How to mangae the debt most of us will have after completing school?

Specialties CRNA

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Just curious on how most of the people in crna school or those who have recently graduated with student loans plan to manage it. With the cost of higher education increasing at a ever faster pace, I expect many of us will be dealing with this problem. Although, I am not accepted into a program yet, I do have a interview coming up in a couple weeks and have calculated that I will need to borrow around 50k for tutition and cost of living. I already have 18k undergrad debt. From what I read on this forum that the average crna student is coming out with 50-70k of debt makes me realize it is not just me who will have to deal with kind of debt. I often talk to MD resident friends of mine who average 100-120k debt and I know it is big concern for them also, especially with the trend of decreased reimburstments from the govt. and insurance companies.

Some of the questions I have are: is it real common for employers to pay back some of the loans? Does the govt. offer programs to help pay back some of the loans? It seems to me that if the crna's salaries were not in the range they currently are that it would not be practical to acquire this kind of debt, especially if you find out you can't pay it back. Now, I do realize that the % rates on student loans are at a all time low and that will certainly help us pay back such huge amounts of money, but it still seems over-whelming at first.

Originally posted by u-r-sleeepy

Hey ThinkingAboutIt - good reply! I welcome the update on the timeline for usage of IRA/401k $$$. That is GOOD NEWS for lots of folks who could really use that money during the "thin" times while in school.

I also want to encourage students to look into the School Tax Credits while in school - Credits are HUGE compared with "mere deductions"! :) Do your homework folks with regard to the financing and taxes & loans to see you through CRNA school - it really pays off. I know it did for me!

Sleeepy

Hey, Sleeepy can you elaborate I have never heard of "School Tax Credits" Are these attached just for going to particular schools? I only know of the lifelong learning and Hope credit, and some of the Nursing shortage legislation. The lifelong is a deduction and the hope credit is a credit. The Nursing shortage legislation will pay back student loans if you work in a part of the country designated as a "shortage area". And there is a new bill that will probably up the amounts. Has anyone used this for graduate or undergraduate loans??

thanks sleepy for the investor's advice, haha---no really, as I stated I could be wrong b/c I definitely agree you have to do whatever you can to get through because it is the best investment you can make---I am just the type of person who did what you did--consolidated loans for very low percentage--I like to leave my IRA money alone,,but for some obviously looks like a great choice----However, I think your investor hubby would agree that for people who know nothing about stocks, or dont have time to look into them all the time, I am better off leaving them and letting them compound over time----I think that people are way too afraid of loans,,,they are so cheap now and sign on bonuses will take care of a lot of them---with this I dont regret my decision, but as stated, looks as if it is a smart move either way to achieve the common goal---graduation----by the way, took your boards yet??

jdpete,

Would you mind elaborating on the details of your contract with your boss i.e. how much, how often, time owed, etc.

I have another question. If applying for the Federal Aid of $18,500, can you still apply for seperate private loans from a bank? How will a private loan affect other aid? Should I secure federal aid first before applying for private loans?

In our case Private loans had no bearing on getting Federal Aid. Federal aid is only based on Cost of Tuition and Student expected contribution. I know when I talked to the FA office about my elligibility because of my husbands salary they said I would atleast qualify for the cost of tuition no matter what my spouse made. She said that FA for graduate studies is figured differently than undergraduate. I am not however certain that is true everywhere, although it should be.

I know when Kevin went to school we had no problem securing both Federal and Private even though I was only making 35K as a staff nurse, had a mortage and car loans. I guess they are more free with their money for graduate education.

I checked out all sorts of Private lenders and got some decent deals.

Hope this helped.

Have you used the federal government's program for forgiving nurse federal student loans for either loans from an undergraduate or graduate level study?

I have read the publications from the dept. of education. I was wondering if it was difficult to setup and how much they would forgive.

I worked in an inner-city public hospital for a couple of years after graduation with my BSN. My federal Perkins loans were forgiven on a pro-rated schedule. For every year worked, X dollars were forgiven. I never had to pay a dime in repayment for those loans. They totalled a few thousand dollars.

Our financial aid person says that every graduate student will get $9,250 per semester, even if you have assets and a high-income earning spouse. That's $27,750 per year. Remember that SRNAs go to school year round, so we receive an additional $9,250 disbursement for summer term.

I strongly advise that you use the application year and the time between admission and the start of school to get your financial house in order - get out of debt, scale down your standard of living, save some pennies. We have a few students in my program that must work, and it is beginning to become a real strain on them. They are exhausted. There may be some program out there in which students can work and go to school (and maintain their sanity), but it ain't mine, that's for sure!

Just to put in a reply from the investors advice on earlier post---upon talking to a student who is going to school next year, she is going on Federal and private loans----states she is holding out to sign with anybody at present time--asked about her IRA money, and she said that her CPA neighbor, who does her taxes, highly advised her against using this because the $20,000 she has in this would be taxable (low but still taxable) and would be better off generating money during this time, possibly being $3-4k more by graduation, plus you didn't pay any taxes on it to pull it out, so that is money gained--- and thus having her 23-24k in her IRA for retirement at graduation time, she wont have to try to gain back all she lost during this time---she said she advised low interest loans, which are out there now---just passing on what was told to me---when I started school 4 years ago I had about $28,000 in an IRA---decided against taking any out---when I graduated two years ago, it was worth a little over $30k due to bad years---however, this being my second full year of working--between me and my employer, I have put $26,000 back in and with interest it is worth over $60,000 right now---If I hadn't left it in there, I would be out the 30,000 that keeps making me money every year, by making about 8-10%, I gain an extra $3,000 just for having the original money in there--I put the maximum amount in my IRA that I can, so I couldn't have put any more in even if I wanted to, so I would only have 26,000 and making 8-10% on this----I am still paying off my loans, have two years left on them, and am enjoying life---Just some advice, that I think is the smartest way to go, good luck whatever you chose----

Specializes in ICU.

Well, I am currently about 35,000 in undergrad debt. I plan to work my but off over the next few years and pay it off or pay it down as much as possible. I want to work 4 12hour shifts and allow the overtime money to go towards a school fund. But, regardless of the amount of money I have saved, I am going to do whatever I have to do (loans etc.) But, I am going really think twice about contracts.

My daughter just got out of the local community college after two years, got her RN, same license as everybody else, at a total cost of about $6k for the whole program. Soup to nuts. Maybe we need to consider that four-year colleges and their costs are largely a scam?

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