The College of Nursing and Health Innovation received a $339,276 grant to provide financial aid to students. The grant is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration.
The “Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship” will provide financial aid to students pursuing certain advanced degrees including primary care nursing and midwifery for the 2012-2013 school year, said Katherine Kenny, the director of the doctor of nursing practice program at ASU and the principal investigator for the grant.
The school had to apply for this grant during the 2011-2012 school year. The grant is awarded to institutions across the nation that provide accredited nurse practitioner and nurse-midwifery programs.
There is a good chance the college will receive an additional $349,000 through the same grant for the 2013-2014 school year, Kenny said.
As of Monday night there was no decision made on how the grant money will be awarded to students, Kenny said. The College of Nursing Scholarship Committee is working to create an application process.
The grant will provide financial support for students pursuing advanced degrees in the nurse practitioner program and would help students pay for tuition, books, fees and, in some cases, provide a stipend to ease the cost of living, said Sean Jones, a research administration specialist and a member of the grant submission team.
A student could be awarded up to $22,000 worth of aid through this grant, Kenny added.
Sophomore Maddisen Kannel said she wants to be a nurse practitioner in the future but was planning to go out of state for graduate school.
“It might persuade me to stay in state if I could get this grant,” Kannel said.
In a funding opportunity announcement by the Health Resources and Services Administration on March 22, the administration said the purpose of this grant is to address the deficit of primary care workers by supporting students in their pursuit of higher education.
According to grant documents, the program will help provide training and support to students in primary care and midwife programs. The documents also said the primary care workforce in the United States is inadequate to meet the growing demand of the aging workforce.
Contact the reporter at cgmcfarl@asu.edu
