Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program

 

The Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program (Nurse Corps LRP) provides loan repayment assistance to professional registered nurses (RN), including advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), in return for a commitment to work full-time in eligible health care facilities with a critical shortage of nurses or serve as a nurse faculty in an eligible school of nursing. Nurse Corps LRP decreases the economic barriers associated with pursuing careers at Critical Shortage Facilities or in academic school of nursing.

Active 93.908 Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services C - Direct Payments For Specified Use Fiscal Year 2016 No Current Data Available. Fiscal Year 2016: 518 new awards were made.
Fiscal Year 2017 501 new awards were made.
Fiscal Year 2018 544 new awards were made and 279 continuation awards.
Fiscal Year 2019 Fiscal Year 2018: 544 new awards were made and 279 continuation awards.
Fiscal Year 2020 Nurse Corps LRP piloted a set aside in FY20 for Nurses specializing in women’s health to support the Maternal Mortality Act. This set aside of $750,000 funded 6 awards. In FY21, funding for this set aside was increased to $5 million to support the robust application pool received for consideration of this funding in FY20, The average amount of new awards in FY20 was $87,883, which would yield approximately 57 awards with a budget of $5 million.
Fiscal Year 2021 Nurse Corps LRP continued the set aside piloted in FY20 for Nurses specializing in women’s health to support the Maternal Mortality Act. In FY21, funding for this set aside was increased to $5 million to support the robust application pool received for consideration of this funding in FY20, yielding 83 new awards. In FY 21, due to supplemental funding provided through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, an additional $3.3 million was allocated to the women’s health set asie, yielding 65 additional new awards and enabling program to award all eligible applicants who applied fot women’s health funding. In F22, Nurse Corps LRP is piloting a set aside for Public Health Nurses for $1.5 million to support the current and potential future pandemic responses. The FY 23 budget for the Nurse Corps LRP is $59,090,000 and is expected to fund an estimated 962 loan repayment awards.
Fiscal Year 2022 Nurse Corps LRP continued the set aside piloted in FY20 for nurses specializing in women’s health to support the Maternal Mortality Act. In FY22, funding for this set aside was increased to $5 million to support the robust application pool received for consideration of this funding, yielding 67 new awards.  In FY22, Nurse Corps LRP set aside $1.5 million for Public Health Nurses to support the current and potential future pandemic responses, making 34 awards, including 21 made through supplemental funding provided through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. This enabled program to award all eligible applicants who applied for public health funding. The FY 23 budget for the Nurse Corps LRP is $64,641,327 and is expected to fund an estimated 1081 loan repayment awards. Section 846 of the Public Health Service Act (PHS) (42 USC 297n)). Individuals who satisfy the following criteria are eligible to apply: (1) have received a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, an associate degree, a diploma, or a doctoral degree in nursing; (2) have outstanding qualifying educational loans leading to a degree or diploma in nursing; (3) a U.S. citizen (either U.S. born or naturalized), U.S., national or a lawful permanent resident of the United States; (4) employed full-time (32 hours or more per week) at a critical shortage facility (CSF) or employed as a full-time nurse faculty member at an accredited, public or private school of nursing; (5) have completed the nursing education program for which the loan balance applies; (6) have a current, full, permanent, unencumbered, unrestricted license in the State in which they intend to practice or be authorized to practice in the State under the Nurse Licensure Compact; and (7) submit a complete application, including a signed contract to work full-time as a registered or advanced practice nurse for 2 years at an eligible health care facility with a critical shortage of nurses or an accredited, eligible school of nursing. Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Government and Native American Organizations may apply if they are otherwise eligible. Beneficiaries include registered nurses who have received a diploma, an associate degree, a baccalaureate degree or a graduate degree in nursing from an accredited school of nursing. Applicants should review the individual HRSA Application and Program Guidance issued under this assistance listing for any required proof or certifications which must be submitted prior to or simultaneous with submission of an application package. Preapplication coordination is not applicable. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. Applicants may apply online at https://programportal.hrsa.gov/extranet/landing.seam. Funding preference will be given to applicants with the greatest financial need, defined as those qualified applicants whose debt-to-salary ratio (i.e. total qualifying educational loan balance divided by base annual salary) is 100 percent or greater. Qualified applicants are grouped into funding categories, then preference tiers and awards are made in order of decreasing debt-to-salary ratio beginning with Tier 1, until all funds are expended. Award notifications are sent by email no later than September 30 of each year. Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines Notification to all applicants are made no later than September 30th of the application year. Not applicable. Renewals for the third year of service will be considered based on the availability of funds. Funding preference is defined as the funding of a specific category of group of approved applicants ahead of other categories or groups of approved applicants. As provided in section 846(e) of the PHS Act, as amended, a funding preference is given to eligible applicants with the greatest financial need. Awards are made to the highest ranked applicants until funds are expended. The program offers registered nurses (RNs) and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) substantial financial assistance to repay a portion of their qualifying educational loans in exchange for full-time service either at a Critical Shortage Facility or an eligible school of nursing. Nurse Corps LRP participants enter into a two-year contract agreeing to provide full-time service at an approved Critical Shortage Facility or an eligible school of nursing. In return, Nurse Corps LRP will pay participants a total of 60 percent (30 percent for each year) of their total outstanding qualifying nursing education loan balance. Eligible participants may apply for an optional third year service commitment, for which the Nurse Corps LRP will award an additional 25 percent of the participant's original total qualifying educational loan balance, bringing the total to 85 percent of eligible loan balances. Not applicable. Not applicable. Not applicable. Statutory formula is not applicable to this assistance listing.

Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. RNs and APRNs must provide full-time service at a public or private Critical Shortage Facility for a minimum of 32 hours per week or provide full time service (as defined by the employer) as a nurse faculty member for a minimum of 9 months per service year at an accredited public or private eligible school of nursing, for a period of two consecutive years beginning on the effective date of the contract. Payments are made to individuals via electronic direct deposit. Notifications are made by e-mail. None/Not specified. Yasmin Mazloomdoost, MPH,MSW
Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program, Division of Health Careers and Financial Support, Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW), Health Resources and Services Administration
Rockville, MD 20857 US
YMazloomdoost@hrsa.gov
Phone: 3014433740 https://bhw.hrsa.gov/loansscholarships/nursecorps/lrp 75-0350-0-1-550 (Direct Payments for Specified Use) FY 22$105,525,320.00; FY 23 est $64,641,327.00; FY 24 est $55,581,000.00; FY 21$104,919,353.00; FY 20$51,047,355.00; FY 19$47,533,618.00; FY 18$47,533,618.00; FY 17$48,870,088.00; FY 16$49,549,932.00; - FY22 Range for new awards - $664 to $284,494; Average new award - $47,136 FY23 est Range for new awards - $664 to $284,494; Average new award - $96,406 FY24 est Range for new awards - $664 to $284,494; Average new award - $103,155 Please see application process for Nurse Corps LRP at https://bhw.gov/sites/default/files/bhw/nursecorps-lrp-guidance.pdf. Refer to the Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program Guidance. Not applicable.