Nurse Faculty Loan Program: A Financial Aid for Your Nursing Program
Explore Nurse Faculty Loan Program(NFLP), and know about the eligibility to apply, how to apply, features and benefits of Nurse Faculty Loan Program.
Updated by Kanishkar P on 6th October 2020
The government requires professionally registered nurses to continue to grow in number to serve the nation. But like any field, educational costs for nursing colleges can be high for which you may have to borrow loans. Students who don’t have enough monetary support to complete their studies from a nursing school, need not worry, as there are ways to deal with the expenses of your nursing schools.
The nurse faculty loan program has been introduced for the same. The federal government has come up with a beneficiary program to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty by providing loans to part-time and full-time students enrolled in the Educator Track of the Master of Science program or the Doctor of Nursing Practice program including the academic educator concentration. Full-time or part-time graduate students who plan careers as nurse faculty are eligible to apply for the Nurse Faculty Loan and may be eligible for up to 5 years of financial support under certain conditions.
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Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP)
The Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) is introduced to prepare and train qualified nurse educators to fill faculty vacancies and to maximize the number of trained nurses entering the workforce. The NFLP will provide funding to accredited schools of nursing to offer loans to students who will pursue their career to be a nurse. If you can be a full-time post-graduation nursing faculty, and apply for NFLP, 85% of your loans are forgiven which includes both interest rate and principal amount. NFLP is not a need-based program. They cover tuition fees and a part of other eligible expenses. The CGN, the office of Financial Aid (FA), and the Bursar’s office work together to function NFLP Program. Once the NFLP recipient is enrolled, the Bursar’s office process tuition fees each semester.
Eligibility for the Nurse Faculty Loan Program
The following are the eligibility criteria to avail the benefits of the Nurse Faculty Loan Program
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Accredited schools of nursing are eligible to apply for the loans under NFLP. The School of nursing affiliated with this application should be accredited by a national agency approved by the Secretary of education at the time of application and should stay accredited during the whole duration of the award
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Eligible applicants must be a citizen of the U.S or a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. and its territories
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As advanced nursing degree programs are best suited to produce nurse faculty, students must be enrolled in advanced education nursing degree programs to avail of the loan under NFLP
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Schools of nursing that are applying for NFLP loans must submit the official documentation of accreditation
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For the nursing schools that submit renewal applications, the default rate of the applying institution will be considered to make decisions on awarding NFLP loans
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Institutions that have a default rate greater than 5% and have applied for the loan under NFLP will be considered ineligible for future funding. Else can be fined with additional penalties. Such institutes may be terminated from getting benefitted by the Nurse Faculty Loan Program
Note: Students can’t individually apply for NFLP loans. And also, foreign entities don’t qualify to apply for this loan
The application process of NFLP
The students of nursing school don’t have to apply individually for the NFLP loans. The Nursing Schools that are eligible, submit applications for the NFLP loans along with the necessary accreditation documents every year to avail of the NFLP loans. While applying the student of the school of nursing must assure that they stay committed to taking up a full-time faculty role upon graduation. And all the applicants have to complete an essay demonstrating their commitment to the nurse faculty role.
The application procedure is as follows
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To apply for the NFLP Program students must file the FAFSA form with the required details like University’s FAFSA number etc
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After which financial aid decides the eligible borrowing amounts
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Then you are informed about how much can be borrowed
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Ideally, most loans cover tuition, fees, books, living expenses, etc. But covers the tuition and few other expenses
And the borrower has to sign a promissory note before the disbursement of loan funds. (The school should give a copy of each note to the borrower).
Features of the Nurse Faculty Loan Program
Before applying for NFLP loans you must be aware of other features they have got to offer you which are as follows
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NFLP loan covers the cost of tuition, and few other expenses like books, fees, lab expenses
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Awards may be renewable for a maximum of five years but this is contingent upon ongoing federal funding and hence it might be subjected to changes
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$35,500 is the maximum loan amount that a student can get from the NFLP Loan for any academic period
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The students who borrow loans under NFLP must complete the specified education component (s) for the advanced nursing degree program before graduating from the program
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Depending on the availability of funds and the good academic standing of the recipient, the loan will be made annually for the period required to complete the course of study
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The NFLP loan is repayment term is 10 years, which begins nine months after the borrower completes the advanced nurse education program
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The NFLP loan will pay interest on the unpaid balance at the rate of 3% per annum, the interest starts to accrue from three months after the borrower graduates from the advanced nurse education program
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The NFLP loan will bear interest at the current market rate if the borrower does not complete the advanced nurse education program or if the borrower fails to serve as a nurse faculty member for a complete consecutive four-year period
Based on the above details you can decide to apply to take advantage of these loans.
Worried about your college tuition? Learn more about best student loans
Benefits of Nurse Faculty Loan Program
The school may cancel an amount up to 85% of both the principal and interest of an NFLP loan over a consecutive four-year period as follows
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After completing being a full-time employee for 3 years, at the end of each year, the school cancels 20% of both principal and interest value on the NFLP loan
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After completing the fourth year at the school of nursing being a full-time employee faculty member, the school will cancel 25% of the principle of interest on the NFLP loan, as specified on the first day of employment
For more details, you can contact
The NFLP Administrator at Email
The DNP Program Manager at Email
Nurse Faculty Loan Program is the best move done by the federal government to help the students of the Nursing schools. This loan can deal with the tuition fee, book fees, lab expenses, and some associated expenses of a Nursing school student. But remember that this loan does not cover your living expenses, transport costs, and other expenses. There are chances where the maximum portion of the loan is forgiven for committed service as a nurse faculty for certain years after completing the studies. The Nurse Faculty Loan Program is well and good if you have enrolled in a school which is eligible for this loan. If not you have other choices such as HRSA Nursing Student loans, federal student loans, and private student loans. These can provide you monetary support, not only to cover your educational needs but also for your living expenses.
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