ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ The University of Central Florida is offering nurses seeking a Master’s Degree a change a loan forgiveness opportunity.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal (http://bit.ly/1SFCEZ9 ) reports the school is offering nursing students a loan to cover the cost of online classes. They can then have 85 percent of that debt wiped away if they agree to teach at a college after graduation.

The program is funded with a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. It’s being introduced at UCF to help address a shortage of doctoral nursing faculty that is limiting student capacity. The school says the demand for professional nurses is growing.

UCF marketing and communications manager Carolyn Petagno says many nurses with doctorate degrees don’t choose teaching because the pay is less than they could get at hospitals.