Post-bac BSN scholarships

lepreble · Sep 14, 2016

Hi all,

I am new to this community, so I apologize if this question is a repeat. Anyways, I graduated from UofA in 2011 with my B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. My gpa was just under 3.6. After graduation, I worked in informal STEM education outreach, managing our school programs and staff that delivered the programs. This was through our science center in Phoenix. About 6 months ago, I joined ASU's school of engineering as a K12 outreach event coordinator. I work with various faculty members on a variety of projects, with the main goal to provide access to under represented groups to get them interested in STEM fields.

Over the past 2 years, I have been slowly working on my pre-reqs for the post-bac BSN program at ASU. Almost there! And I've held a 4.0 in all of my post-bac classes.

I can't afford to pay for school out of pocket, so my question is this. What do the scholarship opportunities look like for individuals pursing a second bachelors to go into nursing? My end goal is to get my DNP and work in hospital, clinic, and higher education settings. I have an entire year to prepare, as I won't be eligible to begin the 12 month BSN program until Spring of 2018.

I'm just curious if anyone has any advice for me. Should I apply for FAFSA due on October 1st for 2017-2018 school year, even if I don't know that I'll be attending the BSN program for sure? How soon should I begin applying for scholarships? What if I apply to a scholarship but I don't know about my placement into the program into late into 2017?

Any advice will be a HUGE help. The program will set me back 20K which scares the life out of me, as I have no financial assistance from my family - and if fact sometimes I have to support them.

Thank you!