Dani Eveloff, MSN, RN, can’t keep up with the phone calls and e-mails. A recruitment coordinator for the Omaha-based University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) College of Nursing, Eveloff has been inundated with inquiries from people wanting to make a career shift to nursing, advance their nursing degree or obtain advanced practice. Ever since the economy started going south, the influx has come from all corners of the country, at all hours.

UNMC already offers a broad selection of accelerated nursing programs, designed to advance students’ skills and get them out into the strained workforce as quickly as possible. UNMC is doubling the size of its campus, building a new campus in nearby Norfolk, and remodeling three other campuses. They are offering certificate programs, writing grants for additional funding, and accommodating as many students as possible. Even so, demand outpaces current available resources.

This scenario is playing out across the United States, as droves of Americans return to school seeking both refuge and advancement in this economic downshift. Many types of schools report upticks in applications, from public and private universities to community colleges to online for-profits.

Taking on additional student debt during a recession seems counterintuitive, but that’s exactly what thousands of people are doing. Some workers have been dislocated and want to become more competitive in a cutthroat job market. Others people are re-entering the job force after time away, needing to tune up their skill sets, and some are driven by dreams of financial success.

Many adults are motivated by the need to create a more secure future for not only themselves, but also their children. Thirty-eight year old Karen Adams is a single mother working on an associate degree in health information technology at Penn Foster Career School in Scranton, Pa. A full scholarship recipient from online education resource eLearners.com’s new “Project Working Mom…and Dads, Too”, she wants to set a good example for her son.

“I need a better career,” she said. “I have been looking into a career in the medical field for some time now. It’s definitely something that will always be there and need qualified responsible people.”

According to spokesperson Helen MacDermott, Project Working Mom has awarded nearly 100 full scholarships but received nearly a quarter of a million applications from people hoping to receive full-tuition scholarships to go back to school. Not surprising, the top selections are in health care, as people try to transition into careers in demand. Over the past year, health care jobs have expanded by an average of 30,000 per month nationally; by contrast, manufacturing employment averaged 73,000 losses per month, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

With this large and unique new population of students flooding admissions offices, higher education and health care facilities alike have had to respond with innovative solutions.

One solution includes local hospitals offering financial incentives for current employees to return to school for advanced training. This is an opportunity for providers to alleviate current and projected shortages of health care professionals. Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, S.D., for example, offers its licensed practical nurses up to $4,000 per year for tuition reimbursement if they go back to school to receive their more-advanced registered nurse degree.

Colleges and universities have also created opportunities for students to receive accelerated education and tuition breaks. For instance, Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pa., has a tuition assistance program that has been particularly popular. The program offers county residents who have been laid off since September 2008 the opportunity to take 12 college credits -- usually four courses -- for free. More than 1,100 Pennsylvanians are taking tuition-free community college courses as they search for a job.

“We’ve seen a 50 percent increase in petitions this spring alone,” said Erin White, program coordinator for Montgomery’s surgical technology program. “People say ‘it’s something I always thought about and didn’t pursue, but now that I have time [due to layoffs], I’m going for it.’ We’re increasing class sizes as fast as we can find clinical sites.”

At Harcum College in nearby Bryn Mawr, Pa., nursing program director Dr. Marian Slater echoes similar sentiments.

“We’re one of very few associate degree programs in the state offering an accelerated track for second degree students in nursing,” she said. “The bottom line is, people want and need to start working as soon as they can.”

Developed only five years ago, the Harcum nursing program already boasts nearly 200 students, of which 90 percent are non-traditional. To accommodate their rapidly growing program, Dr. Slater and her team offer three unique curriculum-delivery tracks and have had to pursue clinical sites in more remote areas of the state in addition to the already-saturated Philadelphia metro area.

This bursting-at-the-seams trend is found at community colleges across the country. American Association of Community Colleges president George Boggs has heard from 75 college presidents reporting double-digit enrollment increases this semester.

"Community colleges are a big part of the solution to this economic downturn," Boggs said. "We are the institutions that are on the ground bringing these individuals into our institutions and preparing them for a new career."

"Many [community colleges] are reporting that it is the highest-ever enrollment that they have had," Boggs said. "And several are reporting a waiting list of students that they cannot accommodate.

The federal government is stepping in to help things along. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) includes numerous programs that will benefit college students and enable colleges and companies to expand critical job training programs in health care.

On the supply side of the equation, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration has received roughly $3.5 billion for training and other services to dislocated workers, adults and youth, $250 million of which has been prioritized for jobs in the health care sector.

The new dollars have fewer restrictions than usual, in part to facilitate speedier implementation, explained Beth Zander, customer service director for Job Service North Dakota in Bismarck, N.D.

“What should people train for right now, in this changed world? What are their needs in relation to employers’ needs, and are there some short-term training opportunities that we can find or create?” she said. “Health care related educational opportunities will no doubt be a part of this creation as we move forward.”

“Create” is a new opportunity for Zander and her counterparts across the country, referring to training gaps that allow states to partner with colleges and universities to develop training curriculums for areas of need. States are just getting started, having only received notice of their funding in mid-March.

The Recovery Act provides $500 million to address health professional workforce shortages by providing scholarships, loan repayments and grants to training programs for equipment. Of this, $75 million goes to the National Health Service Corps, charged with recruiting and placing more than 3,300 additional clinicians to the nation’s neediest communities within an 18-month period.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) received $10.4 billion through the stimulus package, $21 million of which has been allocated for student educational opportunities, job creation and increased research careers in health-related sciences.

On the demand side of the equation, federal Increased Demand for Services (IDS) grants through the Department of Health and Human Services will be distributed to over 1,000 community health centers which deliver preventive and primary care services to patients regardless of their ability to pay. They will use the funds to retain or create approximately 6,400 health center jobs, increasing capacity to provide care to an escalating number of uninsured patients during the economic downturn. The Recovery Act also authorized $155 million to support 126 new community health centers, resulting in the creation of 5,500 new center jobs.

Besides working as a busy recruitment coordinator, Nebraska’s Dani Eveloff is a student herself, working on a post-master’s certificate in UNMC’s psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner program. There is a tremendous shortage and need for mental health professionals around the country, particularly in rural states like Nebraska and Iowa.

“I think the stresses of the economy are putting even more of a strain on people,” said Eveloff. “They are seeking more help with few options. I just want to help.”