ECC announces new nursing scholarship

A new scholarship is now available for Elgin Community College nursing students, school officials announced Monday.

The Sherman Health Foundation Nursing Scholarship will award one student each year $1,000 to help cover tuition, fee and book costs, director of foundation scholarships Sheri Lacy said.

The awards will come out of a $50,000 endowment from the Elgin hospital's foundation.

"The Sherman Health Foundation's generous gift demonstrates their dedication to our program and students," Linda Hartley, ECC nursing program director said in a college news release. "Sherman Health relies on our nursing graduates when filling new positions."

Nursing enrollment at the college currently is capped due to a lack of space. That problem is expected to ease in the coming months.

The college, which has projected growth beyond its current space limits, narrowly passed a $178 million referendum last spring. Bonds sold as a result will fund a $47.6 million health careers center; a $17.6 million expansion and redesign of its library; a $24.5 million renovation of the student resource center; and a new $15 million training facility for police, firefighters and emergency management technicians.

The Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, a regional group of 150 area hospitals, including Sherman, backed the referendum, citing a growing nursing shortage.

To qualify for the scholarship, students must first fill out an ECC Foundation scholarship application, which screens applicants for the more than 100 scholarships offered by the foundation. Nursing scholarship applicants must be enrolled in the college as a full- or part-time student and have a grade-point average of 2.8 or higher. For more information, call (847) 214-7596.