Optometry Career Conferences Set for Five N.C. Campuses ...( RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK N.C. Sept....),Health

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- North Carolina students interested in earning the doctor of optometry degree are encouraged to attend the 2007 Contract Programs Career Conferences on Optometry sponsored by the N.C. State Education Assistance Authority. Conferences are scheduled at five locations around the state:

-- North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC) - 1 pm - 5 pm, Monday

October 8, 2007 North Carolina State University in the Talley Student

Center Ballroom.

-- East Carolina University (Greenville, NC) - 12:00 noon - 2:00 pm,

Tuesday, October 9, 2007 in the Mendenhall Student Union, Multipurpose

Room.

-- UNC-Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC) - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm, Wednesday,

October 10, 2007, in the Great Hall of the Frank Porter Graham Student

Union Building.

-- Winston-Salem State University (Winston-Salem, NC) - 9:30 am -

11:30 am, Thursday, October 11, 2007, in the Front Lobby of the

W.B. Atkinson Science Building.

-- UNC-Charlotte (Charlotte, NC) - 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, Thursday,

October 11, 2007, in Room 209 of the Cone Center.

North Carolina provides funding for residents of the state pursuing doctor of optometry degrees at four out of state campuses through the North Carolina Optometry Scholarship Loan (OSL) program. North Carolina residents selected for the program receive significant funding to attend one of four participating institutions: Pennsylvania College of Optometry, Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, TN, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Houston. The awards are renewable for up to four years.

Recipients must commit to work as optometrists in North Carolina for one year for each year funding is received to repay the loan. Students who do not fulfill the obligation are required to repay the funds at an annual interest rate of 10%.

Representatives of the fou
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