How to make ends meet during nursing school?

[dclamb3]

At 35yo, I've decided to make the career change from a comfortable, secure, well-paying job in marketing to nursing. I have a BS, but will soon be resigning to pursue a BSN.

I've recently sold my home, so I no longer have a mortgage. Before I begin school, I intend to buy a reliable car outright in cash so I won't have a car payment. I have no debt, other than my previous student loan (which I believe I can defer while I'm a student). With that said, there will still be regular living expenses like rent, electricity, food, gas, car insurance, phone, etc.

While I'm a nursing student, I intend to volunteer at a local hospital to gain experience during my (hopefully) 2 years of nursing school.

I may or may not be able to get financial aid as a student (as in my experience, they base aid on your income from the previous year, which means they'll be basing it on my decent salary from *this* calendar year, not from my $0 income as a student *next* calendar year).

What do people do to make ends meet while being a nursing student & volunteer?

For those with no nursing school experience yet, are there entry-level jobs that pay (I haven't seen any, but also don't know what I should be looking for)?

Thank you in advance.

[manowhopefulrnsoon]

I am starting RN school in Jan and was previously working as a medical assistant (hence my drive for being and RN) I started waiting tables again. It's not so glamorous but the place I work requires a minimum of 4 shifts a week. I can pick up shifts if I need extra cash becuase there is always someone willing to have the day off! I work at a chain restaurant but maybe you could look into fine dining??? It works for me and I can still make around 500-600 a week working under 30 hours!!!

[missx]

I've largely been living on beans and rice rice and beans (literally!) for many years BEFORE going back to school. I can't afford to buy a car outright because my employment has never paid enough, and is often only seasonal. I am single with no one to give me a ride. How am I going to get through nursing school without a car? That is my question. I have already been delayed getting to work many times because of unreliable public transport in the polar vortex winter, and was commuting 5.5 hours to get to work on buses and trains (while maintaining a 3.5 thus far in pre-nursing coursework)! The only car I could afford for cash would be a $500-700 piece of junk that would need many many repairs. Found this topic through a search for 'how to get through medical school or nursing school without a car'. BTW: I took the MCAT sample questions test on no sleep, without taking any coursework that the questions entailed except one intro to chem class almost 7 years ago; and after not having a biology or science course in over 26 years, and got 18% correct out of 39 questions. Not sure what this means, other than that several med students have told me to 'go for it' and apply to med school.