8/2/2023 - Jackson, Miss.

The online application for the new Nurse Retention Loan Repayment program opens Friday, August 4, 2023. Early career nurses may apply online at www.msfinancialaid.org/NULR.

The Nurse Retention Loan Repayment Program was created in 2023 by the Mississippi Legislature to retain new nurses in Mississippi by helping them repay their student loans. Licensed practical nurses or registered nurses with a current relevant nursing license who are in their first year of employment in a skilled nursing home or general acute care hospital that is licensed by the Mississippi State Department of Health are eligible to apply. Eligible recipients must also have outstanding postsecondary educational loans.

"The timing of this program could not be better as the three-year payment pause on federal student loans is ending," said Jennifer Rogers, Director of the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid. "By choosing to stay and work in Mississippi, recent nursing graduates can have their student loans repaid in return for helping to meet critical workforce needs in the state."

New nurses who started working full-time for the first time since licensure between March 1, 2022, and June 30, 2022, should complete the 2023-24 application that opens August 4. New nurses who started working full-time for the first time since licensure on or after July 1, 2022, should wait to complete the 2024-25 application that will open on October 1, 2023.

The annual award will be up to $6,000 per year for a maximum of three years, but awards will not exceed the balance of a student’s outstanding loans. Awards will be paid annually to the recipient’s lender/loan servicer. Awards will be made on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid is an office of the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, which governs the public universities in Mississippi, including Alcorn State University; Delta State University; Jackson State University; Mississippi State University including the Mississippi State University Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine; Mississippi University for Women; Mississippi Valley State University; the University of Mississippi including the University of Mississippi Medical Center; and the University of Southern Mississippi.

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