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More money in July for service-cancelable loans to nursing students
Additional money will become available in July to assist Georgia residents who want to become nurses.
Gov. Roy Barnes recommended an additional $228,152 for service-cancelable loans for nursing students, and the General Assembly approved his request. This brings the total available annually in service-cancelable loans for education of nurses to more than $1 million.
The loans are administered by the Georgia Student Finance Authority, a division of the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC), and on May 1, the GSFC board increased the limit for an individual loan to $4,500, the second straight year that an increase has been approved.
"There is a critical need for nurses in Georgia, and this service-cancelable loan program will address this shortage. This program will provide more nurses and thereby improve health care for all Georgians," said Glenn Newsome, executive director of the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC). The service-cancelable loans have been used to educate nurses for Georgia for more than 20 years, he said.
A service-cancelable loan for study of nursing enables Georgia residents to get from $2,500 to $4,500 per year as a loan toward their education to earn diplomas as registered nurses or licensed practical nurses or to earn nursing degrees. After graduating and becoming licensed, they must work as nurses in Georgia for a specified number of years (one year of service for each $3,000) to cancel their loans. If the nursing service is not performed, the loans must be paid back in monthly cash installments.
The nursing shortage, which is nationwide, is only one of the critical shortage health care fields being studied by the Health Care Workforce Technical Advisory Committee of the State Department of Community Health.
Other critical shortage health care fields that have service-cancelable loans available are: Dental Hygiene, Dietetics (Food and Nutrition), Health Information Management (formerly Medical Records), Laboratory Technology, Medical Technology, Nurse Anesthesia, Occupational Therapy, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, Radiologic Technology, Respiratory Therapy, Dentistry, Optometry and Gerontology.
More information is available by calling 770-724-9230, toll-free at 800-776-6878, or on the Web site, www.gsfc.org.
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