Student nurses assured of financial support for their studies

The Government will continue to ensure that anyone who wishes to study to be a nurse has the financial means to do so.

Speaking at the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGCC) recently, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said that nursing is an expensive course to pursue, but it is reachable as the government has put in place many things to help persons.

He said the profession is no longer a predominantly middle-class one and locally, we are unique as we pay persons EC$1,000 a month to attend nursing school, amounting to EC$12,000 a year for a course that costs EC$7,500 annually.

Initially, persons completing the nursing programme here were awarded associate degrees, but now, a bachelor’s degree will be awarded, and the Prime Minister said that persons will still be paid the EC$1,000 stipend even though the new programme will run for four years instead of three.

“We have made the resources available…in addition to giving you EC$12,000 a year, I am going to pay one third of that EC$7,500; EC$2,500 and just in case you don’t have the money for the other EC$5,000, I have special arrangements made for you to borrow the money from the economically disadvantaged student loan programme,” Gonsalves explained.

The bachelor’s degree in nursing is being offered in collaboration with the University of West Indies (UWI), Jamaica, Mona Campus.