Student Nurse Loan Forgiveness Bill Passes Congress -Bush Expected To Sign
WASHINGTON D.C. (ASRN.ORG) -- Congress approved legislation that cuts more than $20 billion in government subsidies to institutions through banks, but funnels it directly to the colleges that make student loans. The House voted 292-97 for the student aid bill after the Senate approved it by a wide margin of 79-12.
The bill increases the maximum Pell Grant, which goes to the poorest students, from $4,310 a year to $5,400 a year by 2012. It also cuts the interest rates on federally backed student loan programs from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over the next four years.
U.S. Agency Gets Jammed For Visas
WASHINGTON (ASRN.ORG) -- Immigration authorities have received about 300,000 applications for high-skilled-employment visas since July 1, federal officials said yesterday, a deluge unleashed after the federal government first said it would not accept any applications for those visas during July and then reversed course.
Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency, was still receiving applications for employment visas yesterday, the last day of a special period it announced on July 17 for immigrants with professional skills to file petitions for permanent residence visas, known as green cards. As a result, the total tally of applications received in the last six weeks was not available.
Illinois Needs 21,000 Nurses
CHICAGO (ASRN.ORG)- By the year 2020 Illinois is expected to have a nursing shortage greater than 21,000 nurses. Faced with this imminent shortage the state is working on creating programs to attract, retain, and train nurses. In 2006 Governor Rod Blagojevich established the Illinois Center for Nursing, located within the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, to assist in identifying and providing resources to recruit and train highly skilled nurses in Illinois.
Tennessee Board Of Regents Plans Online Nursing Courses
SAUSALITO (ASRN.ORG)-- The Tennessee Board of Regents is hoping a new online degree program will help address the state's nursing shortage.
The Tennessee Board of Nursing voted last month to approve an associate of applied science in nursing degree to be offered through the Regents system's online program.
A federal report in 2004 had projected a shortage of more than 13,000 registered nurses by 2006 and a shortage of 35,000 nurses in Tennessee by 2020, the release said. The American Hospital Association estimates there are 126,000 registered nurse vacancies across the United States in hospitals alone.
Record Number of Philippino Nurses Seek Careers in U.S.
SAUSALITO (ASRN.ORG) -Despite suffering a severe nursing shortage in the Philippines, the number of nurses seeking jobs as nurse and caregivers in the United States has soared by almost 50 percent.
This disclosure was recently made by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) which, while encouraging this trend, has also been lobbying the government to put in place urgent measures to control this medical diaspora by creating the conditions—both in terms of economic viability and career prospects—to encourage graduate nurses to also consider taking up their careers here.
