Tina Ensign

123 Oak Ave.

Stillwater, OK 74074
(405) 399-9393

Donald Trump
US President
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500

June 3, 2019

Dear President Trump:

Why is there a lack of easily accessible student debt forgiveness programs for
nurses? I feel we can all agree that nurses are the cornerstone of the healthcare system
and without their knowledge and skill base, our communities would be in despair. This
issue is not far from becoming a reality, due to the vast amounts of student debt accrued
while attending nursing programs around the country. According to The American
Association of Colleges of Nursing, a 2016 graduate-level nursing student completing
their programs will accrue $40,000 to $54,999 in student debt. Mr. Trump, this amount of
debt is deterring future generations from becoming nurses and is contributing to our
existing nursing shortages. According to the World Health Statistics Report, “…an
estimation of upwards of one million additional nurses will be needed by 2020.” That is a
staggering figure that I hope can be fulfilled by implementing new policies that will aid
in student debt forgiveness and encouraging others to pursue their nursing degree. As a
current nursing student that is acquiring debt daily, I would like to propose a solution that
may positively impact the student debt crisis within the nursing community and
ultimately our country.

As a current nursing student attending college later in my adult life, I find it

difficult to justify the student debt cost I accrue each semester. I am not only responsible
for the tuition cost but also for any supplies, uniforms, books, testing cost, drug screens
and background checks required by clinical sites, vehicle maintenance and fuel to travel
to required hospitals for training, not to mention the daily cost of living. It can become
unbearable at times for my family and I to make ends meet due to the majority of nursing
schools requiring that you do not work while attending their nursing programs. My
husband and I resorted to having to pay some of our required bills on credit cards to
ensure we would have the necessities to survive. As you can imagine Mr. Trump, by the
time I graduate nursing school I will be far more in debt than the above figure projects,
and that is disheartening. I absolutely love nursing and feel it is my calling, however it
does make it hard to press on knowing the mountain of debt I am putting my family in to
chase my dream.
 There are currently several programs in place that offer current nurses student
loan forgiveness depending on the residing. Research data collected by the website,
Student Debt Relief, show programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness and
NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program are currently in place; however, they are
difficult to obtain and pose even more of an obstacle to borrowers. According to the
webpage Student Debt Relief, the programs listed above have various stipulations such
as, the barrower must pay at least 10 years, or 120 total payments before applying for the
program, or the borrower must work for a facility that is deemed critically short of nurses
in order to receive 60% compensation toward their loan total. Although these programs
are a step in the right direction, they are not conducive to helping the amount of nurses
needed in this country.

My proposal is this Mr. Trump: what if we only have a few requirements in place
in order to have the borrowers student debt paid off. One would be that the borrower
must complete his/her nursing program with a 3.0 grade point average or above and
maintain a high percentage of attendance. It would also be required that the borrower
mentor student nurses in their various fields of expertise in order to impart knowledge
and skill sets the new nurses may otherwise not be exposed to. There would be a set
number of hours required for this mentorship and based on a survey completed by the
student nurse would determine repayment of the loan. I feel this program could be
mutually beneficial to both the borrower and the student nurse. The Academy of Medical-
Surgical Nurses suggest, “Mentoring is a reciprocal and collaborative learning
relationship between two, sometimes more, individuals with mutual goals and shared
accountability for the outcomes and success of the relationship and can guide nurses in
their professional, personal and interpersonal growth.”.

So, Mr. Trump to summarize, I feel small gestures have been put into place due to
the real problem that exists not only with the mounting student debt, but also the shortage
of qualified nurses. My proposal addresses both areas of concern as well as increases the
quality of patient care and strengthens the nursing work force by utilizing a mentorship
program. I agree with The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation who stated, “Mentoring
helps cultivate nurse leaders, retain nurses, and diversify the nursing workforce.” I would
be happy to work with you to put this plan into action utilizing my personal experiences
in nursing school as a pilot test for the program. We can all agree that nurses are a pivotal
part in this country’s healthcare system and are appreciated by many. I thank you Mr.
President for your time and concern on this matter and would be pleased to provide more
suggestions in the future to continue to make America great again.

Sincerely,

Tina Ensign
 Work Cited

Haddad, Lisa M. “Nursing Shortage.” StatPearls [Internet]., U.S. National Library of

Medicine, 19 Jan. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493175/.

“Importance of Nursing Mentorship.” UTA Online, 14 Oct. 2016,

academicpartnerships.uta.edu/articles/healthcare/importance-of-nursing-
mentorship.aspx.

Lippe-McGraw, Jordi. “The Complete Guide to Repaying Nursing Loans.” Student Loan
Hero, Student Loan Hero, 6 Apr. 2018, studentloanhero.com/featured/nursing-
loans-school-debt-repayment-guide/.

Wadia, Jennifer. “Student Loan Forgiveness for Nurses: Every Program You Need To
Know.” Student Debt Relief | Student Loan Forgiveness, Student Debt Relief |
Student Loan Forgiveness, 26 Mar. 2019, www.studentdebtrelief.us/student-loan-
forgiveness/for-nurses/.