In light of shortages of students enrolling in nursing and health care majors, a loan forgiveness program aims to encourage more students to enroll in the field.

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Association Agency (PHEAA) and American Education Services are funding the Nursing Loan Forgiveness for Healthier Futures program to relieve the deficiency of nurses.

Under the program, students won't have to pay back up to $12,500 or 25 percent of their student loans.

Students in the program must work in a hospital or nursing home in Pennsylvania for every year they received monetary compensation, said nursing instructor Raymonde Brown.

The nursing program at Penn State has a higher tuition than other majors at the university because of laboratory use and a mandatory summer session students must take at the end of their sophomore year.

"Because nursing is a very expensive program, the loan will help students here at Penn State pay their tuition," Brown said.

She said the local nursing industry has been struggling for years but has already begun to blossom because of the new program.

"The industry will now become more desirable, and the quality of applicants will improve due to competition," Brown said.

The initiative began as a bill developed by Pennsylvania Republican Senator Harold F. Mowery, chairman of the Public Health and Welfare Committee.

After failing initially, the bill passed in the Senate but was unable to pass in the House of Representatives, Mowery said.

He said he was happy to turn his proposal over to PHEAA when the organization offered to finance the program.

"It's certainly going to be great to bring a lot of young people into the field and even attract people who are grown up and wish to further their education," Mowery said.

The forgiveness loan is not limited to Pennsylvania residents.

Out-of-state students are welcome to apply for the loan under the condition they work within the commonwealth after graduation.

Colleen Monahan (freshman-nursing) is a student advocate for the program.

"It sounds like a pretty good deal. The [nursing major] costs an extra $1,000 per semester on clinical studies alone, so it gets very expensive," she said.

"Plus, the fact that after graduation you are guaranteed a job is also a great reward."

While the loan forgiveness program aims to increase recruitment for the nursing field, Brown said the Penn State 2003 enrollment in nursing is limited to 120 students per year, though the program rarely reaches this number. Under this limitation, the nursing program will uphold the 10-to-1 student-faculty ratio.

To qualify for the loan forgiveness program, students must intend to graduate from a professional nursing program during or after the year 2003. Students can obtain applications from PHEAA beginning in January.