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Your graduate education is a gift you give yourself. Graduate studies at the UCSF School of Nursing are about expanding your horizons and creating an academic pathway to fulfill your goals.
In the process of your studies you will discover new and enriching possibilities. Attending UCSF will change your life, advance your career, and help us meet local, national and international health care leadership challenges.
The School of Nursing faculty and I want you to have the time to grow and get the most out of this rare opportunity. To this end, I would ask that you do your part by limiting your work during your program of study.
For my part, I promise to aggressively pursue new sources of funding and scholarships for our students. Please read the following materials created to help you maximize this gift of education.
Kathleen Dracup
Dean, School of Nursing
Otherwise known as "free money," scholarships are designed to support those in school. There are no obligations to pay back this money. Awards are usually based on one of the following or some combination of: academic record, need, contributions to the community/profession, or membership in a particular group (e.g., veteran, ethnic group).
Within the School of Nursing there are a few scholarships awarded on the bases of academic record, ethnicity or nationality. These include the Lanctot, Raises, Lindberg, and Reid scholarships. Students don't apply for these funds; the departments or committees designate awards through an internal decision-making process.
These are typically awarded for research, other special projects or to support a student completing a dissertation. The money does not need to be repaid, but a specified piece of work or project must be completed.
These grants are not the same as a grant made as part of a student's financial aid packet; those are actually "free money" awards based on need.
These awards, based on academic performance and potential, support students at the graduate level and usually carry only the obligation of timely and satisfactory academic progression. The School of Nursing offers the Betty Irene Moore Doctoral Fellowships [info/application] program for entering PhD students who will teach full-time in nursing schools in selected counties in the San Francisco Bay Area after graduation.
The School of Nursing offers a limited number of Graduate Dean's Health Sciences Fellowships [info/application (Adobe/Acrobat .pdf)] to continuing and newly accepted PhD students.
There are other competitive UCSF fellowships set aside for newly accepted and continuing students. The School nominates candidates for a campus-wide competition. Some awards are based purely on performance and others are earmarked for students who have life experiences, situations or conditions that have impeded advancing to graduate study.
Awards may also be made to those with academic research interests focusing on disadvantaged groups or an intention of serving this population.
Masters students (who are RNs) may apply for the Professional Nurse Traineeship each June. Newly accepted students with RNs will be sent traineeship applications. Traineeships support nurses while they are pursuing advanced training. About 80 of these need-based awards are made each year.
For applications, see the "Scholarships" section of our "Current Students" page:
http://nurseweb.ucsf.edu/www/ix-cs.shtml (website).
Faculty with institutional training grants often select PhD students as "T32" trainees. These awards cover all university fees and provide a stipend.
Occupational Health students also have the opportunity to receive a specific federal traineeship at the MS and PhD levels. The OH traineeship is arranged through the CHS department.
Working as an RA or TA at UCSF for just 10 hours a week (25% time) each quarter can provide (1) income, (2) experience, and, in some cases, (3) coverage of your UC fees. To find these opportunities, students use the new Job Board web site, or they consult the monthly student newsletters [Update], or they speak with their faculty advisors about openings.
As a public institution, UCSF has a limited number of grants it can make to students (e.g., Birdzell, Gardner, Davis and other scholarships). To supplement this limited "free money," the university offers subsidized and unsubsidized loans through Student Financial Services (SFS) [see http://saawww.ucsf.edu/financial/general]. SFS will also provide guidance on how to apply for private loans.
Various groups, e.g., employers, federal and state governments, etc., will offer loan repayment programs. In general, awardees are obligated to work for a certain period, with salary, to qualify for payment or forgiveness of their educational loans. Student Financial Services maintains up to date info on various loan repayment programs at their web site [http://saawww.ucsf.edu/financial/general/loan.htm].
The majority of students in the School of Nursing work part-time while enrolled. The faculty feels strongly that students should not attempt to work more than 20 hours a week (50% time) while enrolled. In certain cases, not even this level of work can be sustained because of intensive clinical practice requirements. A recommended strategy is for students to initially reduce their work schedules to no more than two shifts a week, and then adjust this amount over time as is necessary and manageable.
In most cases, classes meet two to three days a week. Clinical placements occupy another day of each week. You will also need to factor in time to study. Balancing nursing and academic work while enrolled is a very individual decision; some can do both successfully, others switch to per diem work for greatest flexibility, and others choose to not work at all during their advanced training.
Work Study is a federal program designed to provide jobs for students with financial need so they can meet their educational expenses. The federal government subsidizes the work study salary so that the employer pays only a fraction of the student's total hourly wage.
For example, if a faculty member had a grant with a position for a graduate or health professional student, the student may be paid an hourly salary to work on the project through UCSF's Federal Work Study program [http://saawww.ucsf.edu/financial/general/types/work.htm].
Work Study pays approximately one-third of the hourly rate, and the remaining two-thirds is paid by the federal government.
Employment as a UCSF Nurse. University employees working for a minimum of six months at 60% time in a career position as a nurse in a UC medical center are eligible for a two-thirds fee reduction. Contact the Registrar's Office [http://saawww.ucsf.edu/admission/] for details.
UC Employment. University or Medical Center employees working for a minimum of six months at 50% time in a career position, other than as a Medical Center nurse, are eligible for a two-thirds fee reduction. Contact the Registrar's Office [http://saawww.ucsf.edu/admission/] for details.
Many employers provide educational incentive money and competitive scholarships to their employees while they are enrolled in nursing school (e.g., Kaiser, City/County of San Francisco, Sutter, Tenet, Stanford, etc.). Contact your employer's Human Resources representatives for more information on benefits that may be available to you.
Document continues with Part II:
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