InvestEd.ph collaborated with the Johnson & Johnson Foundation to expand its Global Nurse Education Finance Initiative in the Philippines. The collaboration aims to provide financing to support the education of 800 qualified nursing students over the next five years. In addition, the initiative will introduce a loan forgiveness incentive for nurses that will graduate and work at medical facilities in the Philippines.
The initiative is part of the InvestEd-led Alliance for Future Frontliners, a community of education champions, advocates, and leaders to secure the education of future Filipino medical frontliners. One of its mandates is to address the shortage of healthcare workers in the country by removing their socio-economic barriers to success.
Nursing students face tremendous costs to register and practice their profession.
Students face tremendous costs to become registered nurses. Between school fees, board exam fees, and additional accreditation fees, nursing is one of the most expensive courses in the Philippines.
Nursing students, especially those from poor and low-income households, have limited options to pay for their studies, licensure exam, and work expenses. In addition, nurses tend to take work opportunities in other countries because of better pay and working conditions.
The national pandemic response highlighted the importance of investing in professionals in the medical workforce.
Johnson & Johnson Foundation provided a grant to InvestEd to create a sustainable education finance program and a revolving education fund. This fund will be used as lending capital to provide concessionary loans to nursing students. The loans can be used for tuition, allowances, housing and gadget expenses for undergraduate students, licensure exam expenses for graduated nursing students, and upskilling expenses for early-career nurses.
The loans will follow a Study Now, Pay Later plan, which allows students to finish their studies and begin repayment when they have found work. In addition, the fund allows for loan forgiveness for a part or all of a student’s debt if they choose to work in the country.
Students under this initiative will have access to InvestEd’s innovative Education-to-Adulthood digital coaching program. The online platform allows access to mentors and fellow students, and learning modules, such as managing their loans and managing stress in the workplace.
“A crucial aspect in the fight against present and future pandemics is that we secure the supply of our future frontliners. The Alliance for Future Frontliners aims to ensure that our future frontliners acquire the financial and psychological support needed to reach graduation day and succeed in the noble work that they do. One of the great things about this project is the exploration to do analytics on risk, success, and retention for nursing students,” InvestEd Co-Founder and CEO Carmina Bayombong said.
InvestEd provides education loans to financially disadvantaged learners at scale. Its suite of financial products cover lifelong learning needs spanning traditional and non-traditional tracks. InvestEd de-risks the entire lending process through its proprietary Risk Engine. A globally awarded impact business, InvestEd currently has the biggest loan portfolio of low-income youth in the Philippines and has raised more than a million dollars of funding.
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