$80K will help fund 8 nursing students
Special to the American
The College of Nursing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis is among the first institutions in the nation to receive funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through the RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program. Grants provided through this competitive program will be used for scholarships to increase the number of students enrolled in the accelerated track of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program at UMSL.
This groundbreaking national initiative, launched by RWJF and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, aims to help alleviate the nation’s nursing shortage by dramatically expanding the pipeline of students in accelerated nursing programs. The RWJF awarded $80,000 to the College of Nursing at UMSL to be distributed to eight students entering the college’s accelerated program in May.
“This scholarship grant is important because students with a prior degree often have exhausted the traditional forms of financial aid that other students are eligible to receive,” said Sandy Lindquist, director of the undergraduate program in the College of Nursing at UMSL. “In addition, the academic rigor of the accelerated program limits the time available for students to work.”
Through the RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program, scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each will be distributed to entry-level nursing students in accelerated programs during the 2008-09 academic year.
Award preference is given to students from groups underrepresented in nursing or from disadvantaged backgrounds. Grant funding also will be used by the college to help leverage new faculty resources and provide mentoring and leadership development resources to ensure successful program completion by scholarship recipients.
The RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program supports accelerated programs, which offer the most efficient route to licensure as a registered nurse for adults who have already completed a baccalaureate or graduate degree in a discipline other than nursing. Although enrollment in these programs has steadily increased over the past few years, many potential students are unable to enroll since already having a college degree disqualifies them for receiving most federal financial aid programs for entry-level students.
The New Careers in Nursing scholarships address this problem, and also will address the overall nursing shortage, by enabling hundreds of students to launch their nursing careers through accelerated education.
The accelerated program offered by UMSL College of Nursing takes only 15 months to complete. It is designed for students with a bachelor’s degree in a discipline other than nursing or for students with 62 or more transferable credit hours. However, students without a bachelor’s degree are not eligible for the RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship.
By bringing more nurses into the profession at the baccalaureate and graduate degree levels, the new scholarship program also helps to address the nation’s nurse faculty shortage. Data from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration show that nurses entering the profession at the baccalaureate level are four times more likely than other nurses to pursue a graduate degree in nursing, which is the required credential to teach.
Additionally, the program targets the need to recruit students from groups underrepresented in nursing or disadvantaged backgrounds. According to the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, diversifying the nursing profession is essential to meeting the health care needs of the nation and reducing health disparities that exist among many underserved populations.
To be considered for the scholarship, applicants must be:
* Admitted to the May 2009 accelerated track of the UMSL’s BSN program,
* A recipient of a bachelor’s degree in a discipline other than nursing,
* From a group underrepresented in nursing as defined by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing or from disadvantaged backgrounds as verified by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid,
* A citizen or permanent resident of the United States, and
* Up to date with a current FAFSA on file with the university’s financial aid office.
Application materials will be available on March 1 at http://www.umsl.edu/~nursingweb/ or http://www.umsl.edu/services/finaid/. The application deadline is March 31.
AACN serves as the National Program Office for this RWJF initiative and oversees the grant application submission and review processes. For more information about this program, see http://www.newcareersinnursing.org.
Law student fundraiser
The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) Casino Night Scholarship Committee will host its Sixth Annual Casino Night Scholarship Fundraiser 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8 at the Westin Hotel in Downtown St. Louis.
The attorneys who will be honored are Nicole Colbert-Botchway (Attorney General’s Office), Connie McFarland-Butler (Armstrong Teasdale), Cheryl M. Manley (Charter Communications), Pamela J. Meanes (Thompson Coburn), Reuben A. Shelton (The Monsanto Company) and Annette E. Slack (Rabbitt Pitzer and Snodgrass). Margaret Bush Wilson will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The BLSA Scholarship Committee is comprised of BLSA members, who attend Saint Louis University School of Law. BLSA is not affiliated with Saint Louis University or the School of Law. The organization is dedicated to the Kwanzaa principle of Kujichagulia (self-determination).