1: Apply for financial aid with a free application first. Complete an FAFSA form so that the US Department of Education can estimate how much you can afford to pay and how much financial aid you can qualify for. You’ll need to complete this form each time you want to apply for some relief since your financial status may change between the times that you’re (1) awarded funds and (2) apply for them.

2: Don’t stop looking for assistance. Your job isn’t done after scoring your first financial aid package. You’ve got to think about next semester… next year. As the end of your semester nears, start looking for additional aid. Look for both scholarships and grants right where you began at the start: your current nursing school. Then try the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). If you’ll attend a new nursing school, head on over to its financial aid department (again, before the current semester ends) and ask what’s available. Inquire about alumnae or professional groups that might provide relief just for joining.

3: Make Yourself Eligible. Since scholarship programs award funds to the nursing student that goes the extra mile, participate in some extracurricular activities and get involved with your own health community. Consider volunteering or working in an unpaid internship. Just make sure your activities are related to nursing or health in general so that the scholarship committees handling your application can see you’re focused on your goals. If you can, get a letter of recommendation from these resources as well. Their input may sway a grant decision in your direction.

4: Write an Effective Essay. The purpose of the scholarship essay is to convince the judging committee that you’re a valuable investment. It has to be interesting, yet focused on the assigned topic. It additionally has to incorporate how your experiences and aspirations make you the perfect student. That is, a student worth attending the nursing school of your choice and a student worth a scholarship investment! You don’t want to write an outright sales letter. You instead, want to write an intriguing piece of short literature with serious “scholarship-worthy” undertones.

Applying for both nursing scholarships and grants are critical. Don’t limit yourself with just one. One of the most impressive things about nursing scholarships and grants is their capability to expand your career no matter where you’re currently standing. Apply now and start growing tomorrow.

Nursing Grants and Scholarships Differ

Understand first, that there’s a significant difference between grants and scholarships. A grant is a monetary fund ‘granted’ by both the government and non-profit organizations. A scholarship is a monetary fund ‘awarded’ by a business or private individual. In addition, a grant can be used to fund any part of a student’s nursing education while a scholarship may be limited to tuition or dormitory costs.

The ‘grant’ and ‘award’ aspect of each resource is important. A grant is often granted to anyone who applies, but a scholarship is awarded to a single individual out of a pool of applicants. Both resources can be low on funds at times and toughen the selection process – making academic performance and financial need critical factors in final decisions.

Increase Your Chances of Getting Funds

Your diligence in locating appropriate grant and scholarship resources will increase your chances of getting the funds you need. The first place you should look is at the nursing programs that you’re interested in attending. Their guidance counselors will not only give you a list of the programs that work with them, they’ll also give you the necessary applications.

You don’t want to stop your search there, however. Hit the internet for even more opportunities. With the right searching skills, you can quickly zero in on grants and scholarships appropriate for your chosen nursing program and nursing career.

Application Requirements

Once you’ve got a small collection of applications in front of you, read each one over carefully and note the unique requirements. Grant applications are pretty straightforward and resemble the typical application (simple questions, answers, etc.). Scholarship applications are a bit different however. Depending on where the scholarship comes from, a scholarship application may require several letters of recommendation and an essay. It may even require a work commitment.

Some scholarships are granted on the premise that their recipients will work at a specific establishment after graduating. That establishment could be a clinic, a hospital, or even a school as a nursing teacher.

The only requirement that both grant and scholarship applications may have in common, is the need to prove financial need. In this case, applications may need to accompany personal tax or earned income statements. If a nursing school applicant doesn’t have access to these documents, the student’s parents are responsible for their availability.

Nursing Grants

The nursing school grant is funding that doesn’t require repayment, as with a school loan. There are over a thousand school grant programs available totaling over $400 billion dollars, and accessing those funds is somewhat an easy chore after applying to school and filing a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application. You can learn more about the FAFSA through http://www.fafsa.ed.gov.

Nursing Scholarships

Nursing scholarships are somewhat like grants in that they don’t require repayment either. Applying for them is very different from applying for a grant however since they’re awarded for things like academic achievements, community involvement, letters of recommendation, and more. As a result, nursing scholarships be can extremely competitive and strict requirements don’t make them any more easier to achieve.

A scholarship committee may require for example, a winner to commit to studying or working in a specific nursing field. It may even require a recipient to maintain a certain grade point average or join some sort of nursing association. Joining a nursing association could be one of the best moves you make prior to applying for a scholarship since the bulk of them have awesome leads on where to locate high paying financial aid programs. Other alternatives that are equally helpful include churches, local community groups, schools, and small and large businesses.

Nursing Work Study Programs

Work-study programs pay for a nursing student’s education while that student performs a job somewhere. Jobs range from teacher assistants to security, and they don’t necessarily have to be related to the nursing field that you’re studying. With sufficient financial need, you can participate in a work study program and fund a significant portion of your education at the same time. Check out http://www.fsa4counselors.ed.gov/clcf/workstudy.html if this sounds like a feasible approach.

Nursing School Loans

School loans should be approached as a last resort since they have to be repaid – and repaid with interest. Unfortunately, they’re sometimes the only alternative. If you’re living within a certain income bracket, a school loan may be the only means in which you can pay for your nursing education. But — if you can look at a loan as an investment into your future, then you’ve already jumped over a significant emotional hurdle.

Let’s talk about the second hurdle – the interest. Loans accompany interest charges, but thanks to government regulations, interest is lower than that which accompanies other loans like car loans or home loans. And there’s more good news. As a nursing student, you won’t have to start your payment plans until six months after graduating.

