Cox College receives $100,000 grant

A $100,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will form a nursing scholarship program next year at Cox College.

Under the New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program, the school will offer $10,000 scholarships to 10 students who meet admissions criteria to enroll in the college's accelerated Bachelor of Science in nursing weekend option program, a Cox news release said. The accelerated BSN program, which allows individuals with bachelor's degrees in other fields to seek a second degree in nursing, are designed to increase the number of new nurses.

Cox College is one of 75 colleges across the country chosen to receive the grant.

The weekend option program will begin Jan. 4, and students will graduate in May 2011. Coursework for the weekend option will be offered in a blended online/face-to-face format and scheduled Thursday through Saturday. Graduates are eligible to take the national licensing exam to become a registered nurse, the release said.

Cox College is partnering with the Missouri Career Center to identify unemployed or underemployed individuals with bachelor's degrees.

According to the Princeton, N.J.-based Johnson Foundation, a nationwide shortage of nurses is projected to increase to 500,000 by 2025, caused by nurses retiring and an increase in the number of older Americans with greater health care needs.

The shortage is compounded by a lack of educational capacity to train the next generation of nurses, according to www.rwjf.org.[[In-content Ad]]