Government Supported Programs

The U-M School of Nursing participates in several state and federal programs aimed at ensuring qualified students are not denied the pursuit of a nursing career due to the lack of financial resources, while also increasing the number of nurse educators and alleviating the shortage of nursing personnel. Below is more information on these programs.

 

Graduate students

The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is the federal government’s primary agency for supporting nursing research. NINR supports and conducts clinical and basic research and research training on acute and chronic illness across the life span; the focus of this research is health promotion, disease prevention, symptoms management, self-management, and care at the end of life.

 

In providing this funding, NINR aims to fulfill two primary objectives: first, to address the critical shortage in nursing faculty; and second to develop workforce-prepared nursing researchers, ready accept leadership roles related to the Nation’s biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research agenda. For the U-M School of Nursing, such supervised pre-doctoral research training opportunities have been of utmost importance to our students as well as to the advancement of nursing science.

 

Awarded directly to institutions that have high-quality research programs in areas that have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the nation.

Awarded directly to individual predoctoral fellows.

 

Both funding opportunities provide tuition/fees assistance, a stipend, health insurance benefits, and coverage of other training related expenses.

 

For more information regarding the Institutional Training Grant (T32) and the individual NRSA pre-doctoral fellow research training grant program, please contact The Grants and Research Office at School of Nursing, 400 North Ingalls Building – room 4320, phone (734) 764-9555.

The School of Nursing participates in a scholarship program sponsored and administered by the State of Michigan’s  Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. The goal of the scholarship fund is to increase the number of registered nurses who will commit to practicing in an underserved area, with an underserved population, or in a health professional shortage area (all of Michigan qualifies).The School of Nursing plans to participate in this program as long as it continues to be offered by the State.

 

Each year, the Department updates student eligibility and nursing program criteria. As scholarship program requirements are communicated to the School of Nursing, these funds will be awarded based on nominations submitted by representatives of eligible programs.

Annually, the School of Nursing submits an application for traineeship grants to the US Department of Health and Human Services – Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA). The intent of the initiative is to provide funding for programs that can substantially benefit rural or underserved populations, or help meet public health nursing needs in state and/or local health departments. If the School’s application is approved and the funds are awarded, traineeship awards may be available to masters-level students enrolled in an advanced education nursing program. Students who meet the program’s eligibility guidelines will automatically be considered and notified as these traineeships become available.

A shortage in nursing faculty has greatly hindered efforts at increasing the number of nurse practitioners nationally. The Nurse Faculty Loan Program is a federally-sponsored initiative that seeks to recruit graduates from advanced nursing education programs into teaching positions across the nation. The program provides participating schools the ability to make loans to students who are enrolled full-time or part-time in masters and doctoral nursing programs and intend to seek faculty positions after graduation. Students are required to complete education components (download the Nurse Faculty Loan Program Information Sheet for details) designed to enhance competencies in teaching and learning skills with a particular focus on nursing education in addition to the typical course load for the student’s advanced degree. All requirements are monitored by the Office of Academic Affairs, and must be met by graduation.

 

Students may request $35,500 per academic year, not to exceed 5 years of support. The funds provided by this federal program must be used to cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, lab expenses, and other reasonable education expenses. The NFLP is a direct loan program with a cancellation provision for recipients of the loan. Students may be eligible to have up to 85% of this loan forgiven if they serve as a full-time nurse faculty for a consecutive four-year period at a school of nursing following graduation. If the borrower is unable to secure a full-time faculty position at a school of nursing within 12 months following graduation, the NFLP loan reverts to an interest-bearing loan with a 10-year repayment schedule.

 

Eligible students enrolled in a Master's or PhD nursing program will be notified via email if and when this funding option becomes available. At that time, information will be provided about eligibility requirements, the application process, and applicable application deadlines.

For additional sources of financial aid available to health professions students and practitioners, visit the HRSA website.