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You can start a career as an LPN in as little as 12 to 18 months. In Florida, LPNs earn an average income of $46,000. This income is well worth the investment for the cost of education to become an LPN. However, you can also look for free LPN options to help you realize your dream of becoming an LPN if you do not want to take out loans for your education.
Adult and Continuing Education Programs
Contact your local division of the Adult and Continuing Education Programs. You might find that there are LPN education opportunities for you through one of these programs. It is certainly a starting point if you are looking to find ways to receive your LPN degree for free or to at least receive some help in paying for your degree.
Life Experience Credits
Many colleges will allow you to receive life experience credits for some of the courses that you need. These cannot be applied for your nursing practicums and nurse procedure courses, but could help you with some of your other elective and courses that are not directly related to your nursing degree. You can also take a CLEP test in an effort to test out of certain courses. If you receive life experience credits. some colleges do not charge you for those credits. If you are able to test out of course, you only need to pay for the test. This can help you save on your LPN tuition costs.
Federal and State Education Grants for LPN Programs in Florida
Most students can receive some grants from the government for education. Grants are paid directly to your school and are not something that you ever need to pay back for the government. You can receive significant grants if you have a low income and do not have much money that you can use towards collage. Everyone should apply for grants because there is always the chance that financial aid will be enough to cover your entire degree.
Jennet Cauliflower Keys State Nursing Scholarships
Nursing students who are in or entering their junior or senior year of a nursing degree program can apply. This awards is for full-time students and the winners can receive as much as $1000 for their award. The purpose of this scholarship is to serve as an honor to Jennet Cauliflower Keys. This woman led a lifetime of commitment to her work as a nurse. During her nursing career she strive to always provide outstanding care for the benefit of children she worked with. An application for this application can be found at http://www.miamifoundation.org/scholarships.aspx.
Nursing Student Loan Forgiveness Program
This is not a literal scholarship but still fits under this category as it can help take away much of the burden of the cost to become a nurse. The program is for LPN’s, RN’s and other nursing professionals. Nurses who work at public healthcare facilities can receive forgiveness of up to $4000 in loans each year for their nursing tuition. If a nurse works at a private healthcare facility, the facility will need to match the amount of money that this program pays/forgives on loans dollar for dollar. Either way a student can receive much needed help paying to become a nurse.
Some colleges have their own financial aid programs or offer training via the workforce investment act. They are reviewed below:
Medvance Institute
MedVance Institute does specialize in providing healthcare training to individuals throughout Florida. They currently are able to offer at least 10 career training programs for individuals who will work in the healthcare industry. One of the campus locations that offer practical nursing is found at the Miami Florida group. Students will learn to work with patients of all ages and in a range of healthcare settings during their training. The school concentrates on providing a great deal of hands on training in addition to nursing practicums throughout the training course. There are many options for individuals to receive help paying for their nursing degree tuition. In addition to applications for financial aid, students can apply for vocational rehabilitation programs, veterans’ benefits in addition to programs to assistant individuals who are not employed or who are underemployed.