About how much..

I'm in California. We had three children and one income (not a very big one though). I used a fee waiver offered by my state for tuition and received a grant AND took some loans as well. My program estimates expense at ~ $3500 just for the ADN program which is probably not too far off. Books for first semester alone were more than $700 plus uniforms and steth etc. so over $1000 for first sem. alone but in subsequent sem. you only had to purchase maybe 2-4 books (supplimenting the ones you already had). Your pre req's will vary greatly depending on your cost per unit. Look into hospitals in your area I know some will help pay your way (mine does) if you will agree to work there say 2-3 years after you graduate. Also check your state BON. California offered a nursing scholarship that was pretty large ($8000 for AND and $4000 for pre req's) in exchange for your willingness to work in an underserved area (which is almost every area of California). There are lots of options out there. I didn't know how we'd afford it. We could only just barely pay our mortgage. But we made it work! (And of course as soon as I could I went to work as a student nurse which helped the finances AND my clinical skills! Even after 1 1/2 years in L&D I have seen, learned and done a TON!)

Always apply to FAFSA.ed.gov - that's the best place to start looking for a Pell grant. You just put in your income tax information and the school you want and it'll calculate it for you based on how many classes you want to take. I was able to get through 3.5 years of school without having to take out a student loan and only minimal money out of my pocket. Granted, I quit my job after the first semester and my husband was making less than $30,000 and that's really what qualified me for full funding. Also go to your school's financial aid office - they're a fabulous resource for money.

But a breakdown - I went to Mercer Co College. Each semester cost me about $1100 with an additional average of $400 in books (I always bought new, but if I had gone to ebay or amazong, I probably could have done it in less than $150) So all in all it cost about $11,200 from start to finish. My actual out of pocket expense was probably only about $2000 of that. The rest the govt paid for.