Air Force Nursing Bonus, Student Loan Repayment

[missmiss]

I am considering joining the air force as a nurse and I have been told that all slots are full for student loan repayment for this fiscal year (2009). But that the bonus is still available.

I know the new fiscal year starts October of this year. However, my recruiter says that he has heard that there will be no bonus or student loan repayment because of the economy and that they over-did the amt of nurses that they accepted last year. Does any of that sound accurate?

I am also told that I need to give a definitive yes or no on whether I want to join the Air Force before he will even enter my application into the system. He says if I go through the process of getting accepted and then turn it down, then I wasted 4 AFB's time and money.

I am uncomfortable with giving a yes to this before I even get the opportunity to find out about student loan repayment & bonuses for the next fiscal year and before I even find out if I am accepted.

He says if I want to wait to hear about that, it will be December before he knows anything about student loan repayment and then he can enter my app.

Does any of this sound accurate?? Just curious b/c I have no other sources.

Thanks.

[mt_nurse]

Everyone in my NTP class except for myself and two others have received their sign-on bonuses already! They received it almost two weeks ago. I'm wondering if this is "normal" to have your bonus delayed. I have read on the boards here and from others that the bonus usually comes within 30 days of finishing COT. I'm giving it until the beginning of August until I bring it up to my supervisor, but just in case, what could I do and who could I talk to besides my immediate supervisor here at my TDY? I've heard of one individual contacting AFPC directly, but I think that would be a break in the chain-of-command, and I don't want to get in trouble.

[midinphx, BSN]

Mine just showed up in my bank account one day. A good thing since my pay is still not right! lol. MT, I would just wait a bit more, but ask your supervisor there at NTP where you should call if you don't get it in the next couple weeks.

I hope you are enjoying NTP. I see a bunch of our COT group here for NTP. It is really nice to see all the familiar faces, but I don't see them much since they don't come to my unit or floor.

[jweave]

Hello all,

I'm obviously brand new to the forum and appreciate the info and all of your contributions. I will be starting a bachelor's to BSN program in January 2011. I will be 42 at graduation (May 2012). I have 4 1/2 yrs active duty AF and over 8yrs in the Air Guard. Will the AD years, in essence, subtract from my age? And am I considered too old for AD military as a nurse? I've heard that you have to be able to get in 20yrs by the age of 60.......is this true? Thanks in advance for any clarification.:)

[midinphx, BSN]

Jweave, that 4.5 years buys you that much time (they think of you as that much younger than you are). 42 is the easy cut off age, no waiver or problem. 47 is the highest age limit, though I don't know if that is with or without waiver.

You are absolutely not to old. I went through COT at age 42. And I was not the oldest. There were a ton of young ones, but I didn't feel old or out of it at all.

[jweave]

Thank you for your response! That is encouraging to know that I probably want be the only grandpa of the group. I got called that in basic training at 24! Now if I can just figure out how to pay for school! Thanks again!

[AFFam]

Have any FY11ers found out if they qualified for the Student Loan Repayment?

[elumine]

Hello! Just have a question..I know this is for Air Force thread so maybe its the same process..Anyway, I'm in the process completing my Army Nurse packet, but I have not seen any paper works about the student loan repayment..When do I usually sign paper works about student loan repayment? Do I have to wait to get selected or (if I will get selected) before signing up or what? I will appreciate any input. Thank you!

[babieblue2]

Anyone thinking about applying for AF nursing be prepaed to wait 12-18 months just to find out if you are accepted. I'll try to some up my experience thus far. I started the application process in Dec '09. I filled out the application, got referencs, had my packet ready to go and submitted. Got through MEPS and was told I would know of acceptance by May. May came and went and I was told there was a delay and would know by July. July came and went and was told there was a delay and I would know by September. Now it's August and last week I was called and informed that there are usually 2 acceptance/review boards per year. This year the head of this board retired and the 2nd board is not taking place. Now I have to wait until January 2011 just to know if I'm accepted. I have a feeling Jan is going to roll around and there will be another "unavoidalbe delay." My packet has been sent and completed so long already that parts of it are expiring and I have to redo them. I'm concerned I'll even have to do MEPS all over again too. I am 25 years old with 3 years experience entering as Critical Care Nurse. I have a great resume with good experience and very solid references. Thanks for reading, just needed to vent and let anyone who is interested in applying that it is a LONG LONG LONG process. If you are in school for a BSN and thinking about AF nursing, start talking to a recruitor and filling out paperwork when you are still a year away from graduating.

