On March 20, the University of Michigan School of Nursing announced they received a $2 million grant from the Bedford Falls Foundation. With this grant, the Nursing School will be able to provide more than 140 undergraduate student scholarships and various academic supports, including NCLEX prep, over the next four years through the newly established Bill and Joanne Conway EPIC Scholarship. Started by Bill Conway, the co-founder and co-chairman of the global investment firm Carlyle, the foundation serves to promote equity in nursing programs across the country.
For the Nursing School, a $2 million grant is considered large. As a profession, nursing faces various challenges, including a growing nursing shortage and increased nurse burnout. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Angela Cao, the chief development officer at the Nursing School, said retirements are compounding the shortage of nurses.
“We are also facing a shortage of nurse educators in the field, so really, that’s another area in which nursing education is struggling right now,” Cao said. “We just don’t have enough people to teach nurses as well.”
Cao described the main goals of the Bedford Falls Foundation and how he hopes the grant will support the next generation of nurses.
“The idea behind … the Bedford Falls Foundation is to make sure that if somebody wants to become a nurse and they want to become a nurse here at Michigan, that this grant essentially will help make that happen,” Cao said. “If somebody has a need and wants to become a nurse there’s help here and that this grant will make that happen.”
Before the donation, Nursing senior Alisha Sanghvi was asked to be a part of an undergraduate panel at a luncheon with the Bedford Falls Foundation to discuss the Nursing School’s strengths and weaknesses. In an interview with The Daily, Sanghvi said she felt the foundation was very welcoming and open to hearing their ideas about the University’s program.
“They just asked us questions about how we liked the Nursing School,” Sanghvi said. “They asked about what changes could be made, what new things we wish we had. And they were really just interested in getting to know us — it was a super fun and informal meeting that we had.”
Sanghvi said discussions at the meeting centered around making sure nursing students had access to all resources they needed to succeed in the program.
“We wanted to make sure those who didn’t have resources got them, so I think the scholarships that we’re getting go hand in hand with that,” Sanghvi said. “We talked a lot about financial aid with out-of-state people, because one of the students on the panel was out-of-state and she talked about how it was a big decision for her to come here just based off of costs.”
In an interview with The Daily, Nursing senior Gracie Pollock, a Colorado native,said finances were a large factor in her decision to come to the University.
“I know just this year, (the cost) was over 80 grand for my tuition without any of the scholarships or grants I had received,” Pollock said. “I just can’t fathom how anyone you know can really afford that, especially going into a profession of nursing where you make great money but never would you be able to pay back all that loan debt or anything close to it.”
In addition to regular tuition, Nursing students are required to pay a variety of additional class fees to supplement their learning. Sanghvi said she brought up these cost concerns at the luncheon.
“There’s a lot of hidden fees (in the School of Nursing),” Sanghvi said. “Like NCLEX prep fees or fees for even we have to get drug tested and background screens just to work in the hospital and that’s all funded by us. So it was just about finding equal resources for everyone.”
Pollock also brought up the University’s intentions to increase the incoming undergraduate Nursing School class sizes in an effort to encourage people to go into nursing.
“Our class was like 150 total and I know this upcoming year they’re trying to increase that to like 300 plus per grade,” Pollock said. “So just with those increased needs for healthcare providers and the increased student numbers, we asked ‘what would advising look like? Would there be the support for each student to feel like they have somebody to go to when they need help or when they’re confused, or have a question about just X, Y or Z?’”
According to Cao, the Bedford Falls Foundation’s main goal is to support nursing students.
“It’s all about nursing success, really,” Cao said. “So success in getting your tuition funded, it’s also about success when it comes to helping you succeed while you’re in school.”
Daily Staff Reporter Aanya Panyadahundi can be contacted at aanyatp@umich.edu.
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