Nursing School Loans

San Angelo-area news in brief, 7/10

Angelo State University's Department of Nursing has been awarded grants totaling $29,406 from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to continue funding two of the department's key graduate student financial aid programs for the 2011-12 academic year.

A $21,175 HRSA grant will go to the Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship program. An additional $8,231 grant will provide funding for the department's Nursing Faculty Loan Program.

The larger grant will help to provide traineeships to graduate students enrolled in the master of science in nursing programs with the options of clinical nurse specialist, family nurse practitioner, nurse educator or a collaborative nurse practitioner program with Texas Tech University. Traineeships can be used to help pay for tuition, books and other fees.

The Nursing Faculty Loan Program awards low-interest loans to selected ASU graduate students to pay for tuition, fees, books and supplies as they work toward master's degrees in nursing with a nurse educator focus. Once a student graduates and is hired by a school of nursing, 85 percent of the loan is forgiven over a four-year period as long as the recipient remains on faculty.

Students already in the ASU nurse educator program get first priority for NFLP funds, and part-time students are also eligible. The NFLP will also pay out-of-state tuition for students in the online program.

More than 150 students are enrolled in Angelo State's master of science in nursing programs.

For more information, call the ASU Nursing Department at 325-942-2224.

Lunch 'n' Learn gardening class set

The next Lunch 'n' Learn Gardening Class will be from noon to 1 p.m. Friday in the Commissioners Court, on the second floor of the Edd B. Keyes Building, 115 W. Beauregard Ave.

Allison Watkins, Agri-Life Extension Horticulturist, will conduct a class on herb gardening.

Registration is $5 per class. Participants can bring a lunch or can reserve a light lunch, which includes a drink, for $5, by calling Watkins at the County Extension office the Thursday before the class.

Proceeds from the class will go to The People/Plant Connection, a newly formed Texas nonprofit organization, to start building an education garden which is projected to begin classes in September.

The next class will be Aug. 19 on wildflower gardening.

How to Finance Nursing School Programs - Education Government Grants

If you dream about caring for other peoples well-being, then a nursing career might be the right profession for you. Nursing schools provide you with the right education for the job but they don’t come cheap. Many would be nurse’s fail on their first hurdle – finances. Money is forever an issue all through our lives. It is no different when we are looking to finance nursing schools. Nursing school loans have been designed to lend you money upfront. One thing to remember though is the fact that you will have to pay these loans back to whom it belongs. It is recommended to look at these loans very carefully in order to understand your financial responsibilities. You don’t want to have a rude wake up call down the track when you realize you can’t make those repayments after all. Most nursing students prefer to apply for a nursing school scholarship. After all, those fund won’t have to be paid back. However, it isn’t easy to be granted a state scholarship since they are very competitive. If you keep your eyes peeled on submission deadlines and make sure to follow the guidelines to a “T” you will certainly have better chances of being accepted. These nursing scholarships are often on a first come – first serve basis. If all else fails, private funding can also obtained via the many private organizations who offer special loans to students. As you can see, it is very much possible to attain finances for nursing school studies. You just have to look in the right place.

DJ Raymond is an accomplished niche website developer and author.

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