Scholarships for Nursing Students

As with any secondary education, scholarships are an integral part of funding nursing education. To add to the expense, many nursing programs have additional requirements which make them even more costly. In order to finance this education, there are a number of scholarships, grants and loans available, some of which are specific to nursing school students. In this article, the focus will be on ideas for obtaining nursing scholarships. Due to the wide variety and sheer number of sources, lists of all the specific scholarships available to nurses cannot be provided.

General Nursing Scholarships

There are many scholarships that are specifically available to the nursing student. Some of these depend on where the student was born or their ancestry. Some might be dependent on the type of nursing career desired. For example, there are programs aimed at nurses who want to work with cancer patients. There is at least one program for students who have lost a parent to cancer. There are scholarships for students who wish to pursue a career in nursing education to help prepare the next generation of nurses. Some thought must be given to future plans, goals or desires, to ensure that the student qualifies for the program. Such planning may also open doors to other scholarship sources.

State & Federal Government Funded Nursing Scholarships

Many states have scholarship programs. These are typically aimed at residents who also want to stay in the state for their education. The thought is that the state is looking to fund the education of students who are likely to stay in the state to pursue their career.

Religious Scholarships for Nursing Students

Some religious groups have scholarships available to members who wish to pursue a nursing career. Some may have restrictions such as the type of nursing career desired or the location where the nurse is willing to work.

Military Nursing Scholarships

Branches of the military may provide scholarships to nursing students based on a future commitment to serve in that branch of the armed forces, in the ROTC or reserves.

Ethnic Minority Nursing Scholarships

Some scholarships are directed at specific ethnic or minority groups. For example, there are scholarships aimed at Hispanic, African American and Native American students. Some of these may also be restricted as to state of residence or to the nursing field the student wishes to pursue. Others may be open to any minority, but with a restriction as to the field of study. And, since mens are a minority in the nursing field, there are also male nursing scholarships for men.

Nursing School Scholarship Programs

Another avenue to investigate is the availability of scholarships to students at a specific school or class of schools. For example, there are programs aimed at prospective students in certain state college systems. There are others for various community or technical college systems.

Field Specific Scholarships for Nursing Majors

If the student has a definite career path or nursing field in mind, this can also make various scholarships available. For example, there are scholarships for students who wish to become operating room nurses. There are other programs for students who want to focus on rehabilitation or occupational nursing. Still others focus on oncology, gerontology or long term care. Once a career choice has been made, there is a need to investigate those sources of funding. Vocational nursing scholarship options change for undergraduate and graduate nursing students.

Scholarships Available to All Students

A good place to start looking for scholarships is the same place all students look. There are wide variety of scholarships that are not dependent on field of study. A nursing student would be just as eligible as any other student. However, competition for some of these will be fierce, so specialized scholarships aimed specifically at nursing students can be a valuable resource with less competition.

Off-beat Scholarships

Some scholarships have very little competition due to the group they are targeted to. What these demonstrate is the need to investigate all the options thoroughly. Leave no stone unturned. The following is a small sampling of some of the scholarships that can be found off the beaten track.

• North Carolina State University offers a fully paid college education to students with the last name Gatlin or Gatling. The University of Loyola offers a full, four year scholarship to any Catholic student with the last name Zolp.
• The Vegetarian Resource Group offers two $5,000 scholarships to vegetarian students who can prove that they have worked to promote the benefits being a vegetarian in their school or community.
• There are scholarships based on hobbies. One offers scholarships to skateboarders. Another offers scholarships to winners of recipe contests. There is even a Klingon Language scholarship.
• One college in Pennsylvania offers two $1000 scholarships to the left handed students who attend their school. There are other programs aimed at people who are either uncommonly tall or short.

What all of this shows is that there is a large number of scholarships available to students in general and to nursing students in particular. Thorough investigation is essential to tap these resources.

There are a wide variety of sources of scholarships to help fund this education that is so vital to our society. With a little imagination and a lot of legwork, scholarships can play a major role in paying for the cost of a nursing program.

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