Nurse Corps Scholarship... worth it?

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  1. Should I accept the scholarship if I get it?

    • 14
      Yes
    • 1
      No
    • 4
      It depends, I'll explain in the comments

19 members have participated

Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.

I applied for the nurse corps scholarship for 2015-2016. Currently, I am waiting to see if I got it. I start school early September. The scholarship pays tuition, books, reasonable expenses and a stipend of approx $1300 per month. Within 6 months after graduation, you agree to work in a HPSA with a score of 14 or higher for 2 years. If you don't meet this requirement the scholarship turns into a loan-- not sure of the interest rate or repayment terms which is scary.

I thought I wanted this scholarship as there are many HPSA sites close to me (South Jersey-Philly area). However, I have now heard that these are clinics only (I had thought there was one hospital) and that they don't hire RN's, only NP's and physicians and MA's.

I do not want to be up the creek on this. My tuition for absn state school is going to be approx 25k total. With the expenses and the stipend from the nurse corps scholarship I'm looking at a sweet benefit, I'm estimating 50k. But if I can't get a job at a HPSA what is the point? Also, even if I pull strings and do get a job, it's not hospital experience. What do you think about this? My main interests are psych, neuro, hospice, developmental disabilities but I am open to the idea that I may change my mind while in school. I know I don't want to do peds. Pretty sure I don't want to do L/D either, which I know is a sought after field. I currently work in psych in an underserved area. Our site is not a HPSA, because we are a day program/partial program. We used to have a full time RN but have cut down to one part time LPN. :-/

I did get a financial aid package that will cover almost 100% of tuition, so I have another option. I'm not terribly worried about 25k in student loan debt, it's not too much for me to handle, but 50k if I can't get a job at a HPSA, is a very bad feeling.

Relocating is out of the question.

At this point I'm halfway hoping I don't get the scholarship so the decision is made for me!

Your input is appreciated in advance. If you are a nurse corps scholar, esp not an NP, what sort of facility do you work in? How easy/hard was it to get hired after graduation? Where are you located?

Also, I think I'm going to start calling the HPSA sites near me now and ask if they hire nurses.

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Specializes in PCT, RN.

I'm not sure how helpful this is to you, but I posted something similar about a month ago. I got some pretty good feedback in the comments. https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/nurse-corps-scholarship-995580.html

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.

Thanks, I did see that post. I also replied to it. I panicked when I saw a post from someone in the Philly area who said couldn't get a job at any of the available sites

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