NELRP 2011

tessRN86 · May 11, 2011

I only ask because I'm living in MO too! Saint Louis County! So not too far from you!

amybarbern · May 11, 2011

Do Ya'll think living in certain parts of the country find out before others? MY husband ACtually mentioned something like that...like maybe different parts of the country hear news before others. Just a thought tho...

tessRN86 · May 12, 2011

Could be! But who knows? I guess we'll find out! Hopefully sooner than later...

JennBride · May 12, 2011

Hey Nurses,

This is the husband of a nurse (on her account, with her permission). She's been so busy working at the hospital that I've taken over researching NELRP to help her with applying for it. I spent the last 2 hours reading over every page on the website, and then reading through about 33 pages of posts on the forum.

What I would find so helpful is if people signed there posts in NELRP threads with a percent. It's already clear that applicants who are not in the first priority batch have no chance at obtaining funding. My research on 2008-2009 showed winners generally ranged 150% to 300%, though some managed to rack up ratios over 300%.

For my wife her ratio is about 101%. She had not applied for this year because she didn't have a job at the time. Now she does work in a DSH and would meet the requirements.

My requests are:

Please sign your posts with your percent--aspiring nurses who hear if you've won or not would like to see the range as we try to narrow down what is required. As you all know, nurses are too busy to bother applying for programs that they will be denied.

Also -- as of a year or two ago it was unclear if they picked people among first priority by lining them up based on debt ratio and went down the board adding them until the funds ran out -- or if there was any sort of lottery system involved. The literature suggests no lottery, yet there was a post or two indicating a lottery system. My suspicion is that they called the 1800 number and spoke to someone who had no clue how the system worked and started making things up.

Your help is most appreciated! Thank you nurses,

One very lucky man.

101% ratio

RainDreamer, BSN, RN · May 12, 2011

Please sign your posts with your percent--aspiring nurses who hear if you've won or not would like to see the range as we try to narrow down what is required. As you all know, nurses are too busy to bother applying for programs that they will be denied.
Also -- as of a year or two ago it was unclear if they picked people among first priority by lining them up based on debt ratio and went down the board adding them until the funds ran out -- or if there was any sort of lottery system involved. The literature suggests no lottery, yet there was a post or two indicating a lottery system. My suspicion is that they called the 1800 number and spoke to someone who had no clue how the system worked and started making things up.

My ratio was about 220%. I was accepted for the award and received it for the two years, along with the amendment award (separate application process), for a total of 3 years.

If you have any questions regarding the application process, let me know. I applied for it twice and then for the amendment award, so I'm somewhat familiar with the process.

Good luck!

JennBride · May 12, 2011

Thanks Rain, and congrats on your engagement!

I'm hoping we have people around 100% who have won it. A few years ago that wouldn't have been possible, but the amounts nlerp has been awarded seem to have ballooned over the last few years.

How long did it take you to put together your application the first time?

amybarbern · May 12, 2011

JennBride, I have applied this year. I have gone through the blogs from the last two years as well, and there were people on there who got the award that were like in the 80's percentile range! So I am not sure if they go down a list of highest debt percentages to lowest or not. I do know that the nurses who were less than 100 percentile didn't hear anything until later on in the year, like around august and september. There is one nurse on this year's blog who stated she got the credit check and something via her lenders for some correspondence inquiry into her loans, and her percentage is only like 110% I think. And she started hearing things before me. My percentage is around 143% now. When I started out in nursing though, my percentage was higher, like around 160%. I paid down some in my five years nursing (not much however). I, too, would've applied sooner but I was not in a staff position (was working flex/prn to make more money secondary to my high monthly note!!). I don't know how it works. Good luck on your quest! God, I hope I get this award!! I'll keep ya posted!!

JennBride · May 12, 2011

Amy,

I got the impression from the literature that it is a state by state basis with each state being awarded a set amount that they may spend on it. I suspect, though can not prove, that the reason lower percents occasionally get contacted first is that the percents in their state were not as high. It's possible that in NY the percent to win is 150%, and in Montana it is 97%. In such a situation someone with 155% in NY would probably hear much later than someone with a 130% in Montana.

I live in Iowa, most years we receive 3-6 awards (around .3% of the total budgeted for the country), however that information was all based on 2005-2008. Ironically the instructors did not feel it necessary to provide updated numbers since the budget for Nelrp has changed dramatically over the last couple of years. Granted Iowa doesn't actually have any form of shortage of nurses. That's why we have one of the lowest pay-rates in the country. My job rocks though, so I wouldn't want to move. We may end up in that gray area where we can't tell in advance if we'll win and just need to apply and hope.

tessRN86 · May 12, 2011

I have never heard it went state by state, not that it doesn't. That's interesting though...

I'm not sure anyone really knows if they'll get it or not. I work in a DSH in MO and my percentage is about 148.

Good luck!

JennBride · May 12, 2011

Hmm,

You may be right Tess. I pulled out the slides they gave us, and it is hard to be conclusive due to a lack of proper English in the slides. The slide for "2008 funding statistics" says "Iowa was received 3 awards for loan repayments-$147,244". Yes, that's word for word. It may very well be nationwide, and they are just posting what people from Iowa won in the national "debt to salary competition among first choice applicants".

timnsara · May 12, 2011

I am so excited! I just called Sallie Mae and askedif HRSA has called for any info and they told me they did obtain pay off information for June 2011. She also stated that our total of 76000 dollars would be paid in full. OK, she obviously does not understand fully how this works because they will not be paying completely off, right? I think we should all call and compare notes. Anyone who has had a date change already should hopefully be getting a loan inquiry! I hope this works out! We are in sooo mu h debt!

Sara 186%

JennBride · May 12, 2011

I am so excited! I just called Sallie Mae and askedif HRSA has called for any info and they told me they did obtain pay off information for June 2011. She also stated that our total of 76000 dollars would be paid in full. OK, she obviously does not understand fully how this works because they will not be paying completely off, right? I think we should all call and compare notes. Anyone who has had a date change already should hopefully be getting a loan inquiry! I hope this works out! We are in sooo mu h debt!
Sara 186%

I believe they ask for the full pay off amount so they know precisely how much you owe at that point -- the number is written down so they can multiply it by .3 for your payments for the first year, payments for the second year, and .25 for payments for the third year (.85 of the current total). Congrats Sara! :yeah: