I got accepted but....

Nursing Students LPN/LVN Students

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Well hello everyone I was accepted to the LPN program I had began applying for September of this year and was given a start date of January 5th 2015. Yayyyy and super exciting for about 5 seconds when I was slapped in the face with the charges. I was told I had only been approved for a "stafford loan" through fasfa which covered maybe $6,000 of a almost $25,000 program and i needed about $2,000 by next week and every month following $1,500 for 10 months. Not to get too personal but im 21 single and i live alone meaning i provide everything I have for myself with no help and its hard. But because of my age i am still considered a dependent student according to fasfa so they combined mine and my mothers income,which left me with these extreme cost. After digesting that information I went in to fasfa and made some edits and since I had to pick a parent to "live with" I changed it from my mother to my father and then was offered a estimate of the pell grant and the stafford loan with the use of my fathers information. This is my first time using fasfa by the way my first degree was payed for by my high-school. I guess Id like to know if anyone now or in the past has ran into a situation the same or similar? How did the edits on the fasfa work? or is it too late for everything to be processed? I'm extremely scared to face the reality of not being able to do the program. Sorry for the wordiness I like to be informative because lack of information can cause multiple unnecessary things.

Thanks for reading

Dear Lord....$25,000 for a one year LPN program?! :no:

I'm starting a one year LPN program in January and the total cost of the whole thing, including books, uniforms, background check, drug test, tuition, fees, and parking pass is less than $3500. What state are you in and WHAT kind of crazy school is this?

Honestly, as much as it would suck to wait, I think you should find another program that is less expensive. With what LPNs make and the limited roles in which they can work, I don't think the return on your investment would be worth what you're putting out to get it.

If you're working, have you looked into your employer's education benefits? Mine is helping me pay for school, yours might too. But seriously, find something more reasonably priced.

Im in Michigan if the pell grant doesn't come through and ill have extreme monthly payments im going to have to suck it up and wait. It's another program that I applied for total cost is 10,500 doesn't start till May hopefully ill hear something from them this week so I wont feel so horrible.

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Although they have a high interest rate you could always look into private loans too if you need more money. Also- have you looked into scholarships offered at your school/in your town/in your state? That might help a bit.

Good luck with everything!

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Specializes in hospice.

Hold on..... You need to evaluate whether putting out so much effort to dig yourself so deeply into debt is worth it.

Is this a private, for-profit school? From the price tag, I highly suspect it is. You should know that the federal government has recently cracked down on several operators of such schools for fraudulent practices and violating federal student aid laws. The fact that they encourage you to fill out the FAFSA is a good sign, though, because it means they can still accept federal aid and haven't been sanctioned for that.

But, are they accredited? This will matter later when you want to pursue more education. Are they approved by your state BON? That will matter when you want to apply for a license.

What is their first time NCLEX pass rate? If you're working in nursing now, do nurses you work with view the program positively? Do you, or they, know anyone who's gone there?

And as to the private loan suggestion....oh my....just so much no. I think people don't realize what a millstone around your neck debt is until it's too late. High cost + high interest + compounding over time = astronomical payments for a very, very long time. It's just not worth it for LPN. I don't even think it's worth it for RN. I'm pursuing LPN now and will have no debt when I graduate. I'll finish my prereqs over about a year, then apply to get into 3rd block and complete RN. And I will graduate that program with no or very little debt as well, and if I can't, then I'll wait.

Debt is horrible. Avoid whatever you can.

Your local public community colleges likely offer a comparable program that is respected in your local area and costs much less. If this is your local public community college then something has gone terribly wrong.

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Hold on..... You need to evaluate whether putting out so much effort to dig yourself so deeply into debt is worth it.

Is this a private, for-profit school? From the price tag, I highly suspect it is. You should know that the federal government has recently cracked down on several operators of such schools for fraudulent practices and violating federal student aid laws. The fact that they encourage you to fill out the FAFSA is a good sign, though, because it means they can still accept federal aid and haven't been sanctioned for that.

But, are they accredited? This will matter later when you want to pursue more education. Are they approved by your state BON? That will matter when you want to apply for a license.

What is their first time NCLEX pass rate? If you're working in nursing now, do nurses you work with view the program positively? Do you, or they, know anyone who's gone there?

And as to the private loan suggestion....oh my....just so much no. I think people don't realize what a millstone around your neck debt is until it's too late. High cost + high interest + compounding over time = astronomical payments for a very, very long time. It's just not worth it for LPN. I don't even think it's worth it for RN. I'm pursuing LPN now and will have no debt when I graduate. I'll finish my prereqs over about a year, then apply to get into 3rd block and complete RN. And I will graduate that program with no or very little debt as well, and if I can't, then I'll wait.

Debt is horrible. Avoid whatever you can.

Your local public community colleges likely offer a comparable program that is respected in your local area and costs much less. If this is your local public community college then something has gone terribly wrong.

For you and everyone who responded to my post id like to say thank you today i made the decision to decline the offer of attending the school. I'm at peace with my decision after reading some of your post and talking with my family id be super stressed out I hate owing money. The school called me today and told me the received the revisions to my financial aid but couldn't accept because they are a "private college" and have to provide evidence of why I changed the information. Either way the information was not accurate because I live with neither parents I guess it was just more acceptable for me to owe them more money than to receive a pell grant. After letting them know I was declining the offer the administrator got on the phone and told me about a $12,000 loan I could get but id still owe the school so i'd be paying monthly payments to both institutions which would still be around $800 a month which is better than the other figures but still not worth the stress and anxiety to me. And to answer your question I did my research on the school i actually took a class there through a previous job, I just did not do enough research on the financial part of it which I assumed id be approved for more financial aid because 1 id never used it before nor do i have any student loans in my name. However moving on I did apply at other schools I've been in touch with 2 since so hopefully ill be at-least starting nursing school by May of 2015.

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Sounds like you made a wise decision. I was talking with my apartment manager yesterday about his daughter wanting to go to school for nursing. She has been considering Baker, which is a private college expensive and no guarantee that any of the classes would transfer. Depending on the area of Michigan you live in I would suggest checking Oakland Community College, Schoolcraft or Macomb Community College if around the Metro Detroit area, I work with nurses who have gone through all three programs and have heard good things about them. If you live closer to the Lansing area I would definitely suggest LCC. One of the most important things to consider is that if you plan to continue on for your BSN at any time, or even going beyond that the school you choose now has a MACRO agreement with the universities. The last thing you want to do is to take a class or classes at one school to find out that when you go to continue your education that those classes are going to have to retaken because they are not accepted at the university. Good luck with deciding what to do.

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Specializes in hospice.

In my opinion (which doesn't matter one bit, you know) you made a good decision. Good luck to you.

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