{"id":56250,"date":"2026-04-22T09:28:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/?p=56250"},"modified":"2026-04-22T09:28:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:28:43","slug":"nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/","title":{"rendered":"Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become &#8216;Practice-Ready&#8217; with Fewer Financial Stressors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Nursing shortages make headlines across Virginia and the nation. Virginia Western Community College has a new tool to address those shortages and make nursing school more accessible &#8212; the Earn to Learn Nursing Education Acceleration Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Virginia Western&#8217;s Associate of Applied Science Nursing Program, a pre-licensure RN program, and Carilion Clinic have partnered to implement Earn to Learn in the Roanoke Valley, aiming to transform nurse clinical education and ensure nurses are practice-ready when they graduate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The way I describe it is I feel like I&#8217;m being trained as a nurse instead of as a student,&#8221; said Danielle Ledbetter, one of 22 Virginia Western nursing students who took part in the 2025-26 Earn to Learn cohort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Five students participated in a pilot program last year after the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) awarded more than $4 million statewide in 2024 to a range of institutions. Those five all became Carilion employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The program reaches third-semester nursing students to enhance their clinical experiences, explained Dr. Kelley Pennell, Professor and Coordinator\/Administrative Officer of Nursing for Virginia Western&#8217;s AAS (prelicensure-RN) Nursing Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Working with these students and seeing the progression from entry-level student to becoming a practice-ready nurse is extremely rewarding,&#8221; Pennell said. &#8220;Knowing this program will contribute to better-prepared nurses that can provide evidence-based care to promote patient safety and positive patient outcomes is a game changer for associate degree nursing programs.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/16\/virginia-western-nursing-students-selected-for-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/\">Read more about how the Earn to Learn program benefits students and employers.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nursing shortages make headlines across Virginia and the nation. Virginia Western Community College has a new tool to address those shortages and make nursing school more accessible &#8212; the Earn to Learn Nursing Education Acceleration Program. Virginia Western&#8217;s Associate of Applied Science Nursing Program, a pre-licensure RN program, and Carilion Clinic have partnered to implement<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/\"> (Read the full article&#8230;)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-news"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Erica Myatt","author_link":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/author\/emyatt\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become &#039;Practice-Ready&#039; with Fewer Financial Stressors - Virginia Western Bulletin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become &#039;Practice-Ready&#039; with Fewer Financial Stressors - Virginia Western Bulletin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nursing shortages make headlines across Virginia and the nation. Virginia Western Community College has a new tool to address those shortages and make nursing school more accessible &#8212; the Earn to Learn Nursing Education Acceleration Program. Virginia Western&#8217;s Associate of Applied Science Nursing Program, a pre-licensure RN program, and Carilion Clinic have partnered to implement (Read the full article...)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Virginia Western Bulletin\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-22T13:28:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-22T13:28:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erica Myatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erica Myatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22\\\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22\\\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Erica Myatt\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4ea66be7388349fea07ee14dfb69189c\"},\"headline\":\"Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become &#8216;Practice-Ready&#8217; with Fewer Financial Stressors\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-22T13:28:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-22T13:28:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22\\\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":257,\"articleSection\":[\"Campus News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22\\\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22\\\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\\\/\",\"name\":\"Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become 'Practice-Ready' with Fewer Financial Stressors - Virginia Western Bulletin\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-22T13:28:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-22T13:28:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4ea66be7388349fea07ee14dfb69189c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22\\\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22\\\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/22\\\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become &#8216;Practice-Ready&#8217; with Fewer Financial Stressors\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/\",\"name\":\"Virginia Western Bulletin\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.virginiawestern.edu\\\/bulletin\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4ea66be7388349fea07ee14dfb69189c\",\"name\":\"Erica Myatt\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become 'Practice-Ready' with Fewer Financial Stressors - Virginia Western Bulletin","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become 'Practice-Ready' with Fewer Financial Stressors - Virginia Western Bulletin","og_description":"Nursing shortages make headlines across Virginia and the nation. Virginia Western Community College has a new tool to address those shortages and make nursing school more accessible &#8212; the Earn to Learn Nursing Education Acceleration Program. Virginia Western&#8217;s Associate of Applied Science Nursing Program, a pre-licensure RN program, and Carilion Clinic have partnered to implement (Read the full article...)","og_url":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/","og_site_name":"Virginia Western Bulletin","article_published_time":"2026-04-22T13:28:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-22T13:28:43+00:00","author":"Erica Myatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erica Myatt","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/"},"author":{"name":"Erica Myatt","@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/#\/schema\/person\/4ea66be7388349fea07ee14dfb69189c"},"headline":"Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become &#8216;Practice-Ready&#8217; with Fewer Financial Stressors","datePublished":"2026-04-22T13:28:40+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-22T13:28:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/"},"wordCount":257,"articleSection":["Campus News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/","url":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/","name":"Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become 'Practice-Ready' with Fewer Financial Stressors - Virginia Western Bulletin","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-04-22T13:28:40+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-22T13:28:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/#\/schema\/person\/4ea66be7388349fea07ee14dfb69189c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/2026\/04\/22\/nursing-students-in-earn-to-learn-program-become-practice-ready-with-fewer-financial-stressors\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nursing Students in Earn to Learn Program Become &#8216;Practice-Ready&#8217; with Fewer Financial Stressors"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/","name":"Virginia Western Bulletin","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/#\/schema\/person\/4ea66be7388349fea07ee14dfb69189c","name":"Erica Myatt"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2028-04-16 14:21:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}