With many hospitals suffering from a serious shortage of nurses, students pursuing a career in nursing will be entering a field with relative job security. In order to help students and to ensure that all those who are interested can attend school, a number of scholarship programs have been established through state, private and health organizations. Students can take advantage of these programs to help reduce the financial burden of their studies and to allow more time to be dedicated to study rather than covering expenses.

Requirements for nursing scholarships vary widely by the type of scholarship. Some are offered only to residents of certain states in exchange for nursing service in that state, others are offered to students of minority groups to encourage diversity in the field. Students are chosen on both financial need and on academic performance and in some cases a minimum GPA will be requirement for application.

Nursing students can look for scholarship money from a variety of sources. As mentioned earlier many states are giving out funds to help solve the nursing shortage in their communities. There are also numerous nursing organizations that give out scholarships to students like the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and the Emergency Nurses Association. Private companies also get into the act, especially those in the healthcare fields, and many trade support in nursing school for a variable commitment to work with their organization after graduation.

Students from all racial, ethnic, gender and economic backgrounds are eligible to win monetary awards in nursing, though some awards from private organizations may have more specific requirements. With so many scholarship opportunities out there, students from any background shouldn’t have trouble finding an award that they qualify for.

Nursing Scholarships

• American Cancer Society Scholarship: $10,000 to $15,000 for Master‘s or Doctoral students in cancer nursing.
• American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Foundation Scholarship: $1,000 to $1,500 to a varied number of undergraduate and graduate nurse practitioner students who are members of the AANP.
• National Black Nurses Association Scholarship: Varied amounts to undergraduate students enrolled in a nursing program and who are members of the NBNA.
• Neuroscience Nursing Foundation Scholarship: $1,500 to a varied number of undergraduate students enrolled in a nursing program.
• ENA Foundation Undergraduate Scholarship: $3,000 to $5,000 awarded to a variable number of college students enrolled in a nursing program who are ENA members.
• AACN Educational Advancement Scholarship: $1,500 awarded to between 50 to 100 juniors and seniors enrolled in a BSN nursing program.