When people think about getting a nursing degree, they almost immediately think about financing the effort. Nursing school is more expensive today than it has ever been, and the cost is one of the reasons why people disregard it despite the tremendous opportunities it can offer. As you’ll see later discover, you don’t have to approach nursing school as a “do or don’t” adventure. Nursing school may be expensive, but there are a number of ways to pay for it. Scholarships are one of those ways.
Nursing school scholarships are so common, they’ve become synonymous with higher education so there’s no need to shy away from it. Today’s programs are plentiful, and since they’re free, they never have to be re-paid.
You won’t be able to fund a 4-year degree program with scholarships, but if you qualify for more than one scholarship, you can apply several of them at once and pay for a year or two years of quality nursing school. That fact alone should be enough incentive to learn more. Many people apply several financial aid tools to reduce or completely eliminate the high cost of attending nursing school. If they can do it, you can too! So let’s look at how it’s done.
1. Think, “The right scholarship for me.” As mentioned, there are a lot of scholarships available. But that doesn’t mean they’re available just for the asking. Most scholarships are restricted to a type of nursing career choice or nursing program. Some are even exclusive to a specific business relationship or income level. To get a scholarship, you have to qualify for it. You must therefore seek out scholarships that you’ll most likely win. That’s right, we said, “win.”
Nursing school scholarships are awarded to one person out of a pool of many applicants, making it even more important to apply to the right ones.
2. Start with the nursing school you want to attend. Your nursing school of choice already has a list of scholarship programs you can use as a starting point. To access this list, just make an appointment with your nursing school’s counselor and collect appropriate applications for later. Then drop by the school’s financial aid department. This part of the school’s administration stores information regarding applicable scholarships as well. Of course, there’s always the internet. We suggest consulting a nursing school scholarship directory that lets you filter results by circumstances unique to you.
If you’re left-handed for example, and there’s a scholarship available for left-handed nursing students, by all means, use your left-handed nature as a filtering query!
3. Watch out for that deadline. Every nursing school scholarship accompanies a deadline in which the program is not only available, but rewarded as well. Some scholarships expire in the spring or summer while others expire in the fall or winter. That may exclude some pretty attractive choices at first, but you have to remember with thousands of scholarships available, you’re bound to find at least one no matter what time of the year. Keep up the search even if you’re enrolled as well. A scholarship could become available and lessen your financial burden in an up-coming semester!
4. Weed out stale programs. Speaking of dates, you’ll additionally want to keep an eye out for programs that are current – - especially when you search for a program online. Face it, the internet is an awesome research tool, but some of the stuff out there is old and irrelevant. You’re going to have to play the role of a detective and ensure the information you read is current. Add the current school year to your search queries and you’ll run into information you can actually use.
5. Avoid Scams. The key to recognizing a nursing school scholarship is understanding no scholarship can be guaranteed. The minute you see an offer that seemingly provides a guaranteed scholarship – for free or for a minimal payment – pass it up. Remember earlier, we said that nursing school scholarships are awarded to one person out of a pool of many applicants. Simply applying doesn’t guarantee anything, especially since the majority of them require things like transcripts, letters of recommendation, essays, tax statements, income statements, or even membership in a certain medical organization!
6. Write a quality essay. Since we brought up the essay, we may as well explain what it takes to make sure yours stand out from the pile of submissions. A quality scholarship essay describes how a personal experience influenced your decision to pursue a specific nursing career. It answers what your major accomplishments are and how those accomplishments helped build your credentials as a qualified scholarship candidate. It additionally answers (1) how you overcame the most difficult time in your life, and how that difficulty changed your outlook.
Nursing school scholarship committees want to see initiative in your essay, so don’t be shy. In your writing, demonstrate you have the gumption to act on a strong belief and follow through on your strongest convictions. These characteristics are what committees look for in students, so if you want to become one (a student), then by all means, prove it!
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