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There are over 2.6 million registered nurses within the health care industry, with a greater number employed within the U.S. as nurses than within any other profession. 60% of these nurses are working within the country’s hospitals, as well as other locations such as doctor’s offices, rehabilitation clinics, nursing homes, and even cruises or within the military.
With the great influx of nursing professionals in the country, there is definitely a great effort to ensure these professionals get the right training and the appropriate amount of education in order to perform the role of a nurse most effectively that come in the form of scholarships and other funding. So where do you find these scholarships and what do they offer? These are all common questions of nursing students and quite easy to answer as well.
Types of Common Nursing School Scholarships
Once you have made the decision to attend a nursing school, the next step is to locate the right scholarship to assist in funding your education. There are three types of scholarships you may obtain, offering a great contribution to an education that can otherwise be quite costly in repayment.
Merit-Based
Merit-based nursing scholarships are not difficult to obtain but do require that you have excellent references as well as an essay. The essay will typically question your future goals and what you intend to do with the scholarship, with some providing a topic by which you would write an inspirational or educational essay. These essays are then evaluated by the committee in charge of the scholarships within the organization or agency you are applying through along with your reference letters from previous schools and your employers. The student deemed the most worthy for the scholarship will receive the funding, offering a free alternative to paying for college.
Need-Based
Getting free nursing scholarships is often a source of funding sought out by those with low to no income. Federal nursing scholarships are obtained by needy students who are currently not grossing enough per year to afford a quality education. Need-based grants and scholarships for graduate nursing degrees are offered to students with some sort of funding need including:
- Minority groups
- Learning disabilities
- Physical disabilities
- State residents
- Low or no annual income
Obligatory-Service
The nurses used within the military are quite essential to healthy soldiers, and there are many measures taken to ensure there is an abundance of these professionals. An obligatory-service nursing scholarship is offered to students seeking a position in the military nursing field, ensuring that they are able to make use of a top quality education. ROTC military scholarships are just one of the many nursing scholarships and grants offered by the military, along with others from the government:
- National Health Service Corps
- Veterans Affairs Health Careers
- All Four Branches of the military
Although these scholarships will require between two to eight years of active duty in the military as a nurse, you will get grants and scholarships for nursing that never need to be repaid.
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