U.S. House Democrat Tammy Baldwin of Madison is trying to make it easier for nurses who want to teach to get loans for their training. Nurses are expected to be in short supply once the economy gets better – and one reason is there are fewer people to teach them. At the UW-Madison School of Nursing, over two-thirds of the faculty will be eligible for retirement in the next 5 years. The school’s dean, Katharyn May, says Baldwin’s bill would let the federal government handle loans for teacher training instead of the schools themselves – and it would encourage nurses to start their training at graduate schools sooner than they would otherwise. Experts say it could also reduce students’ debts for nursing faculty, who often make less than practicing nurses with higher degrees.
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