Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Program

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Program Description
Eligibility
How to Apply (and Obtaining the Application)
How Funds Are Awarded and Disbursed
Processing Updates
Approved Illinois Institutions

In an effort to address the shortage of nurses and the lack of instructors to staff courses teaching nursing in Illinois, the Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Program encourages longevity and career change opportunities. The program is intended to pay eligible loans to add an incentive to nurse educators in maintaining their teaching careers within the State of Illinois. The annual awards to qualified nurse educators may be up to $5,000 to repay their student loan debt, and may be received for up to a maximum of four years.

Eligibility

To be eligible, you must:

• Be a U.S. citizen or an eligible non-citizen
• Be an Illinois resident
• Have an outstanding balance due on an eligible educational loan (includes Stafford Loans, Graduate PLUS Loans, consolidation loans, nursing student loans, Supplemental Loans for Students, alternative loans, and other types  of government and institutional loans used for nursing education expenses)
• Be a nurse educator who meets licensing requirements of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation
  
• Have worked as a nurse educator instructing practical or professional nurses in an approved Illinois institution for at least the past 12 consecutive months prior to the date of each application for this program
  
• Not be in default on any federal guaranteed educational loan, nor owe a refund on any scholarship or grant program administered by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC).

How to Apply

Each year you wish to apply for this program, you must submit a Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Application to ISAC. You may download and print an application here at collegezone.com. Applications are also available at all Illinois approved institutions that have practical or professional nursing programs, and at ISAC's Deerfield, Springfield and Chicago offices. You must submit your application to ISAC's Deerfield office as indicated on the application.

If your application is incomplete, ISAC will notify you and you will have the opportunity to furnish missing information. Your application will be considered for processing as of the date it is complete and all required information has been received at ISAC's Deerfield office.

Renewal applicants must submit an application each year, and may also be required to submit a history of prior awards in order to demonstrate that program proceeds were used for eligible educational loans.

How Funds Are Awarded and Disbursed

Note that ISAC routinely updates this section as new information becomes available. Be sure to check back periodically for the current processing status.

For the 2011-12 Academic Year
(last updated on September 12, 2011):

ISAC is currently accepting Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Program applications for the 2011-12 academic year. There is a minimum 4-5 week turnaround from the date ISAC receives an application to when funds are disbursed for approved recipients. Depending on the volume of payment vouchers being processed by the State of Illinois Comptroller's Office, this timeframe may increase.

Click here to download the Nurse Educator Loan Repayment Program application.

Approved Illinois Institutions

In order to qualify for this program, an applicant must have worked as a nurse educator instructing practical or professional nurses in an approved Illinois institution for at least the past 12 consecutive months prior to the date of each application. Click here to view a listing of approved Illinois institutions for this program.