Nursing Scholarships for Minority, Male, Military Veteran

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Apr 30, 2013

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SERVICE.

I am afraid you may have been misinformed. There are sufficient numbers of males entering nursing now (and for the past few years) - so that ship has pretty much sailed. As you have pointed out, you know of 6 other men who are also seeking to enter nursing. In many areas of the country, the ratio has become much higher. I am a bit surprised that you haven't been able to find anything targeted for ethnic minorities... maybe it is due to your area if you're in a "minority = majority" region? I know that this is becoming the case in many areas of the country that have a majority Latino population.

Being a single parent is tough for anybody, but I have never come across any financial opportunities (tuition discounts, low interest loans, scholarships, etc.) targeting this demographic. Have you met with VA counselors to explore opportunities associated with your veteran status?

I am urging extreme caution about incurring that much debt just to enter a nursing career, particularly an entry level MSN... these degrees are simply not very marketable; much less attractive to hiring managers than generic BSN graduates. When it comes to finding a job, new grads are all the same in terms of the level of additional training support required to transition into the workplace. It's a very tough market these days, and not likely to change very much.

Have you considered taking a more conservative approach? It seems that you may have already completed your pre-requisites (since you have stated your current GPA), so I encourage you to explore, much less costly, traditional program in order to avoid the potential for a nightmare scenario that is unfortunately becoming more common .... $100k student loan debt and unable to obtain a nursing job. There is just no way that a nursing income justifies amassing that much debt. In my part of the country, state university/college admissions still give preference to military veterans. They also have the lowest tuition costs. I know that one Tx university with a stellar nursing program even has single-parent housing available on campus. I am sure that other states may also have similar programs.

Is relocation possible? I recently became aware that the BSN program at the University of New Mexico is actively recruiting students - no waiting list. They may be very open to providing some financial assistance to someone with your qualifications.

Best of luck to you and your kids!

BigBangTheory · Apr 30, 2013

Thank you for your response and suggestions.

Relocation is not possible for many reasons which I won't get into.

I was confused about aspects of your response though. Men in nursing don't even comprise 10% of the US nursing workforce and even if we assume that number was higher, it's far from 50%.

You are correct that none of the guys in my class have scholarships though many women do. Is there a shortage of women in nursing? It would have made more sense to me if scholarship recipients were rare altogether, but I see the emails all the time and most are directed specifically to women (as per the eligibility criteria). Even if they were non-sex specific, if 80-90% of the US nursing population is female and everyone applies, it stands to reason that women would walk away with most of the scholarships.

As far as VA goes, I exhausted my GI Bill benefits for undergrad. Though I have applied for some of those scholarships.

I live in CA where there are a lot of ethnic minorities and yet the white vs. minority population is ~70% to 30% maybe 65% to 35%.

I'm just curious as to how it is that single, non-veteran, white female that lives with their parents and has a lower GPA seem to be more eligible for scholarships in nursing. I might understand in engineering or mathematics where there are much fewer women, but nursing?

As for the MSN, in my area it is increasingly a requirement for entry or to maintain a position. For example, school nursing in this area of California requires a Masters. There are other examples, but you hear about that one the most in this area.

DatMurse · May 1, 2013

What did you get your bachelors in?

Why do you also think you deserve one?

I honestly dont think that being a male will give you an advantage. On top of that I have never heard of any veteran getting a scholarship because they were a veteran. Bilingual doesnt get you anything.

You make it seem like being a minority veteran mursing student that you deserve something.

The scholarship you apply for are usually going to pick them by a certain criteria.

I am not trying to be an ******* but a father of 3 with 0 income going to 100k in debt? -_-

It would have been smarter to go to an accelerated bsn program which may have only cost 30k and then get a job at a hospital and work on your masters through them.

Again I am just trying to be realistic.

Most of the nursing scholarships I have seen usually say women.

Have you applied for fafsa?

What degree did you use your gi bill on?

African americans scholarships are supplied by african american organizations

Hispanic etc,

Since nursing is dominated by women why would they pick you? GPA isnt everything. There is more to nursing than being straight up booksmart. Maybe she has good networking skills