Nursing Scholarships Announced

The Foundation established the Nursing Education Grants Program with support from PHEAA and The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) to make nursing education more accessible and affordable. The program helps to reverse the Commonwealth’s nursing shortage by generating financial support which otherwise is not available to schools. This funding, in turn, helps Pennsylvania schools increase the recruitment and retention rates of their nursing programs, providing qualified nurses for the citizens of Pennsylvania.

Funds totaling $604,000 have been earmarked to assist 15 area nursing schools, including Misericordia University, the University of Scranton and Wilkes University.

According to the Department of Health’s Special Report on the Characteristics of the Registered Nurse Population in Pennsylvania (June 2003) only 17 percent of registered nurses in Pennsylvania are between the ages of 20 and 34 while 52 percent are between the ages of 34 and 50. 30 percent are in the age range of 50 and 64. Almost 50 percent of registered nurses are expected to leave nursing within the next 10 years.

“We are facing a nursing crisis throughout Pennsylvania and too few students are entering into the nursing profession to adequately address this crisis,” said Senator Charles D. Lemmond, Jr. “To add to this crisis, the cost of a nursing education has increased, placing the average nursing student in debt exceeding $18,000. The unique combination of loan forgiveness, grant and awareness programs established by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Foundation has removed many of the obstacles facing nursing students and has opened the door to a rewarding and successful nursing career.”

By providing aid directly to nursing education programs, the Foundation is making Pennsylvania’s nursing schools a more attractive choice to future nurses and providing Pennsylvania’s citizens with qualified nursing care.

“Nursing educators such as those at Misericordia University know the trends all too well. Although Misericordia University and institutions like us have seen a steep climb in undergraduate nursing enrollment over the last three years, national and state-wide data still suggest that the demand for educated nursing professionals will exceed the supply for the foreseeable future,” explains Donna Ayers Snelson, Chair of MU’s Nursing Department. “Financial and physical resources as well as non-traditional programming formats are needed if the gap between supply and demand for nurses in Pennsylvania is to narrow. Support for programs aimed at adult learners serve to facilitate nursing as a second career for many Pennsylvania residents. Support for Graduate Nursing Education programs designed to increase the amount of nurse educators will allow Pennsylvania nursing schools the ability to increase enrollments and thus impact the nursing shortage.”

Founded and Sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy in 1924, Misericordia University is Luzerne County's first four-year college. Misericordia offers a combined 29 academic majors on the graduate and undergraduate levels in full and part-time formats.

PHOTO ID: Nursing major Kristin King of Dallas, speaks during the press conference about the importance of scholarships.