The Stafford Loan is the most common student loan program and it encompasses both the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program. Private loans pay more, but at a cost. With a private loan, interest rears its ugly head as soon as it’s issued.

Now even though the Stafford Loan has to be repaid, it still requires an FAFSA form. This form helps determine eligibility and yes, it takes your credit score into account. If your credit score is over 650, your chances of getting a private loan are good. If not, you might need a co-signer.

If you’re under the age of 18 and you live with mom and dad, you might be able to fund your nursing education with a PLUS Loan. The PLUS loan is available through FFEL and Direct Loan programs and it works with the income of a student’s parents. It requires a good credit score just like with the Stafford Loan, but this is a yearly loan limited to school expenses and other received financial aid. But unlike with the Stafford Loan, payments begin 60 days after the loan is issued.

The Grad PLUS Loan is available to graduate and professional degree students and it operates the same way the PLUS loan operates. Check out http://www.govloans.gov and http://wwwstaffordloans.com for more information about these resources.

Nursing Loan Forgiveness Programs

If you’re going to fund your nursing education with a loan, you’d better look into a few loan forgiveness programs – just to be on the safe side. Loan forgiveness programs forgive all or a portion of a loan in exchange for work. There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to pay back a school loan. With a loan forgiveness program, your performance as a working employee is accepted as payment. Loan forgiveness programs have been available for years, but more so now because of the economy.

Rising costs and a lack of sufficient employment really pushed government agencies to make these programs more and more accessible all across the nation. How much labor does it take to dent a loan? It can take just one year of nursing service to satisfy one year of student loan payments. Two great resources regarding this program are (1) http://www.finaid.org/loans/forgiveness.phtml and (2) http://www.staffordloan.com/repayment/federal-student-loan-forgiveness.php.

So how do you feel about what you’ve read so far? A little more confident? As you can see, you have some pretty good choices available. You don’t have to face nursing school expenses alone. There are plenty of resources to draw from. It just takes a little digging and for scholarship funds, a lot of writing. We can’t help with the writing part, but at least you now know where to start!

Today, financial aid is available to virtually anyone — especially after you consider our economy’s dire condition. The economy is in such a mess, not being able to qualify for financial aid in fact, would be highly surprising. The plain and simple truth is that online nursing school and financial aid go hand in hand, so there’s no need to worry about costs and/or postpone your plans any further. You literally have your choice among thousands of available nursing scholarship, nursing grant, and loan programs. And if the word, “loan,” scares you, take a deep breath and relax. If you agree to work within a critical-need area, your school loan could be forgiven… up to 100%!

Let’s look at this opportunity a little closer.

• Financial Aid from the Job. Before heading off to fill out a mountain of financial aid forms, employed nurses should make a quick pit stop at their current place of employment first and inquire about tuition assistance plans. A lot of health care jobs provide tuition reimbursement, tuition loans, or tuition repayment programs to current employees and they’re often available in exchange for a much needed skill of some sort. With tuition reimbursement plans, employers pay a certain amount of tuition and fees per school year.

  To qualify, nursing students must maintain a specified grade average and study a subject conducive to the student’s current nursing job. With tuition loan plans, loans are interest free and absolved in exchange for an agreed-upon commitment to the employer. With student loan repayment plans, nursing students need only have recently graduated and made a commitment to the employer honoring the repayment plan.

• Nursing Scholarships and Fellowships. Unattached from any particular nursing job or nursing school are nursing scholarships and fellowships. These resources come from government or private entities instead, and they’re available for just about any need. The trick is to ‘qualify’ for the right one – a feat that might not be difficult at all. Some nursing students win scholarships just for being a lefty, or having unusually large feet.
• Federal Student Aid. Federal student aid provides funds via federal programs, state financial aid, school financial aid programs, and scholarships. The appropriate applications can be located online or at your nursing school of choice. Unlike with employer tuition reimbursement, tuition loans, or tuition repayment, Federal student aid isn’t contingent upon a career choice or commitment to a particular employer.

  However, some of the programs — which may require repayment — forgive a debt or portion of a debt should a nursing student pursue and work in a specified career. Here are the most common federal student aid programs.

  Federal Pell Grants are awarded to any nursing student who can demonstrate a financial need. Both part-time and full-time nursing students may apply.

  Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants work like Federal Pell Grants and are to nursing students who can demonstrate a financial need as well.

  Perkins Loans are available to nursing students who can demonstrate a financial need, but unlike grants, Perkins loans must be repaid and the first payment is due nine months after a student leaves nursing school or reduces the number of class hours to less than what a half-time student would take.

  Federal Stafford Loans provide funds from through (1) FFEL- participating financial institutions or (2) the federal government.

  Federal PLUS Loans helps nursing students living with their parents by loaning funds to parents from (1) FFEL-participating financial institutions or (2) the federal government.

  The Federal Work Study program provides funds in exchange for part-time work on and off campus. Funds made available are based on need, availability, and aid already received.

• State Student Aid Programs. In addition to work, private, and government resources, states provide financial aid programs as well. What’s interesting about state financial aid is that it can help individuals who don’t qualify federal student aid programs. Information about state student aid programs can be found through a state’s Higher Education Agency.
• Private Loans. Let’s not forget the trusty loan. Often used as a last resort, private loans can certainly pay for nursing school. Just know that private loans can be costly because of all the interest attached to them.

As you can see, there are plenty of ways you can fund your nursing education, so no more talk about nursing school being too expensive. In many cases, you can get your education for free or by working becoming a certain type of nurse.