About to finish bachelors, looking to continue.

[Futurestrangers]

Hello everyone, I have been on this site to read up on some topics for quite some time, and I figured now would be a good time for me ask my own questions.

I have a very unusual background. Due to very bizarre family history and background, I was never able to go to middle school or high school. I actually finished high school through a program in 6 months. With that said, I am proud to announce that I just finished my Bachelors degree from Stony Brook University. My degree is in Multidisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Psychology and Sociology. Most of my classes focus around science and healthcare, however. I have taken all the prerequisites for the Nursing program I am interested in except microbiology. Currently, my GPA is a 3.6 and I am looking at the accelerated nursing program here at Stony Brook. A classmate of mine who was just accepted has a much lower GPA ( but did have more experience as an EMT on campus, ect), but I still feel I have a pretty good shot at some programs.

My biggest concern is gathering more deb. I just don't know if its worth it at this point. I was charged out of state tuition at my school, even though I live and work instate for the past 5 years ( I'm under 24, and since my parents live out of state, SBU refuses to give me instate tuition even though I file independent taxes--I have been trying to fight it for quite some time.) I have gathered more than 80 grand at Stony Brook. I know you must be thinking "how did he let that happen", but I can assure you there is a lot more to the story. I was constantly assured I'd get in-state eventually, and my advisers kept assuring me to keep on going, " it will be worth it". It came to a midway point where if I stopped, I would have acquired all this debt without any degree, so I went on. So, here I am.

If Stony Brook agrees to give me instate now that I graduated, I would like to enter the program which is a relatively cheap program compared to others in this area. I am currently having trouble finding jobs in my field at the moment, I work a few different jobs as i work on applying for various OT and Nursing programs.

Thoughts? Should I focus on the debt I have now or should I leave it in the dust and pursue my dream of nursing then focus on paying it down?

[AspiringNurseMW]

I'm still a nursing student and here is my opinion.

*how much debt do you have. How much of it could you pay off if you postpone nursing school for a year or 2?

* how much do you want to be nurse, how much do you know about the actual occupation and day to day job. Perhaps find a way to shadow/interview a few nurses before pursuing another degree.

*how hard are nursing jobs to get in your area. Do you live someplace like NY or CA where the market is saturated, or somewhere more like where I live, where they still hire LPNs at hospitals and there are always jobs?

Those would be the questions I'd be considering

[Futurestrangers]

I'm still a nursing student and here is my opinion.

*how much debt do you have. How much of it could you pay off if you postpone nursing school for a year or 2?

* how much do you want to be nurse, how much do you know about the actual occupation and day to day job. Perhaps find a way to shadow/interview a few nurses before pursuing another degree.

*how hard are nursing jobs to get in your area. Do you live someplace like NY or CA where the market is saturated, or somewhere more like where I live, where they still hire LPNs at hospitals and there are always jobs?

Those would be the questions I'd be considering

I have shadowed nurses multiple times and it's something I'd really see myself enjoying. I live in NYC, but I have a number of different places I can move to that are very rural such as VT, Virginia, and Ohio ( which I plan on doing anyway, NYC is too expensive). You raised a good point. I don't think I will make much of a dent in my debt the next two years unless I quickly find a well paying job , which has been pretty hard. With interest I'll already be paying close to 6 figures in loans in the end. My advisor told me if I did go for Nursing and moved back home to VT, I could try paying half my loans off the first year while living at home for basically nothing. Just put all my earning towards my private loans, make sacrifices, and then my monthly payments would be manageable.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Why not move home NOW, pay down debt and then think about a second degree program? You would be foolish to take on even more debt right now- what you have is a crushing load. You can't get out of debt by borrowing even more. Ever

[Futurestrangers]

I disagree to some extent. I would move home now, but at the moment there is little opportunity there. It is an extremely small and rural town, it would be extremely difficult to find a job that would help me manage my loans there. However, I did finish the accelerated nursing program, I could find a job in few different areas that are much cheaper than NYC. If I took on a little more debt to have a higher paying and more stable job that would allow me to start attempting to manage my loans, wouldnt it be better than scrambling around looking for work and more than likely not finding a job in my current field?