[fitRNpic]

Anyone thinking about applying for AF nursing be prepaed to wait 12-18 months just to find out if you are accepted. I'll try to some up my experience thus far. I started the application process in Dec '09. I filled out the application, got referencs, had my packet ready to go and submitted. Got through MEPS and was told I would know of acceptance by May. May came and went and I was told there was a delay and would know by July. July came and went and was told there was a delay and I would know by September. Now it's August and last week I was called and informed that there are usually 2 acceptance/review boards per year. This year the head of this board retired and the 2nd board is not taking place. Now I have to wait until January 2011 just to know if I'm accepted. I have a feeling Jan is going to roll around and there will be another "unavoidalbe delay." My packet has been sent and completed so long already that parts of it are expiring and I have to redo them. I'm concerned I'll even have to do MEPS all over again too. I am 25 years old with 3 years experience entering as Critical Care Nurse. I have a great resume with good experience and very solid references. Thanks for reading, just needed to vent and let anyone who is interested in applying that it is a LONG LONG LONG process. If you are in school for a BSN and thinking about AF nursing, start talking to a recruitor and filling out paperwork when you are still a year away from graduating.

This may be true for brand spanking new nurses or new grads, but for nurses that have experience and trying to get in to the AF with that experience and into their specialized field, the board meets in October for those experienced nurses! October marks the beginning of the fiscal year and they select experienced nurses at this time before they select new grad nurses. I started this process March 2009 and am also prior service. Having gone through some bad recruiters and finally have a great one, my packet was complete by December 2009, but the board had already meet for this fiscal year, so I had to wait. Now, I am finally scheduled for my interview with Chief Nursing Officer at Wright-Patterson AFB in 2 weeks and then my packet will go to TX for the October board. There is one board held for Experienced nurses and that is in October (unless other positions become available throughout the year for special circumstances). Boards held for New Grads or inexperienced nurses are held at various times of the year depending on how many applications they get and how many positions they have available. Also, MEPS really doesn't know squat, so if they told you that you'd know something by a certain time, they are wrong. Only your recruiter would know what was going on with your packet. You only go to MEPS for your physical, fingerprinting, and background check. This is good for 1 year. References are only good for 6 months. After your physical is complete, references done, all paperwork is in order, and your packet is complete, your recruiter will set up an interview for you with a Chief Nursing Officer. If you haven't done this interview, your packet will not get sent to boards. It is up to the CNO to send your packet to boards for the selection process. The whole process takes 12-24 months. It usually only takes 1-2 months after the board meets to find out if you are accepted.

[huggiebear1979]

Hi everyone, currently in my second semester of nursing school, and I had a couple of questions, I am aware to start the process for commisisoning in the AF a year out, but knowing that the acceptance may not be known between 12-24 months, does anybody have any recommendations on where to work in the meantime as a new grad? Also been thinking about joining the reserves while in nursing school, but don't know if I'd be shooting myself in the foot doing that or delaying the process even more for commissioning, also have been considering also applying for a commision in the Navy in case the AF doesn't work out, is it possible to apply for both services and then turn one down if I get accepted to both?

[uscgal09]

Hi, I graduated with a BSN in May 2009. I still have yet to find a job. The idea of military was brought to my attention several months ago. I'd never really considered it, because the only people in my family who have been military were my two grandfathers. The more research I did, the more appealing the idea became. Yes, it does somewhat scare me, but it also excites me. I am wondering if someone would mind sending me a message letting me know they are willing to help me. I probably have somewhere in the ballpark of 30 questions that I have come up with through research and also through my own random curiosity. I don't want to overwhelm this thread with all of it, but if people would prefer I post all of them, I have no problem with that either. Thank you!

[huggiebear1979]

USC,

Alot of your questions are probably already answered if you peruse the site, a good source would be a health care officer recruiter, although I don't think other members of the thread would mind if you posted all of your questions at once, also not to be personal, but have you considered relocating to an area where they are hiring new grads, and have you considered applying to long term facilities and not just hospitals?