Nurse Practitioner Scholarships
Becoming a member of the medical field is an unselfish choice, and many nurse practitioner scholarships grants are awarded to assist individuals in their pursuit of such a degree. Students interested in becoming a nurse practitioner will be eligible for numerous nursing scholarships specific to that degree. However, it is also important to realize that many medical scholarships are offered generally to individuals entering the medical field, including nursing.
Tylenol offers several hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to students entering the medical field. The Tylenol Future Care Scholarship is offered to college students having begun their freshmen year and is also available to graduate students not yet in their senior year. Students must be enrolled in a degree program related to the medical field, like nurse practitioner. Ten scholarships of $10,000 and thirty scholarships of $5,000 each will be awarded in the spring of 2011. The medical scholarship rewards leadership, academic excellence and dedication and is funded by McNeil Consumer Healthcare; a Johnson & Johnson company. The deadline for application in 2011 is May 27th. Scholarship recipients will be notified in July and monies are distributed by August 15, 2011.
Also worth noting are the Johnson and Johnson scholarships for nursing which are one of the premier medical scholarships today. They are awarded in a number of various avenues.
A prestigious scholarship given specifically to a student member of the American College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP) who is currently enrolled in a nurse practitioner program is the ACNP Nurse Practitioner Student Scholarship. Only one of these NP scholarships is awarded annually, but don’t let that deter you from applying, if you are eligible. That one person may just as well be you as anyone else! In addition to the $1000 monetary scholarship, the recipient also receives a free year of ACNP membership. The recipient is also awarded $750 for travel and accommodations to the ACNP annual conference where the winner is announced.
The National Health Service Corps Scholarship (NHSC) is another significant scholarship for Family Nurse Practitioners, as well as students studying in other medical fields. 200 medical scholarships nation-wide should be awarded in 2011 alone. This scholarship is significant for several reasons. The NHSC scholarship pays tuition, fees, and other education costs like books, clinical supplies, lab fees, uniforms, etc. for as many as four years. Recipients receive a taxable monthly living stipend of approximately $1300. Acceptance of the scholarship binds the recipient to a post-education service agreement of two years minimum, four years maximum. This service agreement is extremely significant because recipients agree to work in one of the country’s most underserved areas post-graduation. Federally-supported health care centers, rural health clinics, Indian Health centers and public health facilities are a few of possibilities for placement. Providing high quality service to these areas is a major motivator for the medical scholarship.
In addition to the types of medical and nursing scholarships already surveyed, there are also extremely specific scholarships available within the nursing field. For example, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) lists many diverse scholarships all within the nursing field. There are nurse practitioner scholarships available for both undergraduate and graduate nursing students. Some of these awards include: fellowships for American Indians or Eskimos from the American Indian Graduate Center (AIGC), two $50,000 scholarships from the Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity (BAGNC), National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) scholarships totalling $1000-$2000, ExceptionalNurse.com which awards a $250 scholarship to an undergraduate student with a disability, a $2500 Advance Practice Nursing Scholarship for acute and/or critical care nurses whom reside in Illinois which is sponsored by the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, several other nurse practitioner scholarships for minority students, as well as numerous other awards.
As with many other specific scholarship types, universities offering a Nurse Practitioner program will likely also offer scholarships. Inquiring with your college is always a good first step in finding local scholarships. It is again very important not to limit yourself to nursing scholarships specifically identified for Nurse Practitioner students, as many Nursing scholarship and medical field scholarships are also applicable. There are so many scholarships available to individuals interested in the nursing field that money should not be a hindrance to dedicated students.
*HRSA Scholarship for the Disadvantaged Students