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Nursing Scholarship Program

Changes in Scholarship Payments

What situations impact the NSP’s payment of tuition and/or stipend?

1. Changes in Enrollment Status. A change in enrollment status can result in a reduction or discontinuation of benefits. A participant is required to promptly notify the NSP through the Customer Service Portal as soon as one of the events listed below is anticipated. If a change in enrollment status has already occurred, the participant must submit a letter from the school verifying the status change through the Customer Service Portal.
   1. Repeat course work for which the NSP has already made payments. The NSP will continue payments for stipends and all other non-repeated course work, provided that the participant continues to meet the NSP requirements;
   2. A change in the participant’s graduation date;
   3. A leave of absence approved by the school. All payments will be discontinued;
   4. Withdrawal or dismissal from school. All payments will be discontinued;
   5. A change from full-time student status to a less than full-time student status for a participant who signs a “Full-Time Student” Contract (a change from part-time student status to less than part-time student status for a participant who signs a “Part-Time Student” Contract). An exception may be made if the participant is in his or her last year of school. In such instances, a participant with a student status change may receive scholarship support as long as the participant maintains enrollment and good academic standing and does not change the graduation date.
   6. Voluntary withdrawal from courses during an academic term; OR
   7. A transfer to another school or program (See below).

2. Changes in Schools/Programs. Changes in schools or nursing programs are strongly discouraged once the applicant has been accepted into the NSP. Changes in schools/programs must be approved in advance by the NSP to ensure continued eligibility for funding and will be considered only for exceptional circumstances. Scholarship awards are based on the cost of attendance at the initial school of record for all school year contracts executed during the FY 2011 application cycle. If a transfer is approved, the NSP will not cover any increase in tuition and/or fees for the new institution; the participant will be responsible for the difference.
3. Delinquent Federal and State Debt. Under the Treasury Offset Program, the U.S. Treasury Department is authorized to offset a student’s NSP payments if the student is delinquent on a Federal debt. In addition, the Treasury Department is authorized to offset Nursing Scholarship payments for application to the student’s State debts, including delinquent child support payments.
4. NSP Overpayments. NSP payments received by a participant, including payments made to a school on the participant’s behalf, during the periods while the participant is on an approved leave of absence, is repeating course work, or is otherwise ineligible to receive payments are considered overpayments. Overpayments may also occur due to administrative error. A participant receiving an overpayment should immediately contact the NSP and follow up in writing to make arrangement to promptly return all overpayments to avoid interest accrual and debt collection procedures.
   Debt collection procedures include sending delinquent overpayments to a debt collection agency, reporting the overpayments to credit reporting agencies, offsetting Federal and/or State payments due to the participant (e.g., IRS income tax refund) to collect the overpayments, recovery through Administrative Wage Garnishment, and/or referral of the overpayments to the Department of Justice for enforced collection. For participants who receive subsequent funding under the NSP and who previously received any overpayments which have not been repaid, the overpayments will be collected through administrative offset. The NSP will withhold scholarship funds payable to, or on behalf of, the participant (including stipends, ORC, and, if necessary, tuition payments) until the overpayment owed is paid in full. Administrative offset is not a repayment option for NSP participants who wish to terminate a contract.
5. Resumption of Benefits. To resume benefits discontinued under existing scholarship contracts, NSP participants must submit documentation from their school official confirming that they are now eligible to receive scholarship support (e.g., not repeating course work, returned from a leave of absence, resumed full-time student status, etc.). Requests for the resumption of scholarship benefits should be sent to the NSP. They will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the NSP to determine the participant’s eligibility to receive continuing funds. For participants who have not repaid overpayments previously received, the resumption of scholarship benefits will be subject to the administrative offset described in the “NSP Overpayments” Section above. For participants whose benefits were discontinued due to their withdrawal or dismissal from school or due to their transfer to an ineligible program or school, benefits will not be resumed.
6. Veteran Benefits. Educational benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (G.I. Bill) generally continue along with NSP funds, if awarded, since Veteran benefits were earned by prior active duty in a uniformed service.  However, Scholarship benefits may be reduced for participants receiving funding under the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill.

Questions or concerns regarding changes in scholarship payments should be directed to the Customer Service Portal.

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