AACN is pleased to announce that today, Health and Human Services (HHS) Deputy Secretary Bill Corr reported that $13.4 million will be allocated to loan repayment funding for nursing students and future nurse faculty through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
This information was presented at the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) summit “The Health Care Workforce Crisis: A Summit on the Future of Primary Care in Rural and Urban America.” The funding will assist “nurses who agree to practice in facilities with critical shortages” and allow “schools of nursing to provide loans to students who will become nurse faculty.”
The awards come from two programs administered by HRSA: the Nurse Education Loan Repayment Program and the Nurse Faculty Loan Program.
• Funding for the Nurse Education Loan Repayment Program (NELRP) totals $8.1 million. These funds, awarded competitively, will directly assist 100 registered nurses in paying their nursing education debts.
• Funding for the Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) totals $5.3 million. These funds will go to schools of nursing to support the training of 500 masters and doctoral nursing students who plan to become nurse faculty after completing their education.
The nurse faculty shortage is the overarching theme that frames AACN’s 2009 legislative agenda. Therefore, we are thrilled that this funding will be allocated to future nurse faculty to help alleviate this shortage, which is impacting many schools’ ability to expand student capacity.
AACN will continue to monitor the process and keep you updated. For more details, see the official HRSA release below:
Date: August 12, 2009
For Release: Immediately
Contact: HRSA Press Office
(301) 443-3376
Headline: HHS Announces $13.4 Million in Financial Assistance to
Support Nurses
HHS Deputy Secretary Bill Corr today announced the release of $13.4
million for loan repayments to nurses who agree to practice in
facilities with critical shortages and for schools of nursing to provide
loans to students who will become nurse faculty. The funds were made
available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed
Feb. 17, 2009, by President Obama.
"The need for more nurses is great. Over the next decade, nurse
retirements and an aging U.S. population, among other factors, will
create the need for hundreds of thousands of new nurses," Deputy
Secretary Corr said. "The awards from these two HRSA programs will help
us meet projected demand for their services."
The awards come from two programs administered by HHS' Health Resources
and Services Administration (HRSA): the Nurse Education Loan Repayment
Program and the Nurse Faculty Loan Program.
* Funding announced today under the Nurse Education Loan Repayment
Program (NELRP) totals $8.1 million. Those funds, awarded
competitively, will help 100 registered nurses pay their nursing
education debts. The program repays 60 percent of the loan balance of
registered nurses in exchange for two years of service at facilities
with a critical shortage of nurses. (For a list of facilities employing
the first 100 NELRP award winners from ARRA funds, see the attached
table.) Participants may be eligible to work a third year and receive
additional repayment assistance.
* Funds announced today under the Nurse Faculty Loan Program
(NFLP) total $5.3 million. Those funds go to schools of nursing to
support the training of 500 masters and doctoral nursing students who
plan to become nurse faculty after completing their education.
Following graduation, loan recipients may cancel up to 85 percent of the
loan principal and interest in exchange for four years of service as a
full-time nursing faculty at a school of nursing. (For a list of
universities that received NFLP funds, see the attached table.)
Approximately 50,000 individuals interested in going to nursing school
are turned away due to insufficient capacity at schools of nursing. The
two main factors limiting the ability to train more nurses are a faculty
shortage and insufficient clinical training sites.
For additional information about the Loan Repayment Program and other
Recovery Act programs for health care professionals, see
http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/recovery/.
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