SAUSALITO - Rhode Island and Tennessee have both created loan forgiveness programs that will reduce the amount of money owed for every year spent teaching in a school after two years of graduate studies. Tennessee faces a shortage of registered nurses that is estimated to reach 35,000 by 2020 in part because schools are turning away students because of a lack of nursing educators. 

Rhode Island hopes to offset the state's nursing faculty shortage, targets nurses who have master's degrees and are teaching at a Rhode Island nursing school.

In Tennessee, scholarships will be awarded to 62 registered nurses, the first group to pursue graduate studies under a statewide program that aims to address the shortage of nursing educators.
Under the loan forgiveness program, nurses won't have to pay back 25 percent of the loan for each year that they spend teaching at a nursing school in the state after completing two years of graduate studies.

The Tennessee program is funded by $1.4 million raised through public and private contributions.

In Rhode Island, eligible nurse educators can receive an interest-free Stafford loan to help repay student debt and principal forgiveness of $5,000 annually for four years.