Montgomery County Community College Nursing students will receive a financial helping hand thanks to a generous donation.

The Independence Blue Cross Foundation has awarded a $26,842 scholarship to the MCCC Nursing Program through its annual Nurses for Tomorrow Scholarship grant.

The program awards grants to nursing schools in Southeastern Pennsylvania to fund scholarships for undergraduate, graduate and doctoral nursing students.

MCCC Nursing students, who maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher in the clinical component of the program and have not repeated a Nursing program course, are eligible to receive the scholarship, said Deanna Schaffer, Director of the Nursing Program.

Eligible students must write an essay to the MCCC scholarship selection committee on how they intend to use the money for their education and related expenses and a second essay at the end of the semester about how the award helped them personally.

“It’s great,” said Schaffer of the scholarship. “The Independence Blue Cross Foundation goes above and beyond to support nursing education. Through this annual scholarship, we’ve been able to award over $1,000 each to eligible nursing students.”

Last year’s scholarship supported 33 students, 17 of whom were in their senior year, said Schaffer. “The scholarship helped with tuition for last term. These students have all successfully passed the NCLEX examination.  For those who were earlier in the program the scholarship helped with tuition and expenses.  And the others who are earlier in the program, the scholarship helps with expenses and tuition. Most who receive the scholarship are very gracious. It allows them to cut back on the number of hours they have to work to make tuition. With the clinicals and coursework needed to be a nursing student, this scholarship helps takes pressure off of them.”

Among those who received the award last year included a 52-year-old single mother and a single mother of seven children, who worked full time to support them.

“The scholarship allowed her to take off from work to study for exams and do well,” said Schaffer.

In addition to the essays they write explaining how they intend to use the money, students also must send thank you notes to the Independence Blue Cross Foundation to show how much they’ve benefitted from the generosity.

“Independence Blue Cross has also been very supportive of Nursing students across the area,” said Schaffer, “and nursing schools.”

Approximately 202 students are currently enrolled in MCCC’s Nursing program, which is accredited with the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). The accreditation allows the program to graduate students that are eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN), which students must pass in order to become licensed registered nurses.  

MCCC’s Nursing Program students led the way on the NCLEX-RN, with a first-time pass rate of 90.42 percent. By comparison, the national first-time pass rate is 82.48 percent.  In order for the Nursing Program to maintain approval status from the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing, students taking the exam must obtain a first-time pass rate of 80 percent.

MCCC graduates go on to work in a variety of healthcare settings after graduation including area hospitals, rehabilitation centers, mental health facilities and home care operations, to name a few.

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