Best private student loans for large amounts?

Apple-Core, ASN, BSN, RN · Feb 2, 2017

Have you considered community college? Same degree, fraction of the cost. Obviously it's your call, but I would run for the hills from a program costing above $30~$40K, never mind in excess of $100!!!!!

C_Schneider1010 · Feb 2, 2017

My only problem with a community college is that you get your ADN in the same time you could get your BSN from a university. Which I have no problem with I also applied at Weatherford College. However you then have to go back to school for your BSN in which most hospitals give you 3 years to complete. My plan is to go wherever I get in but my end game is the CRNA program at TCU which I have a better chance getting into if I were to graduate from TCU with my BSN.

rachaelofcourse · Feb 2, 2017

I'm sorry, but I would never pay that much for a BSN. Nurses make decent money, but not that much!

Do any community colleges in your area offer a concurrent enrollment program? That's what I'm in. You essentially earn your ADN and BSN at the same time. I would look into all other options before shelling out 100K for a BSN.

C_Schneider1010 · Feb 2, 2017

I work at a very large hospital in the DFW area already, in the second busiest ER in the country as a PCT so they pay for part of my schooling. So I'm not shelling out 122K plus myself.

I'm also going back to TCU for the CRNA program which is another $88k and not an easy program to get into, Alumni get first dibs in so graduating from TCU in the BSN program makes the most sense for my end goal. Two of my supervisors went to TCU as well as many of our nurses here. As the "price" seems like a lot for what I'm wanting to do it cuts almost 3 years down off my schooling to be a CRNA to go this route. However IF I get into one of the community colleges I have applied to and not TCU I'll go there.

LittyCity · Feb 3, 2017

You are trippin.

ThatBigGuy · Feb 3, 2017

Here's some math:

You are about to spend $200,000 on an education. The average student loan has an interest rate of 7% and takes 20 years to pay off. This repayment plan will cost $1550 a month, resulting in $172,000 in interest paid.

Your CRNA education will end up costing you $372,000. You will need to earn $186,000 a year to afford this education.

What is frightening to me is that you are willing to pay $122,000 for a BSN in order to buy a better acceptance probability into TCU's CRNA program. The AANA states the average applicant has 3.5 years critical care experience, which means you're likely 6-8 years away from applying to the CRNA program. So much can happen in that amount of time.

What if you don't finish your BSN? What if you get married and want to have children, be a stay at home parent? What if you don't pass the NCLEX? What if you hate nursing? What if you can't afford to pay your student loans on an RN salary? What if you default on private loans and you can't buy a house or finance a car for the next 7 years? What if you get very ill? What if you want to move to Tulsa or San Francisco or Tampa or London? What if you can't handle the unique environment of critical care? What if you don't get accepted into TCU's program? What if you don't make it through the CRNA program? What if your mind simply changes?

There are so many variables at play here for you to gamble with a $122,000 BSN. Please, for the sake of the next 20 years of your life, do not get your BSN at TCU.

jj224 · Feb 3, 2017

Don't do it! Interest alone will be killer. That is wayyyy too expensive. Don't go to a school that two years of gross salary wouldn't cover. My doctorate is a gonna cost me a little less and I'm freaking out about repayment with a CRNA salary of 160-180k...

I reread your post and you said work is paying for some of it.. how much is "some?" Did I miss that part? My best, unsolicited advice to you is go for something cheaper, pay it off ASAP (don't let the interest accrue), and save money for future schooling. I'm fairly certain RNs don't make a lot of money in Texas (although the cost of living is low).

C_Schneider1010 · Feb 3, 2017

Well 160 other people also attend TCU's nursing program every year and a lot of people I work with have gone and graduated from TCU. I'm looking for loan options for what my grants($6,000/semester), scholarships($5,000/semester) and hospital($5,000/semester) don't cover. I have the ability to CASH pay the whole program as well, I'm looking for loan options so I don't have to drop the cash. My MAIN income is not going to be from nursing nor is the money I make now as a PCT for experience. This is my fall back "real person" job as will be the CRNA in the end. So I'm not concerned with the interest, etc I'm here looking for who people used and like for student loans. If TCU to you is expensive and YOU wouldn't go there that's fine no one is asking YOU to. I would like to go to the prestige school and I would like to do so with part student loans versus dropping a large some all at once. Student loan total will only be around $30-50,000. Which I can chunk off all at once if I would like but I would like it on my credit history as well to add to the history. So if you don't have a suggestion for who you liked for student loans please find another post.

SFnursetobe12 · Feb 3, 2017

I have multiple friends (and myself included) that got loans through Wells Fargo. I got a better interest rate through college Ave and when we told Wells Fargo that, Wells Fargo lowered their interest rate for us. I would never have though about negotiating a lower rate but my husband did it since he has had experience with home loans. Good luck to you!

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Feb 4, 2017

Well 160 other people also attend TCU's nursing program every year and a lot of people I work with have gone and graduated from TCU.

It does not mean these people made a wise choice by attending TCU, especially considering the low starting pay rates for RNs in the D/FW area (a piddly $25/hr starting wage, on average).

I have worked as a nurse in D/FW my entire career. Nobody in the local health care community really cares about the prestigious TCU degree. You will be wiping smelly asses and slinging bedpans while that prestigious degree hangs on your wall. You will be paid the same as the associate degree nurses from Hill College and Brookhaven to do the exact same job.

Most of your managers at the hospital will have degrees from local community colleges and state universities (read: TCC, El Centro, Tarleton, UTA, Midwestern State). Some of them will have degrees from investor-owned schools of shady repute (read: Univ of Phoenix, Walden, Kaplan).

However, you appear to have already made your decision. To answer your original question, Sun Trust offers private student loans with competitive interest rates. Good luck to you.

Dellrich89 · Feb 4, 2017

Im in the same boat as you kinda. I was accepted into a private bsn program and an adn program at a community college. The adn program is two years and the bsn program is 2.5 years. I chose the adn program mainly because of the debt load which was roughly 60k for the bsn and 6k for the adn program. My advice to you is to go the cheaper route if you can. You don't want 120k hanging over your head before applying to CRNA school. With that kind of debt, it restricts you from doing things you WANT to do, instead you will be doing things you HAVE to do. Do not go in debt just to save a couple years...Its not worth it. Yea, you can be making money in that extra time you saved, but you will owe more. Besides, don't you think 120k for only two years is too much??