The West Virginia Nursing Scholarship Program provides scholarships to LPN, RN, LPN teaching certificate, and masters or doctoral nursing students. In exchange for agreeing to complete a service obligation in West Virginia, participants receive scholarship funds for their nursing programs.
The program is jointly administered by the West Virginia Center for Nursing and the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.
ELIGIBILITY
- Enrolled at least half-time in an accredited West Virginia Nursing Program
- Be in good academic standing
- Have a cumulative and nursing GPA set by the Center's Recruitment and Retention Committee
- In the 2023-2024 award year, the minimum GPA accepted is 3.00.
- Most LPN programs do not have non-nursing classes, so cumulative and nursing GPA is the same for most LPN students.
- Meet their nursing midpoint.
- Nursing midpoint date is the date in which a student has completed at least 50% of the nursing curriculum needed to obtain their nursing degree.
- Since most LPN programs last one year, it usually is 6 months into a program.
- Pre-requisites do not count for purposes of calculating the nursing midpoint date.
AWARD AMOUNTS
- Award amounts vary every year based on the availability of funds may be less than the maximum amount allowed for in W.Va. code.
- The maximum amount allowed for LPN recipients is $3,000 per year.
- During the 2023-2024 academic year, LPN recipients received one $3,000 award for the award year.
- Because LPN recipients meet their nursing midpoints at different times during the year, award disbursements may not follow the traditional semester schedule.
- Award amounts vary every year based on the availability of funds may be less than the maximum amount allowed for in W.Va. code.
THE SERVICE OBLIGATION
- Each LPN recipient must complete a one-year service obligation for each award year they receive an award.
- The position must have a minimum requirement of an LPN license.
- Work must be full-time in West Virginia as defined by their employer.
- The full-time requirement may be met through more than one form of employment as long as the practice is equivalent to 36 hours or more per week.
- All recipients are expected to obtain licensure and employment within 6 months of graduation to avoid having to repay the award.
- Recipients are responsible for locating employment and submitting the required employment verification forms for approval to the West Virginia Center for Nursing.
- LPN recipients completing a one-year service obligation are required to submit an employment verification twice:
- The first time is after they obtain employment (for example - LPN starts work on June 17th, 2019, and turns the first form on July 8th, 2019)
- The second time is on the anniversary month of the date of their first employment (for example - based on the date of first employment, LPN should submit a second form in June 2020).
- Each employment verification received allows us to defer repayment of the award for one year. After the last employment verification form is received, the amount of the scholarship will be canceled out of Heartland ECSI and you will be considered as having completed the obligation.
- If employment verifications are received late, you may receive a bill from Heartland ECSI. If you receive a bill, please contact the Center at nursing@wvhepc.edu as soon as possible to avoid being turned over to collections.
- Each LPN recipient must complete a one-year service obligation for each award year they receive an award.
ELIGIBILITY
- Enrolled at least half-time in an accredited West Virginia Nursing Program
- Be in good academic standing
- Have a cumulative and nursing GPA set by the Center's Recruitment and Retention Committee
- In the 2023-2024 award year, the minimum GPA accepted is 3.00.
- Meet their nursing midpoint.
- Nursing midpoint date is the date in which a student has completed at least 50% of the nursing curriculum needed to obtain their nursing degree.
- Pre-requisites do not count for purposes of calculating the nursing midpoint date.
AWARD AMOUNTS
- Award amounts vary every year based on the availability of funds and may be less than the maximum amount allowed for in W.Va. code.
- The maximum amount allowed for RN recipients is $7,500 per year.
- During the 2023-2024 academic year, RN recipients could receive $2,500 per eligible semester for a maximum total award amount of $7,500 for the academic year.
- Awards are disbursed on a per-semester basis in Fall, Spring, and Summer.
- Award amounts vary every year based on the availability of funds and may be less than the maximum amount allowed for in W.Va. code.
THE SERVICE OBLIGATION
- Each RN recipient must complete a two-year service obligation for each award year they receive an award.
- The position must have a minimum requirement of an RN license.
- Work must be full-time in West Virginia as defined by their employer.
- The full-time requirement may be met through more than one form of employment as long as the practice is equivalent to 36 hours or more per week.
- All recipients are expected to obtain licensure and employment within 6 months of graduation to avoid having to repay the award.
- Recipients are responsible for locating employment and submitting the required employment verification forms for approval to the West Virginia Center for Nursing.
