New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a new scholarship that will help with tuition costs of 1,000 nurses in the state.
The Nurses For Our Future Scholarship program from the State University of New York and the City University of New York will cover education costs for health care workers to become registered nurses at each school. The program is part of an effort to address the shortage in the industry and staffing shortages at hospitals statewide.
“Just a year ago, we were celebrating our healthcare workers as the heroes they are, and the pandemic has shown us that we cannot afford a labor shortage in the healthcare industry,” Hochul said at a breakfast hosted by the Association for a Better New York Thursday. “I’m proud to announce our new Nurses For Our Future Scholarship as an important step to train more nurses and bring them into our healthcare system.
“SUNY and CUNY scholarships move us toward a more prosperous and equal New York, by working to make sure every New Yorker has access to training programs, one-, two-, and four-year degrees, community college; SUNY and CUNY should be the pathway to the middle class.”
Staffing shortages at hospitals and an increase in patients have emerged amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The scholarship is meant to recruit and retrain nursing and health care professionals. They will serve as registered nurses in New York State registered nursing programs most in need. Presently, more than 9,300 openings exist for RNs in the state. With the Nurses For Our Future Scholarship, 1,000 more students can enter a nursing program in SUNY or CUNY. Students can finish their programs with a flexible part-time or full-time schedule.
“Nobody has put more on the line than those of us on the front line during this pandemic, and Governor Hochul’s visionary investment in helping us rebuild our nursing ranks is exactly the kind of support we need to keep delivering the care New Yorkers rely on,” New York State Nurses Association Executive Director and RN Pat Kane said in a statement.
“Because the best care is also culturally responsive care, these 1,000 scholarships present an enormous opportunity for us to continue to recruit from all communities around the state, and by seeding them at SUNY and CUNY, they also strengthen our public higher education institutions, making it clear that Governor Hochul is prioritizing our healthcare workers and our young people — exactly the type of priorities we need to bring New York back.”
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