Nursing shortages are usually described as an enrollment problem. New Hampshire has more applicants than it can seat. The harder problem is the students who enroll and do not finish, and a program run out of Elliot Hospital in Manchester is attacking that second problem with gas cards.
Granite State P.A.R.T.N.E.R.S., which stands for People Aligning Resources Towards Nursing Expansion and Retention Strategies, covers the costs that quietly end nursing careers before they begin: uniforms, school supplies, groceries and transportation. Elliot Hospital received a $3 million U.S. Department of Labor Nursing Expansion Grant in 2023 to lead it, and the money runs through June 2028.
The Costs That Are Not Tuition
Katrina Asselin became a nurse at Elliot Hospital this year, roughly two decades after the idea first occurred to her. She had given birth to her daughter six days after her own eighteenth birthday, and the nurses who cared for her during that delivery set the ambition. There was no night or weekend program available at the time, so she worked as a medical assistant for 12 years before she could enroll.
When she finally attended nursing school at Rivier University, class ran four hours in the evenings with clinicals on weekends. The obstacle was not the coursework.
"It really doesn't matter that you have four children at home and you work full time," Asselin told NHPR. "They still have the assignments that are due, the projects that are due, you still have to attend class."
The program covered uniforms, supplies, and grocery and gas cards. Asselin said that without it she could not have afforded the gas to drive to classes.
"I mean it on every single level," she said. "I would not have been able to afford my semesters. I would not have been able to afford the gas."
The Structure Behind the Support
The program is run as a statewide collaboration. Employer partners include Elliot Health System, Catholic Medical Center, Southern New Hampshire Hospital and Catholic Charities of New Hampshire, with education partners spanning the seven-campus Community College System of New Hampshire and private institutions. Total project funding is $3.75 million, of which the Labor Department grant supplies $3 million, with supplemental money raised separately to cover prerequisite courses the federal grant cannot pay for.
Vanessa Rashid, the grant retention specialist Asselin credits, described the pattern the program sees repeatedly.
"We know there's a big nursing shortage in the United States and also very much so in New Hampshire," Rashid told NHPR. "So nursing programs, if they can brainstorm ways to try and address some of those folks who can't make the typical full time school every day it would really open some more doors."
A correction to how this program is often described: it is not new. It has been operating since the 2023 grant award, and this week's reporting documents its results rather than announcing a launch.
That distinction matters for anyone reading it as a model. The program set out to enroll 300 individuals and reported at its midpoint that it had retained all of them. It has now produced graduates, which is a different and more useful kind of evidence than a launch announcement. Asselin is one of them, and she finished while working full time and raising four children.
The Capacity Ceiling It Cannot Fix
Retention support does not create seats, and New Hampshire's constraint runs on both dimensions at once.
The University of New Hampshire closed undergraduate nursing enrollment early this spring after reaching capacity, with officials saying they were unable to offer a place to every qualified applicant. Chuck Lloyd, vice chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire, told NHPR that the system's community colleges have likewise seen applications exceeding their training capacity.
The underlying projection puts numbers on the gap. Data cited by the community college system from the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis projects that while 2,280 licensed practical nurses will be working in New Hampshire in 2030, an additional 3,640 will be needed, a shortfall of more than 1,300.
The state is also deploying larger sums. In March, the New Hampshire Executive Council approved $15.6 million in first-year funding to the University of New Hampshire on behalf of the university system, with up to $97 million over five years, through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program. A separate state office, GO-NORTH, oversees New Hampshire's share of that program, which the state says exceeded $204 million for 2026 and runs through 2030.
Against those figures, a $3 million retention grant is small. Its value is that it targets a different failure point than the capital and faculty investments do.
The Funding Cliff Ahead
The program's money runs out in June 2028, and what comes after is unresolved.
NHPR reported that future funding is uncertain following the Trump administration's executive order directing agencies not to renew programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Granite State P.A.R.T.N.E.R.S. explicitly aims to help people who are underrepresented or unserved find careers in nursing, which is the language that places it in scope.
Program leaders are looking for replacement funding. Whether they find it will determine whether the students currently in the pipeline are the last cohort to receive this support.
For prospective nursing students in New Hampshire and elsewhere, the transferable lesson is worth stating directly: ask the school's financial aid office and any affiliated hospital partner specifically about non-tuition support before enrolling. Transportation assistance, childcare stipends, uniform and equipment funds, and food assistance referrals exist at many programs but are rarely advertised alongside tuition figures. Those are the costs that most often end an enrollment, and they are the ones students are least likely to have budgeted for.
Asselin's assessment of what the program did is the argument for that kind of support in one sentence. "This program is made for people who are like me, who had a rough start to life and who want better for their family and for their future."
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Granite State P.A.R.T.N.E.R.S.? A New Hampshire program led by Elliot Health System that helps nursing students complete their degrees by covering uniforms, school supplies, groceries and transportation costs.
Is it new? No. Elliot Hospital received a $3 million Department of Labor grant in 2023 to lead the program, and funding runs through June 2028. Recent reporting documents its results rather than announcing a launch.
How many students does it serve? The program set out to enroll 300 individuals and reported retaining all of them at its midpoint, working through a statewide network of employer, education and community partners.
Why focus on gas and groceries instead of tuition? Because those costs are what most often force students to withdraw. Tuition aid does not help a student who cannot afford to drive to clinicals.
How big is New Hampshire's nursing gap? Federal workforce projections cited by the state's community college system point to a shortfall of more than 1,300 licensed practical nurses by 2030, while nursing program applications exceed available training capacity.
What happens after 2028? Funding is uncertain following a federal executive order directing agencies not to renew programs tied to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Program leaders are seeking replacement funding.
What should prospective nursing students ask about? Non-tuition support specifically: transportation assistance, childcare stipends, uniform and equipment funds, and food assistance referrals. These are rarely advertised alongside tuition figures.
