Scholarships for Nursing Students in Arkansas

Arkansas has struggled at times to find enough qualified nurses to fill vacancies. The BLS has projected 28% growth in demand for RNs in Arkansas. This has been a concern to many in the state. If you’re a student with the skills and drive to succeed, though, this situation can work to your advantage. Nursing is too important a profession to allow a worker crisis; the state gets creative and so do individual donors.

In all fields, you find loans, which have to be paid back, and grants and scholarships that don’t. In the field of nursing, you also find loan scholarships, which don’t have to be repaid as long as you fulfill a service obligation or work commitment.

Nursing Scholarship Requirements in Arkansas

One such scholarship is the Faith A. Fields Scholarship, administered by the Arkansas Board of Nursing. A person can receive up to $10,000 a year for full time study leading to licensure as a licensed practical nurse or a registered nurse. You must be an Arkansas resident, but you may attend either an in state school or a nationally accredited school located outside the borders of the state. The committee asks for a transcript, financial documentation, and a list of the remaining courses in your program. How many scholarships are given each year? It depends on the resources of the Board of Nursing. You must apply by August 1 for consideration. After program completion, you will need to work at an Arkansas medical facility for a length of time equaling the time that the state funded your studies. There is some risk, of course. If you don’t pass your licensing exam or choose not to fulfill your obligation, you will have a debt on your hands. If you are in a direct entry RN program, though, and don’t pass RN exams, they will allow you to take LPN exams and fulfill your service agreement as an LPN.

Are there other scholarship options for Arkansas nursing students? There are quite a few! In fact, the Board offers a ThinkNurse! Scholarship for accomplished nursing students in their final year of study. Awards range from $250 to $1,000 The process is competitive, and includes a 500 word essay where you convince the committee that you should be chosen.

The nursing profession has particular need of people who can speak two languages This is the reason for the Arkansas Bilingual Nursing Initiative. If you are a high school, GED, or college student in Northwest Arkansas, and you have written and verbal fluency in Spanish, Vietnamese, or Marshallese as well as in English, you are encouraged to apply. Many nursing scholarships only cover schooling expenses after you have been admitted to a clinical program; if you are accepted into this special program, though, it will see you through the pre-nursing phase as well. Candidates should be prepared to interview. There are January 1st and August 1st deadlines.

Nursing Scholarship Professional Advice

Some scholarships are quite competitive. How do you convince the committee that you deserve their funding? Part of it depends on what you do even before you sit down to fill out the form or write the essay. Some scholarships, like ThinkNurse, ask you to list your volunteer activities. If you have a history of giving your time, they’re more likely to give their money.

If you read winning scholarship essays, you will see that some awardees have striking life experiences, like travel abroad. Some don’t. A representative of a minority scholarship fund noted that selection is a multi-faceted process. The interview is, for some, an opportunity to shine.

Nursing Scholarships in Arkansas – Contact Information

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