Are student loans haunting you?

flibbertygibbert · Oct 18, 2012

Totally agree! I completed my RN with no loans whatsoever. I did work when I wasn't in school. I had to say no to some parties and fun times. I didn't have a new car or the newest phone. I didn't have cable. (what is the point when you are working full time and a full time student!?!) I'm not complaining about what I didn't have! I graduated debt free because of the choices I made; they weren't always easy. I don't understand why so many people (although most of the people on this forum ARE NOT an example of this - go Nurses!) think their student debt should be forgiven and that their plight is so "unfair." Do people really take out loans and think they don't have to repay them?

My advice is to get a job and apply yourself. Suck it up for the few years you are in school. It will be well worth it in the end. If you absolutely need loans, then take other people's advice and "live like a poor student" until your loans are paid in full. Because face it: You may not be a student, but you are still in massive debt and the poor still applies!!

maffechr · Oct 18, 2012

Totally agree! I completed my RN with no loans whatsoever. I did work when I wasn't in school. I had to say no to some parties and fun times. I didn't have a new car or the newest phone. I didn't have cable. (what is the point when you are working full time and a full time student!?!) I'm not complaining about what I didn't have! I graduated debt free because of the choices I made; they weren't always easy. I don't understand why so many people (although most of the people on this forum ARE NOT an example of this - go Nurses!) think their student debt should be forgiven and that their plight is so "unfair." Do people really take out loans and think they don't have to repay them?
My advice is to get a job and apply yourself. Suck it up for the few years you are in school. It will be well worth it in the end. If you absolutely need loans, then take other people's advice and "live like a poor student" until your loans are paid in full. Because face it: You may not be a student, but you are still in massive debt and the poor still applies!!

Another privileged student. I didn't spend my money on the newest car or the newest phone during grad school. I didn't go out to parties during grad school. I was very stingy money-wise as a Grad student. Still didn't prevent me from racking up close to $65000 in undergrad and graduate debt. The bottom line is that today's jobs, especially for those of us who are inexperienced, do not cover the expenses of increasingly rising tuition.

Now, I know you want to call us all lazy and moochers for taking out student loans, but that just isn't the truth. I worked damn hard in my dead end retail job during grad school. Didn't matter. Didn't come close to meeting expenses.

Now, before you ask: I graduated with my Bachelors in Business Management in 2011. Now, before you say "what a stupid major", I know many people who graduated with this major years prior and are extremely successful in the workplace. Unfortunately, I graduated into the Great Recession.

Bottom line is: don't judge. Not everyone was as lucky as you to avoid loans. The majority of people didn't take out loans because they were lazy.

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Oct 18, 2012

Hello - I have students loan of $150,000. I have some from my previous Bachelors and then I took out a lot for Nursing school. Half of it is government loans and have is from private bank. I know it sounds scary but its worth it for nursing profession. I know right now jobs are tough but soon when the elections are over, things will settle down. The good thing about federal loans is that they work around you for payments like they have graduate repayment program where you can pay a small amount for a few years and then it increases and they also have programs tailored to your salary. So government loans are best to have and if you have loans that last for 25 yrs or so, they can be also forgiven...Private loans are a pain in the butt. They are horrible to take now because when the financial industry collapsed, the banks tighten up their rules and regulations. If you can avoid private do so...in my case, I couldnt, so now I have to pay them a lot of money per month, no matter what or they will ruin m credit.
Unfortunately, its the new American nightmare to be in debt for the rest of our lives but I am positive about things in life because I love my profession, I love being a nurse and I love taking care of people. That to me is worth more than money can buy....I know things will work out for me!!
Good luck!

Well I hope your right that things will work out for you. Good Luck, you will definitely need it! OMG I wouldn't be able to sleep at night with those kind of loans! That's a mortgage without a house and will leave you without the flexibility to buy a house, get married and have children!

I'm not putting you or anyone else with monster loans down. It's too late for you, but I am hoping to warn others not to take the same path!

