funding will be notified by August 31st).  

Nursing School Grants: Check with Hospitals!

This is probably one of the least-known resources in the nursing profession, and it's right there under your nose!    Did you know that most hospitals offer some type of tuition reimbursement and/ or scholarship program?  The purpose of this is clear-- they want you to become loyal to them while you're still in school, so they'll pay for part of your education in exchange for a work commitment because it's cheaper for them than going out and advertising for/ hiring/ training a whole new nurse.  Makes sense, right?

The challenge for you is to find a hospital that offers a program like this that a) is near enough to your nursing program that you can take advantage of it, and b) that you like enough to stay there for two or three or four years following your nursing education.  This is no problem for most people, as they're just happy to have the money and the on-the-job training.  Pretty great, right?

So-- where do you look for programs like this?  There are several places for you to start.

1.  The Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing's Future has a searchable database of hospital programs, including tuition reimbursement and continuing education.  Search for nursing school grants now.

2.  Search the American Hospital Association Hospital Finder, and start calling the hospitals in your area  New programs (such as tuition reimbursement for hospital employees) are being added to hospitals all the time, and hospitals don't always have the time (or the knowledge) to properly promote these programs.  There could be money you don't even know about sitting at a hospital right down the street!

3.  Ask your (nursing specific) financial aid office, specifically about hospital partnerships.  They will know of hospitals that specifically offer funds in exchange for work commitments.