- RN recipients completing a two-year service obligation are required to submit an employment verification three times:
- The first time is after they obtain employment (for example - RN starts work June 17th, 2019, and turns form on July 8th, 2019)
- The second time is on the anniversary month of the date of their first employment (for example - based on the first date of employment, RNs should turn form in June 2020).
- The third time is in the anniversary month of the date of their first employment (for example - based on the first date of employment, RN should turn the form in June 2021)
- Each employment verification received allows us to defer repayment of the award for one year. After the last employment verification form is received, the amount of the scholarship will be canceled out of Heartland ECSI and you will be considered as having completed the obligation.
- If employment verification is received late, you may receive a bill from Heartland ECSI. If you receive a bill, please contact the Center at nursing@wvhepc.edu as soon as possible to avoid being turned over to collections.
- Each RN recipient must complete a two-year service obligation for each award year they receive an award.
ELIGIBILITY
- Enrolled at least half-time in an accredited West Virginia Nursing Program
- Be in good academic standing
- Have a cumulative and nursing GPA set by the Center's Recruitment and Retention Committee
- In the 2023-2024 award year, the minimum GPA accepted is 3.00.
- Be employed as a nursing educator at a West Virginia school of nursing while enrolled in their graduate nursing program continuously.
AWARD AMOUNTS
- Award amounts vary every year based on the availability of funds and may be less than the maximum amount allowed for in W.Va. code.
- The maximum amount allowed for graduate nursing recipients is $15,000 per year.
- During the 2020-2021 academic year, graduate nursing recipients could receive $5,000 per eligible semester for a total of $15,000 for the award year.
- Awards are disbursed on a per-semester basis in Fall, Spring, and Summer.
- Award amounts vary every year based on the availability of funds and may be less than the maximum amount allowed for in W.Va. code.
THE SERVICE OBLIGATION
- Each graduate nursing recipient must complete a two-year service obligation for each award year they receive an award.
- The position must be as a nursing educator at a West Virginia school of nursing.
- Work must be full-time in West Virginia as defined by their employer.
- The full-time requirement may be met through more than one form of employment and may teach and practice concurrently if the equivalent is a full-time status of 36 hours or more per week.
- At a minimum, part of their work must include employment as a nursing educator at a West Virginia school of Nursing.
- A recipient's employment while obtaining their graduate nursing degree does not count towards the post-graduation service obligation requirement.
- All recipients are expected to obtain employment within 6 months of graduation to avoid having to repay the award.
- Recipients are responsible for locating employment and submitting the required employment verification forms for approval to the West Virginia Center for Nursing.
- Graduate nursing recipients completing a two-year service obligation are required to submit an employment verification three times:
- The first time is after they obtain employment (for example - The recipient starts work on June 17th, 2019, and turns form on July 8th, 2019)
- The second time is on the anniversary month of the date of their first employment (for example - based on the first date of employment, the recipient should turn in the form in June 2020).
- The third time is in the anniversary month of the date of their first employment (for example - based on the first date of employment, the recipient should turn form in June 2021)
- Each employment verification received allows us to defer repayment of the award for one year. After the last employment verification form is received, the amount of the scholarship will be canceled out of Heartland ECSI and you will be considered as having completed the obligation.
- If employment verification is received late, you may receive a bill from Heartland ECSI. If you receive a bill, please contact the Center at nursing@wvhepc.edu as soon as possible to avoid being turned over to collections.
- Each graduate nursing recipient must complete a two-year service obligation for each award year they receive an award.
The West Virginia Nursing Scholarship Program accepts applications each year between April 15th and June 1st. Scholarships are only awarded after applicants meet all eligibility criteria for the award year. A link will appear on this webpage once the application cycle is open.
Awards are made through a competitive process and are online. When the application is open, a link will be posted on the Center's website to allow applicants to access the application portal. Complete application materials must be made by the application deadline.
APPLICATION TIPS
- If you are unsure of when you will meet all the eligibility criteria, apply to receive funds all available terms to ensure your best shot at receiving an award.
- You will only receive funds for terms you apply for, so be sure to not only apply for one term if you want to receive funds in other terms.
- Be careful about entering in your school email address as your email address of record. Email is the primary form of communication for all information with the scholarship and the service obligation requirement. If you will not have access to your email following completion of your program, be sure to use a personal email instead.
- Be sure all information entered on your application is correct. After the application closes, we are unable to alter anything you entered on your initial application.