Be aware you cannot discharge your loans in bankruptcy, you have no consumer protections, you cannot default on your loans. If you do, they will take away your license to practice nursing. Any other job that requires a license even something like beautician or realtor will not be an option if you are in default.

I suggest you make paying off the private loans first priority as they are the worst and get a life insurance policy to pay off the loans if you have family that co-signed the private loans! You can put your govt loans in income based repayment and after 20 years they will be forgiven if you still qualify! I don't know if you are disqualified if you make too much income, I would suggest you check it out! Many govt programs have an income cut off as does the student loan interest deduction.

But really $100,000-150,000 loans should only be taken out by those who are going to be making a six figure salary ie doctor or pharmacist. Good Luck to you!

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Oct 18, 2012

Another privileged student. I didn't spend my money on the newest car or the newest phone during grad school. I didn't go out to parties during grad school. I was very stingy money-wise as a Grad student. Still didn't prevent me from racking up close to $65000 in undergrad and graduate debt. The bottom line is that today's jobs, especially for those of us who are inexperienced, do not cover the expenses of increasingly rising tuition.
Now, I know you want to call us all lazy and moochers for taking out student loans, but that just isn't the truth. I worked damn hard in my dead end retail job during grad school. Didn't matter. Didn't come close to meeting expenses.
Now, before you ask: I graduated with my Bachelors in Business Management in 2011. Now, before you say "what a stupid major", I know many people who graduated with this major years prior and are extremely successful in the workplace. Unfortunately, I graduated into the Great Recession.
Bottom line is: don't judge. Not everyone was as lucky as you to avoid loans. The majority of people didn't take out loans because they were lazy.

I don't think you are stupid or lazy, just misinformed. You are right salary is not rising with tuition costs. Too many people are being bamboozled by the high schools and colleges that push the dream at any cost! Everyone is pushed to go to college and to do whatever it takes with the promise you will get a good paying job. That is just a pipe dream for most people today! This allows the colleges to charge whatever they want and the corp big shots to continue to underpay and mistreat their workers. College is not for everyone! If you can't afford it, rethink your plans! The hospital or business company doesn't care how much you paid for your education and how many student loans you have! They will hire people as cheaply as they can and too bad for the poor fools that are drowning in debt! That is the truth! America has been pushing the college dream ie MYTH instead of pursuing unionization that would help workers with pay and working conditions. We are going down the wrong road! It only helps the people at the top. Business management is not a good degree if you look around you will see corp are cutting their management to the bone, you are competing with many other experienced managers who've been laid off. Can you start a business using the knowledge you learned from college? That is your best bet at this point, something practical like landscape or lawn mowing, pet sitting or you name it!

If you go to school you need to take practical classes, skilled classes, you would have been better off getting an accounting degree. That said even the skilled professionals are being outsourced to India so even with an accounting or computer degree there is no guarantee that you will be able to get a good paying job! The checkout person at Walgreens had a BA in marketing making $12/hr and was planning on going back to school for a nursing degree. That is why we all of a sudden have so many nursing students because they have other degrees but can't get a decent job. Good luck to you all because you will have an even harder road with the outsized student loans and the hospital/nursing home cutbacks making the working conditions even worse!

GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 19, 2012

Do you ever have moments where you wish you didn't have any student loans?
Having multiple student loans can be scary. For those who have multiple loans, have you thought about consolidating?

Click Like if you enjoyed it. Please share this with friends and post your comments below! Want more nursing cartoons?
About A Nursing Student - Nursing Cartoon Series
About A Nurse - Nursing Cartoon Series

