Service scholarships for future health workers
Several government programs pay for medical, nursing and other health training if you agree to work for a set time in an area short of clinicians. This explains who runs them, what they cover and what you commit to.
The two HRSA scholarships
The Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, runs both the National Health Service Corps Scholarship and the Nurse Corps Scholarship. The first is for students training in primary care, such as medicine, dentistry, nurse practitioner and physician assistant programs, and the nurse-midwife field.
The Nurse Corps Scholarship supports students in nursing programs at several levels, from associate degrees to graduate study. Both can pay tuition and required fees, other reasonable school costs and a monthly stipend.
What you agree to in return
Each program asks you to work full time after training at an approved site. For the National Health Service Corps, the site sits in a Health Professional Shortage Area, and for the Nurse Corps it is a facility with a critical shortage of nurses.
The length of service grows with the years of support, and both programs set a minimum of two years. If you do not complete the service, the program can require you to repay far more than you received, under terms written into the contract.
Each program asks you to work full time after training at an approved site.
How selection works
Both programs open applications once a year and publish their dates and priorities on the HRSA website. They review applications against factors listed in each year's guidance, such as financial need and the field of study, and the number of awards depends on funding.
Other programs work in a similar way. The Indian Health Service runs a scholarship for American Indian and Alaska Native students in health fields, the armed forces offer health professions scholarships tied to military service, and some states pay for training in return for work in rural or underserved parts of the state.
Fitting the scholarship into your aid
A service scholarship counts toward your cost of attendance, so tell the school's aid office as soon as you receive an award letter. The office may lower other aid to keep the total within the cost, and it can explain which other awards stay in place.
Ask your school's tax guidance or the program's materials how each part is taxed, since the stipend and the tuition portion can be treated differently.
Steps to take this week
- Check the HRSA website for this year's application dates
- Read the service terms in the sample contract
- Ask your state health department about state service programs
- Tell the aid office about any award letter
Who decides
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and your school's financial aid office
A health service scholarship trades years of work in a shortage area for paid training, and the contract decides what you owe if you leave.
