Thought You Couldn’t Afford Nursing School? Think Again!

If you’ve considered nursing school but thought you couldn’t afford it, you might want to reconsider. Even in today’s economy, there are plenty of financial aid opportunities to pay for a nursing progam. You can get funding whether you’re considering a local campus, or online nursing classes.

Financial aid for nursing school is available in the form of loans, grants, and scholarships. Importantly, you don’t need to be in dire financial straits to qualify for aid.

A nursing program grant is essentially a gift in that you don’t ever repay it. This is different than a scholarship in that grants generally come through the government or non-profit organizations. If you can show you are disabled or financially underprivileged, you can qualify for a nursing school grant from the U.S. government. In order to get this type of grant, you will need to complete a Free Application for Student Aid, of FAFSA. This should be done at least several months in advance of when you would have to register for classes.

Another benefit of grants is that you can use the money towards other education-related expenses such as new or used nursing textbooks, housing, etc.

Nursing scholarships are also common, with many more scholarships available than grants. Nursing students, in particular, may qualify for specialty scholarships, such as those awarded to students who are attending a nursing school or who are seeking a career in medicine.

Similar to grants, scholarships don’t have to be repaid. However, finding scholarships to apply for requires more legwork than filling out a simple FAFSA form. You’ll also want to research each scholarship before offering personal information on a scholarship form.

Lastly of course are student loans. A nursing school loan is extended to qualifying students to cover the cost of tuition and other expenses. However, a loan must be repaid once you are through with school.

A degree in nursing can be very expensive without such help, particularly if the student plans on completing undergraduate and graduate school. But with the myriad of financial aid avenues that are available, no one interested in becoming a nurse should forgo their dream simply because the don’t think they can afford it.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 3:38 am and is filed under Financial Aid, Nursing School Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.