This happened so many moons ago that I can't remember, however, I feel for those who are still having to repay these loans, as I wish them the very best...Aloha~

maffechr · Oct 19, 2012

I don't think you are stupid or lazy, just misinformed. You are right salary is not rising with tuition costs. Too many people are being bamboozled by the high schools and colleges that push the dream at any cost! Everyone is pushed to go to college and to do whatever it takes with the promise you will get a good paying job. That is just a pipe dream for most people today! This allows the colleges to charge whatever they want and the corp big shots to continue to underpay and mistreat their workers. College is not for everyone! If you can't afford it, rethink your plans! The hospital or business company doesn't care how much you paid for your education and how many student loans you have! They will hire people as cheaply as they can and too bad for the poor fools that are drowning in debt! That is the truth! America has been pushing the college dream ie MYTH instead of pursuing unionization that would help workers with pay and working conditions. We are going down the wrong road! It only helps the people at the top. Business management is not a good degree if you look around you will see corp are cutting their management to the bone, you are competing with many other experienced managers who've been laid off. Can you start a business using the knowledge you learned from college? That is your best bet at this point, something practical like landscape or lawn mowing, pet sitting or you name it!
If you go to school you need to take practical classes, skilled classes, you would have been better off getting an accounting degree. That said even the skilled professionals are being outsourced to India so even with an accounting or computer degree there is no guarantee that you will be able to get a good paying job! The checkout person at Walgreens had a BA in marketing making $12/hr and was planning on going back to school for a nursing degree. That is why we all of a sudden have so many nursing students because they have other degrees but can't get a decent job. Good luck to you all because you will have an even harder road with the outsized student loans and the hospital/nursing home cutbacks making the working conditions even worse!

I pursued this degree well before the economic crisis. I had no idea what was going to happen when I graduated in terms of the economic environment.

I'm not misinformed. The only difference is that you were able to find a well paying job during and after your undergrad studies. You were luckier than I was. I was a great student and a great worker. When did you graduate, by chance?

Sorry, but I don't subscribe to the fact that the only people who should go to college are those that have money. That would make college the exclusive domain of the rich and powerful. I don't buy into that. Neither should you.

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Oct 19, 2012

It's not just a recession/depression that is the problem, rather it is a restructuring of the American work force of downsizing and outsourcing and cutting middle management. So there are not enough good jobs out there for everyone competing for one! Even in medical jobs like RN/LPN they are cutting staff, increasing patient load and hiring more techs and medical assistants to save money by keeping the salaries low.

I don't have an answer, other than it seems like many people are going to need to create their own jobs/business or they will be trapped in low paying dead end jobs. Many companies don't even hire employees, just use contract employees with no benefits and all the taxes are by paid by said employee. No job security, nothing! It is a sad reality these days.

Your right in many ways it boils down to who you know and luck. When I went into nursing it was at the start of the downsizing and restructuring due to managed care and DRG's. There was a nursing surplus, I was lucky to get a job that is true. Some nurses moved from MN for a job and even Canada!

When you realize what you are up against all you can do is try to minimize the danger of taking out student loans because you will be required to pay them back whether you get a good job or not and they can haunt you to the rest of your life. Some social security recipients are now being garnished for past due student loans for themselves or their family. If you read the dangers of student loans on the web you will find many people young and old from 20's to 50's to 60's who went back to school and found themselves with crushing student loan debt but no job to show for it! So when you are dealing with such bleak circumstances I think it is wise to avoid student loan debt and if you go to college to know what you are up against and minimize student loan debt.

You have no consumer protections and that is why the banks and govt are willing to give just about anybody student loans to the sky's the limit! There is no sanity in the student loan process, they don't give a damn if you end up over your head in debt because its not their problem and you are the one on the hook.

It's too late for all the people who are trapped in debt with no job to show for it. All one can do is try to warn others before they end up in the same trap!

jagged777 · Oct 21, 2012

good thread

Calabria, BSN, RN · Oct 22, 2012

Totally agree! I completed my RN with no loans whatsoever. I did work when I wasn't in school. I had to say no to some parties and fun times. I didn't have a new car or the newest phone. I didn't have cable. (what is the point when you are working full time and a full time student!?!) I'm not complaining about what I didn't have! I graduated debt free because of the choices I made; they weren't always easy. I don't understand why so many people (although most of the people on this forum ARE NOT an example of this - go Nurses!) think their student debt should be forgiven and that their plight is so "unfair." Do people really take out loans and think they don't have to repay them?
My advice is to get a job and apply yourself. Suck it up for the few years you are in school. It will be well worth it in the end. If you absolutely need loans, then take other people's advice and "live like a poor student" until your loans are paid in full. Because face it: You may not be a student, but you are still in massive debt and the poor still applies!!

