Nursing Scholorship?

[calinursestudent818]

I already have a BA in another field, so I don't qualify for pell or any other grants and still owe on student loans from the previous degree, so I am looking for other realms to pay for all or help pay for my nursing school. I've run across a couple of scholarships but most I have found are only for the new nursing student with NO previous degree.

Does anyone know of any grants or scholarships out there for 2nd degree students, I haven't run across any yet but I am hopeful.

Any info or advice would be appreciated. I am a minority also, so don't know if there are any programs or scholarships centered around minority nurses or not.

Thanks!

[queserasera, RN]

While I hope you get a far better answer than mine, the best thing I can think of if to take out loans for an Associates in Nursing and then the hospital you're working at could pay for your RN --> BSN degree.

[the healer's art]

I'm in a similar boat!

Tylenol.com-TYLENOL® Future Care Scholarship

Nursing Scholarship Program

Those are the only ones I know of. Some schools give merit scholarships as well.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I sympathize with everyone who is struggling to fund their education. But I want to caution you to - PLEASE - minimize your student loan debt. Nursing salaries do not justify large amounts of student loan debt. If you explore this topic on AN, you will see that graduates of high-cost commercial (investor owned) schools have a lot of regret and many feel that they were pressured into bad economic decisions (amassing huge private loans) since the total amount and repayment implications were never clarified for them.

I don't think you are going to find much in the way of 'free money' for 2nd degree students. Most have to rely on loans or 'pay-as-you-go' arrangements.

Best of luck to you

[jetsy62]

We went to financial aid night Tuesday at my high school and the speaker kept stressing "worse case scenario, your student loan debt can not exceed the amount of one year salary you expect to make". If it does, you are setting yourself up for financial difficulty. So, using easy math, if you make $50,000 per year, your total student debt should not exceed $50,000. Obviously, as much under the one year rule as you can get is ideal.

[HammockBound]

what about scholarships for working at hospitals? I know the one here offers scholarships.

[calinursestudent818]

Yeah I am still paying off loans on my first degree, I DON'T want to get loans again. So it looks like I will be paying cash or making payments. Sigh.

[cp1024]

Have you talked to your FA office? Thy should be able to help you find a scholarship you qualify for, even if you are a 2nd degree student. I was actually looking at scholarships for my program yesterday and found a LOT of scholarships where the only requirements were to be pursuing a nursing degree, have at least a 2.5 GPA, and show financial need. I'm sure you'll be able to find one that will work for you. Good Luck!!

[elkpark]

I agree with talking to the financial aid office at the school you intend to attend; I also agree with the advice about steering clear of over-priced proprietary (for-profit) schools.

Although I have no idea what the current situation is, with the bad economy over the last several years, many states used to offer scholarship/grant programs to assist/encourage state residents to into nursing; often these could be "worked off" rather than paid back. I got a grant from a program offered by my state that helped pay for my MSN, and was able to avoid repaying it simply by working in my state for the designated amount of time, which I was going to do anyway (at that time, my state had three different nursing scholarship programs, each with different requirements, rules, etc.) That would be worth looking into.