The Nursing Loan Repayment Assistance Program was authorized by the Texas Legislature (83rd Regular Session) to improve access to nursing education programs by encouraging qualified nurses to serve as faculty at eligible institutions of higher education. The maximum annual loan repayment amount is $7,000.

State funds are not appropriated specifically for this program. However, in each fiscal year, funds may be reallocated from the Physician Education Loan Repayment Program (PELRP) Account if funds remain available after all physician applications have been considered. After financial commitments have been made to physicians participating in the PELRP as of Aug. 31, 2015, there are remaining FY 2015 funds available for reallocation to the Nursing Faculty Loan Repayment Assistance Program.

The application deadline for loan repayment based on employment for the 2014-2015 academic year and continued employment for the current academic year was Nov. 15, 2015. Applications postmarked or faxed after that date will not be considered.

For information on possible funding from PELRP FY 2016 funds, please check this web page in September 2016.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible to receive loan repayment assistance, a nurse must

• hold a master's or doctoral degree in nursing;
• be licensed by the Texas Board of Nursing for the State of Texas;
• apply to the Coordinating Board by the published application deadline; and
• at the time of application for repayment assistance, have been employed full time for at least one year as, and be currently employed full time as a faculty member of a nursing program at an eligible institution in a position that requires an advanced degree in professional nursing.

Priorities of Application Acceptance

After the first year of operation of the program, if there are not sufficient funds to award loan repayment assistance for all eligible nursing faculty whose applications are received by the published deadline, priority will be given to renewal applications. Initial applications will be ranked in a manner that takes into account the following information, provided by the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies:

1. The number of vacant nursing faculty positions, as a percentage of the total number of nursing faculty positions at the eligible institutions.
2. The degree of difficulty in recruiting and retaining nursing faculty at the eligible institutions, indicated by the period of time nursing faculty positions remain vacant at the institutions.

Awards are disbursed directly to lenders and will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

Please visit this web page for any program updates.

For more information, please contact us.