| All the statistics and just about every pundit in | | | | between what you can afford and what you |
| North America agrees that healthcare will remain | | | | must pay. In addition to grants, merit-based |
| the nation's runaway growth industry for at least | | | | scholarships abound in healthcare fields, because |
| the next ten years. You probably have read | | | | the government recognizes the acute shortage of |
| about the country's desperate shortage of | | | | healthcare professionals and wants to ameliorate |
| doctors and nurses, and you may have lived with | | | | it. Spend just five minutes at Students.gov, and |
| the shortage's consequences as you waited for | | | | discover the huge array of college funding |
| hours at urgent care or had to wait six weeks | | | | opportunities. |
| for an appointment with your primary care | | | | Or if you want to combine elements of the two |
| physician. You grudgingly admit you would consider | | | | very hottest careers for the next decade, |
| a career in healthcare except for two minor | | | | become a healthcare systems analyst. Every |
| sticking points, details really-you have no aptitude | | | | major health maintenance organization and hospital |
| for science, and you have even less aptitude for | | | | is currently engaged in the transition from paper |
| dealing with blood and guts. | | | | files to electronic health histories. The conversion |
| And then, there's always the question of money: | | | | will take several years, and it already has created |
| Who will pay for all that college? Who would | | | | huge demand for well-prepared, highly motivated |
| support me in a Master's program? | | | | systems analysts. Yes, you will work insanely long |
| Those little details need not exclude you from | | | | hours, and you will struggle against impossible |
| some of the hottest degrees in healthcare. | | | | deadlines, but you will receive more-than-healthy |
| Doctors and nurses do not run the hospitals and | | | | paychecks. Many big hospitals will pay handsome |
| clinics; consider a degree in Health Care | | | | sign-on bonuses and offer other perquisites for an |
| Administration. Especially if you already have an | | | | IT professional who can show them how to |
| undergraduate degree in business and some | | | | digitize tens of thousands of files and make them |
| successful experience in the corporate world, you | | | | available to caregivers via their wireless networks. |
| are a prime candidate for a graduate degree in | | | | If you still feel reluctant about college, because |
| healthcare management. Studying finance, | | | | you remain worried about money, contact the |
| bio-statistics, finance, medical law, and strategic | | | | financial aid office at your school of choice. There, |
| planning, you may earn your Master's degree in as | | | | a counsellor can show you literally hundreds of |
| little as a year. | | | | federally-sponsored and privately-funded |
| And the money? The federal government awards | | | | scholarships for students entering technical |
| grants to students strictly on the basis of their | | | | professions. If you have the will and |
| financial need, typically making-up the difference | | | | determination, the money will be there. |