Scholarships for Nursing School???

TazziRN, RN · Mar 25, 2007

When I went to school the ladies' auxiliary of the hospital that sponsored our school gave out scholarships. I got one for each semester and ended up paying very little for school. I went to an ADN program.

llg, PhD, RN · Mar 25, 2007

A lot of hospitals support their employees with scholarships and/or offer tuition assistance in exchange for a committment to work for that hospital after graduation. You might want to look into the deals offered by the employers in your area. While I would recommend caution in signing a committment to work somewhere after graduation, it might pay you to get a part time job to qualify for a scholarship.

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 25, 2007

OP: Yes, you are missing something... although there is a shortage of nurses, there is no shortage of nursing students or students trying to attend nursing school. Thus schools are not having a problem filling courses and don't need to provide incentives via scholarships.

However, as the above posters have pointed out, local health care facilities usually have some kind of tuition program for its employees and potential employees. Usually if you are not already an employee you have to sign a contract. On the other hand, there are scholarships nationwide, statewide, and even locally that do not require a commitment and aim to assist nursing students through school. You have to do your research in order to find "free" money.

I already have a MBA. To answer your question, I am not borrowing money to pay for my nursing education. Personally, I have not only applied to scholarships (and am expecting to receive a few this year), I have also saved money to pay for my ADN program prior to attending school. Plus, I work part-time during the school year and full-time in the summer to stash money away to pay for tuition and expenses.

If I receive any money that exceeds my ADN needs (which is highly likely this semester), I will stash it away to pay for the RN-BSN program. Anything that exceeds those needs will go toward my MSN.

While attending the RN-BSN then MSN programs, I will be working full-time as a Registered Nurse. At that time I will more then likely be able to have my employer pay for most if not all of my tuition, while my income and savings pay for my living expenses. GL. :)

ashleyjean3 · Mar 25, 2007

In North Carolina the state will give you 15000 a year if you are working on your MSN for nursing education. You should see if your state has a program like that

I_am_Julia · Mar 26, 2007

sounds like you have conducted a search. however, try googling nursing scholarships for national programs and local. also, many local programs offer tuition assistance if you sign to work with them for a certain amount of time.

there are also scholarships based on age, second degree and ethnicity.

as i read through various university websites for nursing programs (i'm looking at graduate-entry programs and some of the specialized ma degrees), i'm really surprised to see that there aren't many scholarships offered by schools. am i missing something? do schools ever offer full- or half-tuition waivers or scholarships, or is everyone pretty much borrowing their way through?
it seems like in a field with such a critical shortage, there would be more institutional support. for instance, law schools routinely offer large scholarships to students -- especially private schools. obviously, it's hard to get a full ride, but many of the private law schools routinely offer 1/2 scholarship tuition waivers to students.
is this not the case in nursing? mph programs also have a lot of scholarship support for students.
any thoughts? i'm really surprised!! with the escalating costs of tuition, this seems to make the barriers to entry so much higher!