Support Holyoke Nurses

This campaign raises funds to send encouragement and relieve some of the financial stress for students nearing completion of their Practical Nursing License training at Holyoke Community College in Holyoke MA.

The Opportunity

Earning a Practical Nursing License delivers a powerful income boost that can lift a family to financial stability, but getting there is expensive.  Like many professional training students, nurses at HCC face alot of costs to complete their training - not only typical school expenses like tuition, lab fees, and books, but they also pay for uniforms, the license exam fee, and insurance.

That's already alot, but they also need to find money to cover the added transportation and child care to get to class and clinicals.  And most students cut back on their work schedules to make time for schooling.  For students from low-resource backgrounds, many wind up chosing between paying for food, rent, and childcare as they keep focusing on their studies to fulfill their dreams of doing work that matters in their communities as compassionate skilled nurses.

After an intense 8 months of coursework, this year's Practical Nursing students are about to head into their final round of training - full time (unpaid) clinical rotations. Fulfilling this requirement means dropping back even more on other work hours. As you can imagine, allocating time to unpaid work while the bills keep rolling in is a particularly stressful time financially for the students.

The impact of making a gift to these students has enormous ROI. Their families achieve financial stability. They're able to provide healthcare to their communities.  And with the additional earning power these future nurses are about to unlock, their own families are that much more likely to reach their own education and career dreams.

Being awarded a Boost Award For Your First Credential allows students to stress a little less about their finances and concentrate on learning, or finish with smaller loans to repay.

Thank you to all who support the efforts of those reaching for the stars!! Our journeys have just begun and by your selfless donations, we can go on and make a difference in other people’s lives.

- 2024 Boost Fund For Students grant recipient

You may be thinking 'But wait! Doesn't Massachusetts provide free Community College now?' We applaud this incredible new state initiative called Mass Educates, which covers tuition and fees for degree-seeking students.  It does not currently apply to professional students in license training programs, which excludes the Practical Nusring students, who must still cover their program costs themselves.