Student loan debt?

Peppermint_RN · Jul 9, 2013

I took out about $11,000 in loans and had a scholarship for $2500 to pay for nursing school & my pre-reqs at a community college in TN for my ASN. Not too bad if you ask me :)

christina731 · Jul 9, 2013

The program I'm in costs about $8000. It's an ADN program at a community college in Las Vegas, NV I don't qualify for financial aid so I'm paying for it all out of pocket. The price isn't bad compared to others in my area and it has a good NCLEX pass rate & reputation. If I were you I would compare the NCLEX pass rate for the schools that you're interested in attending and use that as another determining factor.

rubato, ASN, RN · Jul 9, 2013

My community college is $11K. I managed to get a full scholarship through the Honors program at my school. So, total debt of zero!

A friend of mine couldn't get in to my school after trying 3 times, so decided to go the private school route. She seems happy with her choice, but truly, she didn't have any other option. I don't think I could handle that kind of debt, but if it was my only choice, you better believe I'd jump at it.

Boxer Mama · Jul 9, 2013

I have chosen to skip the community college route, where I might possibly be able to apply to in two years when they open up their wait list, and spend the money on a private school in an associates degree, which I have, to BSN program. For me, I am slightly older and I have kids and just need to get on with school and be done! Does the loan debt make me cringe? Yup! But, I am applying for every scholarship that I can find and I really am at peace with (and excited) to start this fall!

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Jul 9, 2013

I'm in an ADN program. I applied for a tuition waiver and was approved. While I still have to pay for books, housing, food, transportation, etc., I don't have to worry about tuition. My program figures that program costs will be around $4500 or so, and if you knock tuition out of the picture, it's more like $2000 spread out over the length of the program, with the majority that being books.

If at all possible, look for grants and scholarships. You want to graduate with as little student debt as possible.

BloomNurseRN, ASN, BSN, RN · Jul 9, 2013

That's not an easy question to answer but each person has to make that decision on their own. That being said, 45K is a quite a lot to come out as a graduated nurse given the current economy and no guarantee of a job.

I do completely understand having to get loans. I lost my job while in nursing school and my car died about 3 weeks before nursing school started so I had to take out much more in loans than we originally anticipated (my loans ended up being more for living expenses than for tuition). I ended up with a little under 30K, which is more than I wanted to owe but I do consider it money well spent.

Look at your expenses, your job prospects, and how hard it would be on your household to pay back that kind of debt. If you can or do have a career in healthcare now (like CNA or PCT) you could use that time to get experience while you wait to get in to the less expensive school. If it really becomes apparent that you're definitely not going to get in to your community college, then you have to decide if you're going to be ok (mentally, emotionally, financially) with that kind of debt.

Good luck!