Nursing school could close
Five nursing schools in Pennsylvania are losing loan money for students who have limited options for getting loans elsewhere. The impact may close down an entire nursing school.
Five nursing schools in Pennsylvania are losing loan money for students who have limited options for getting loans elsewhere. The impact may close down an entire nursing school. From WHYY’s health and science desk, Kerry Grens reports.
Listen: [audio:sci20090311nursing.mp3]
Transcript:
St. Joseph’s Nursing School in Philadelphia opened in 2007. The school teaches low income students. The challenge to any new school, however, is that students can’t get federal loans until after the school graduates a class and gets accredited. So the Pennsylvania Higher Education Foundation and the Higher Education Assistance Agency stepped in to fill the gap. But that program has run out of money. The nursing school dean, Carol Baxter, says 48 of 58 students will lose their loans.
Baxter: And we’re just talking about 9 more months. If we can get them through nine more months they can graduate…They’ll be able to pay taxes and bring their families out of poverty.
Baxter says 10 students will not be enough to keep the school afloat, but for now she’s keeping the classes operating.
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