Ouch....nursing school expenses!

Nursing Students General Students

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Specializes in CCU, Geriatrics, Critical Care, Tele.

We all know nursing school is expensive. Some of us were fortunate to be able to save up before we started school. Others are loaded with loans. How are you paying for school? What budget changes have you made?

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Now I know why it takes 9 clicks and an age verification to find the tuition page.

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I worked throughout school and had enough to cover living expenses. I took out loans to cover my tuition at a private catholic school and and made interest-only payments while in school. My stepdad also generously covered one semester of school. Despite all this I still graduated with about $60,000 in debt. I pay $1,500 per month towards my loans. 16 months after graduating and I am down to $42,000 left to pay. I currently save 6% towards retirement plus employer match, which I plan to increase once loans are paid. If I stay on track I will have them paid off in two and a half years. I live in mid-sized city (~250,000) near downtown and have enough to live in a nice apartment that I share with my boyfriend. Being able to afford a house and a new car are still many years down the road!

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Now I know why it takes 9 clicks and an age verification to find the tuition page.

LOL. You are funny.

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I paid for nursing school with a combination of working full time, scholarships, and a little savings. I completed my pre-requisites for free because I worked for a college where undergrad tuition is free and then for the professional nursing track I had to pay out of pocket but I received some scholarships ($10,500) and was able to use only sub and unsub loans and just a bit of savings. All in all I graduated with less then $20,000 worth of loans for which I am very grateful, particularly since this is my second bachelor degree!

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Well, I'm not in nursing school yet. I'm still finishing up my prereqs and will apply to the program in January. I'm 19 years old, I got my first job when I was 16. I'm paying for my classes through 1 scholarship, 1 grant, and savings. I'm making changes (going out to eat less often, etc.) to save money and put it in the bank. I make minimum wage right now, so my savings are pretty small, but every little bit helps.

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LOANS .. lol

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I'll be taking out school loans, but that's a small price to pay for doing something you truly love! :D

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I am going back with half a dozen pre-reqs left to complete before applying for the program. I am working full time hours to cover my rent and other living expenses and will be using loans and grants to cover my tution. I will also be filling out the scholarship application available so hoping that I might get some assistance through that. Once I am in the program I figure that I will probably have to drop down to part-time for work and will have to increase the amount that I am taking on my loans to help cover the loss of income. Unfortunatly it is just myself so there is no second income to depend on to help cover expenses. Luxuries such as cable and internet don't exist. Even though I will have loan payments to make after I finish with my program I will be making more than I am currently and already have a job as a nurse lined up with my current employeer as a nurse once I am done.

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