Nursing School Programs

So you’ve gotten into nursing school, which means you’ve cleared the first big hurdle between yourself and an exciting and challenging new career. Congratulations! Now - how are you going to pay for it?

First of all, when you are researching financial aid for nursing school, make sure that you look into private loans to help you with your living expenses as well, because it’s very hard to work and go to nursing school at the same time. At best, a couple of shifts a week working as a Certified Nurse Assistant may be possible.

Many student loan organizations, such as Sallie Mae, offer loans for both tuition and for living expenses while in school.

Pell Grants are available to most students, not just nursing students, so make sure to contact your school’s office of financial aid. For the 2007-2008 school year, the maximum grant is about $4500 a year, depending on the individual student’s financial need and the cost of the program that the student is attending. This is not available for students who already have a bachelor’s degree or professional degree.

The good news is, because nurses are so in demand these days, there are plenty of ways to help pay for your nursing school. Read on for some good financing sources and links.

Depending on your life circumstances, joining the military is one way to finance a nursing school education.
The ARMY ROTC has a great nursing scholarship program

The Air Force also has nursing scholarships

The Navy also has nursing scholarships

The Medi-Smart Website has a lot of information about how to finance nursing school.

The American Association of Critical Care Nurses offers grants.

The Emergency Nurses Association has scholarships

The National Student Nurses’ Association offers some nursing scholarships and grants.

The American Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses offers nursing scholarships.

The National Association of Hispanic Nurses has scholarships

The United States government’s Department of Health and Human services has nursing student loans

Nursing Student Loan Forgiveness
Most states have state government programs in place which will repay all or part of your nursing student loan if you agree to work for a certain amount of time in an area where nurses are in especially short supply. This may be at certain schools, in the prison system, in certain hospitals, and a variety of other settings. It’s a great way to work where nurses are really needed and to help your community, while having the government pay off your student loans. Examples of these programs are Florida’s Nursing Student Loan Forgiveness Program, Pennsylvania’s nursing loan forgiveness program, Kentucky’s nursing student loan forgiveness program, and Iowa’s nursing student loan forgivenessprogram.
The federal government’s Department of Health and Human Resources also has a nursing student loan forgiveness program.
So be sure to go on Google or any other search engine, and type in the name of your state and the phrase “nursing student loan forgiveness”.
Forgiveness is a good thing.

Get your employer to pay for your education!
Many private hospitals will repay all or part of your student loans if you sign a contract agreeing to work with them for a certain period of time. Important: Make sure that this is a hospital that you want to work at for the length of the contract. Talk to other nurses who work there, do some online research, ask for a tour of the hospital. Make sure that the salary that they are offering you is competitive, because if they are paying you substantially less then you would be making at another facility, it may not prove worth it.

Get your employer to pay for your continuing education!
Once you have been hired by a health-care facility, by all means talk to your employer about reimbursement for continuing your nursing education. Your employer will often expect you to pay for the course up front and get a good grade, and then will reimburse you upon the completion of the class.