Like any higher education degree, nursing school will cost you. Odds are you will graduate with at least some debt, possibly in the tens of thousands of dollars. However, there are many options to help you pay for your nursing school education, and to repay some or all of your nursing student loans after you graduate. Here are some of your best sources for loans, grants, and tuition reimbursement:
1.) The Federal Government (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) offers nursing student scholarships. Click on the link for more details.
2.) The Pell Grant can be used by students going into many majors, not just nursing students, and it does not have to be repaid. See if you qualify.
3.) Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. has a website called Discovernursing.com, which has information on nursing student scholarships. Fill out the form and see if any of the scholarships are right for you.
4.) Grants and loans for ethnic and minority groups. If you are a member of a minority group, at every college or nursing school that you are considering applying to, you should find out if you are eligible for any loans, grants, or scholarships. Examples of these include;
National Association of Hispanic Nurses Scholarship Awards
For African American nursing students, consider the Gates Millenium Scholarship.
Check out the United Negro College Fund.
Also look into the National Black Nurses Association nursing student scholarships.
The Daughters of the American Revolution offers nursing student scholarships to Native American nursing students.
Native American nursing students in Arizona can check out Arizona State University’s nursing scholarship information.
Also check out the scholarships available through the Association on American Indian Affairs.
5.) Grants and loans for single mothers are an option to explore. Raise The Nation is a national organization that offers various types of assistance to single mothers seeking a degree. Talk to the financial aid department in each school that you are interested to find out if there are any loans, grants, or tuition repayment options available for you as a single mother through the school or the state. For instance, at the Utah Valley State College, their Cleo Nuttal Ream nursing scholarship is geared towards single mothers with dependent children.
6.) The military offers various scholarships through their ROTC programs.
Check out your army ROTC program to see what nursing student scholarship opportunities they have for nursing student cadets.
Also look into the Navy’s ROTC program for information on their Nursing ROTC scholarship
Like to fly? Consider the Air Force’s ROTC nursing scholarship.
7.) Your employer. Many hospitals, clinics, assisted living facilities, hospices and nursing homes have tuition reimbursement programs. They will either offer to repay your tuition, or will pay for your ongoing education - say, to progress from an LPN to an RN - in exchange for your signing a contract to work for them for a specified amount of time. Read the contract carefully, and make sure that this is a place that you want to work for at least the length of the contract term.
8.) Your state - loan forgiveness programs. Because of the critical shortage in the nursing field, many states will do the same thing as private employers - repay a portion of your tuition in exchange for your agreement to work in areas where they are having difficulty hiring nurses. Call your state board of nursing, or go online and use a search engine to look up the name of your state and “nursing student loan forgiveness” - for instance, “Florida nursing student loan forgiveness” or California nursing student loan forgiveness or Illinois nursing student loan forgiveness or Pennsylvania student loan forgiveness or…you get the idea.
9.) Grants and loans for nurse educators are available through different organizations, who are attempting to address the shortage of nursing school teachers, so that nursing school programs can accept more students and shorten their waiting lists. Check out the National League for Nursing’s education research grants programs.
The Federal Government also has some resources for nursing educators.
And here is some more nursing educator federal grant information is available.
Many states offer these programs; for instance, Illinois has a nurse educator scholarship program worth looking into. North Carolina has a Nurse Educators of Tommorow scholarship program. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has information on opportunities available nationwide for scholarships for nursing educators.
10.) The Emergency Nurse Association gives nursing scholarships to LVN/LPNs and RNs who are continuing their nursing education. It is geared towards nurses who are interested in pursuing a specialty in emergency medicine.