A program designed to bolster the state’s healthcare workforce by providing financial assistance to nursing programs has been restarted after the management of the program was shifted to the newly created Virginia Nursing Workforce Center.
The Earn to Learn program has $4.8 million to disburse to educational institutions that offer state-approved pre-licensure nursing education programs for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses.
According to the Virginia Nursing Workforce Center, the program allows nursing students to earn income comparable to their level of training while they complete required clinical experience. Participating hospitals and healthcare providers can work directly with future nurses while they complete their education, supporting their transition from clinical training to employment.
The program’s relaunch under the Nursing Workforce Center comes after a state study found that money for several nursing scholarship programs had not been fully used because the state Health Department did not have the capacity to effectively manage them.
About $10.6 million in unused funds was left over from previous years across four different nursing scholarship programs as of June 2, according to the department.
The management of about 60% of all of the health workforce incentive programs administered by the Health Department was moved from the agency’s purview to the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority in July, after the General Assembly approved the measure unanimously through legislation in March. Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed the bill in April.
Yvette Dorsey, director of the Virginia Nursing Workforce Center, said during an interview in early September that Virginia was one of nine states that had not established a workforce center. Creating the center brings Virginia in line with the approach other states use to address nursing workforce demands.
$4.8 million to bolster the healthcare workforce in rural Virginia
The need for nurses is particularly acute in rural areas of Virginia. Registered nurses and licensed practical nurses are largely concentrated in Central and Northern Virginia, according to a 2025 report from the Virginia Department of Health Professions. The report found that 28% of the state’s registered nurses and 21% of licensed practical nurses worked in Central Virginia. About 25% of RNs and 17% of LPNs were concentrated in Northern Virginia.
By comparison, 3% of the state’s registered nurses worked in the Southside region, and 4% worked in Southwest. There were slightly more licensed practical nurses, with 7% and 9%, respectively.
An analysis released in early September by the George Mason University Center for Health Workforce found more than 17,000 job postings for registered nurses and nearly 4,000 postings for licensed practical nurses in the state.
Across Southwest and Southside Virginia, more than 5,000 job ads sought nurses. The report also found 1,152 job advertisements for licensed practical nurses across the region.
Demand for these roles is likely to continue increasing. Over the next decade, 21% of nurses in Virginia are expected to retire. By 2050, about half of the current workforce will be retired, according to the Department of Health Professions.
Under the Virginia Nursing Workforce Center, high schools, colleges and universities, hospitals, and healthcare providers can apply for the two-year Earn to Learn grant program. Funding for the grant program will be doled out to 12 grantees in amounts of up to $400,000 per recipient. Applications are being accepted through Sept. 30.
The funding does not have to automatically go to student wages, Dorsey said. Applicants can propose spending the grant money on expenses such as student stipends, tuition and fees, testing fees or faculty support.
The center will evaluate whether applicants can demonstrate that their programs will recruit nursing students, provide meaningful experiences, prepare students for practice, help students pass licensure exams — and keep those graduates in Virginia.
Clinical immersion can support employment; rural organizations encouraged to apply
The program emphasizes clinical experience as a way to streamline the transition from training to the workforce, keeping participants in the state whenever possible. Retention in Virginia is the central goal.
“We really want to see a grant that demonstrates how they are closing that transition-to-practice gap,” Dorsey said.
The idea is for students to become immersed in a clinical organization while still in school. They could work in roles appropriate to their current credentials, such as a nurse extern, patient care technician or certified nursing assistant in a long-term care facility.
Dorsey said this gives students clinical experience in Virginia while allowing the hosting organizations to become familiar with them before graduation.
While the goals and structure of the program will remain mostly the same under the direction of the workforce center, Dorsey said there will be greater attention to metrics to ensure that the grantees are effectively capturing, recruiting and retaining nursing students in Virginia.
Dorsey encouraged rural organizations to apply, including rural high schools and long-term care facilities.
Awareness of the center and its grant opportunities could be one barrier to participation, she said. Some rural organizations also may not have staff with experience writing grant applications.
Finding clinical placements can present another challenge in rural areas. Dorsey said the center may eventually consider creating a statewide clinical-placement platform that would give nursing programs greater visibility into available clinical capacity and help connect schools with clinical partners.
