Blinn accepts $400,000 gift in support of nursing scholarships

Wheeler Foundation has gifted $1 million toward Blinn scholarships in the past four years

January 18, 2022

During its regular meeting Tuesday, the Blinn College District Board of Trustees accepted a $400,000 gift from the F.W. Bert and Mae Dean Wheeler Foundation that will fund scholarships in support of Blinn nursing students during the 2022 calendar year.

The scholarships support students enrolled in Blinn’s associate degree, vocational nursing, and licensed vocational nursing-transition programs. Over the last four years, Blinn has received a total of $1 million from the Wheeler Foundation in support of Blinn’s nursing students.

Blinn’s two-year Associate Degree Nursing Program prepares students for a nursing career and for transfer into a bachelor’s degree program at a four-year university. Students who complete Blinn’s ADN Program and pass the NCLEX-RN have a job placement rate between 97 and 100% and are qualified for a wide array of nursing positions, including pediatric, geriatric, hospice, school, and clinical nursing. With the demand soaring in the nursing field, new graduates can expect to make an average of $53,000 per year.

Blinn’s ADN Program is based at the RELLIS Academic Alliance Complex at the RELLIS Campus in Bryan, where students gain hands-on skills utilizing the facility’s 16,000-square-foot simulation laboratories.

Located on the Brenham Campus, Blinn’s Vocational Nursing Program offers students the choice of a 10-month, face-to-face track where students attend class and clinicals each day during the week, and a 12-month, online-blended track where theory courses are taught online and labs and clinicals are taught in person on Fridays and weekends. The online-blended track is designed for working professionals.

According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, almost 98% of Blinn’s graduates from the program during the past three years have found jobs in the profession. Program graduates are eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-PN) and the Nursing Jurisprudence Examination and are considered licensed vocational nurses after passing both exams. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2020 annual median pay for vocational nurses was $48,820, and employment is expected to increase 9% between 2020 and 2030, creating 63,800 new jobs nationwide.

The one-year Licensed Vocational Nursing-Transition Program prepares individuals who hold a license to practice as an LVN in Texas and have at least approximately one year of nursing experience to take the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) in one year.

For more information regarding Blinn’s nursing programs, visit www.blinn.edu/nursing.