This type of attitude is naive. As someone else said, you're "privileged". I graduated with my first Bachelors degree in 2009, at the height of the recession. When I chose to go to that undergraduate program, I picked it because it was the cheapest out of all of the schools to which I was accepted, even with state schools in consideration. I had scholarships and grants, but still needed to take out loans. My parents are not wealthy, so they helped when they could, but they couldn't foot the entire bill. I had multiple jobs simultaneously (part-time) through school, one being an RA so that room and board was free. Those jobs helped cover other costs for school, but my priority was mainly to excel academically.

I decided to go back to an accelerated BSN program immediately after I graduated because a lot of my classmates couldn't find jobs. I knew by then that I wanted to be a nurse anyway. I picked the cheapest, most reputable program again. I got a BIG scholarship, but still needed to take out some loans, mostly for cost of living. The program was also one that would all but guarantee me a job immediately after I graduated so I knew that I'd be in a good place financially to pay back my loans. I used public transit and walked everywhere, my apartment was cheap given its location, and I didn't buy anything new for myself unless I had to. When I started work a couple of months after graduation, I immediately started paying back my loans, even though they were still deferred.

Your plan is wonderful; I'm glad it worked out for you, but it's not as easy or simple as you say.

flibbertygibbert · Oct 24, 2012

This type of attitude is naive. As someone else said, you're "privileged". I graduated with my first Bachelors degree in 2009, at the height of the recession. When I chose to go to that undergraduate program, I picked it because it was the cheapest out of all of the schools to which I was accepted, even with state schools in consideration. I had scholarships and grants, but still needed to take out loans. My parents are not wealthy, so they helped when they could, but they couldn't foot the entire bill. I had multiple jobs simultaneously (part-time) through school, one being an RA so that room and board was free. Those jobs helped cover other costs for school, but my priority was mainly to excel academically.

I find it pretty ironic that someone who had parents who helped them pay for their education finds me "privileged". I don't know how working full time to pay for tuition, books, and living expenses (on my own) gives me an advantage others don't have. I didn't have some special, secret high paying job for either my first Bachelors or my subsequent nursing degree. (Think fast food, retail, CNA). I know that the path I chose is not for everyone, but it is an alternative to massive loan debt. I don't "look down" on people that chose to take out loans or some who absolutely had to because they don't have an alternative; the only thing that makes me frustrated is when people act like they are victims and shouldn't have to pay for loans they took out. Clearly, you are not one of those people, and if you are comfortable paying back your loan and that worked out for you, then that's awesome! That's how student loans are supposed to work, and that's why many are backed by the federal government, to promote education in this country.

loanprison · Jul 26, 2014

It's called usury!

I have an unsurmountable amount of private loan debt to pay off for the rest of my life (at one time it was more reasonable). I intend on paying as long as I can but for these companies they would rather take everything a hard working tax payer can pay rather than work within amounts that a single income family can afford. Adjustable interest rates are one problem and as they go up progress slows furher and further. Because of the $800 a month I am paying(not even half of the payment) all other debt goes right along the path of the student loan, I pay what I can. So far the best legal advice I have gotten is to write to legislators that are pushing for student loan reform.

If this forum (ALL NURSES) is any indication of how large the problem is for hard working people who can support themselves through education in a great field, changes should be made. Education and the loans provided/ backed by the US government should not be used to make lifelong slaves of the educated working middle class (seems like always working).

joanna73, BSN, RN · Jul 26, 2014

It's still the responsibility of every consumer to determine what they can afford to pay. You'll always find someone willing to lend money, but at what cost?

More people need to sit down with a financial advisor to determine a budget. Before you borrow money, determine how long it takes to pay off and how high those payments will be.