Idk which road to take

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Ok first off let me give you my situation real quick, and thanks for anyone who reads this and gives me their advice or thoughts. So right now I'm 24 ( took forever to decide what I wanted to do in life and now I feel like I'm running out of time to finally pursue what I want to do!) and I have a wife and kid(my wife dislikes living with my parents which I get), but we still live with my parents ( South Florida is so expensive) also have a decent amount of debt, but any right now I'm in a crossroads, my end game is hopefully to become an NP but right now I want to get my BSN, I just started studying at Broward college (and was deciding if I should go for RN or shoot for BSN )but found out that their RN program doesn't have night classes ( work full time in the day) so I looked up chamberlain nursing school ( I know two people who went to that school) and found out I could be a bsn quicker, in 3 yrs oppose to the 4 Years it takes else where. And so their bsn program is 122 hr credit course (it's 56 credits for liberal art classes and 66 credits for nursing) which comes out to in total around 88,000 range $675 per credit (add more debt to my decent debt amount!!!!!! Which is so depressing) and be done with all of this in 3 yrs and be only 27 or I can stay at Broward college where it's like in the 300 for credits and after I do as many of the liberal art credits as I can in bc I can then transfer to chamberlain and only have to pay 44,000 for the nursing program and be done with all of that for now hopefully by the age of 29 so essentially I'm asking or wondering if anyone has been or is in my situation and chosen the quicker and expensive route or the cheaper and longer route or w.e choices you guys made thanks for reading this, and have a wonderful day! Also I know you all will do great in school and you can do it!!!!

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I'm sorry, but with a wife and kid + already substantial debt + living with the folks house ---- i would NEVER consider an 88K program.. take on that kinda of extra debt and then you'll want to go to NP school ..guess what more debt.... you'll be living with the folks forever.

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Honestly, an ADN might be the best in terms of trying to reduce debt. Especially if you'd earn more as an RN than you do now as your current FT job. An ADN would cost less, adding less to your current debt, and would allow you to get a job at a hospital, LTC facility, etc faster. A lot of places will help you pay for your BSN, and an RN to BSN bridge program would be easier to work with a FT schedule. Have you looked around at all the ADN programs? Is there none at a community college or anything?

I can't say I'd ever recommend going to a school that costs so much for a BSN. Even 44k is way too much. You don't want to spend half of your life trying to pay back debt and be unable to save for your own place, retirement, etc.

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I've noticed that Broward College is very affordable. I would go the associate route, no point of added to the already extreme high debt. It wouldn't be a bad idea to take out an unsubsidized and subsidized loans to cover your expenses while in school...you could also snag a weekend job. At least if you take this route, you could be able to get a decent paying job. I'm not sure about Florida but in New York, I've heard there is not much of a pay difference between an associate and a bachelors. I believe something to the tune of a dollar. Trying to pursue a nursing degree takes sacrifices, especially if your finances are not in order. Unfortunately, many don't express how difficult it is to actually pay for these expensive programs.

I also notice that Broward has a rn to bsn program. You can do the rn program first, then apply to the rn to bsn program.

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Specializes in Mental Health.

You. Are. 24. You are not running out of time. LoL! Relax bro.

Get a LPN or ADN and start doing something if you want to be working sooner. But to even be considering paying $88k for a BSN is absolutely mental. This is why so many people are in debt over their heads - that's absolute extortion. I pay $150 per credit hour getting my ADN.

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If I were you, I'd go to the nearest community college with an ASN program and do that instead! A lot of hospitals will pay for your BSN anyways! Plus there are things like career source (for low income individuals... not sure if you qualify but it's something to look into) that will pay for your tuition and books in your asn program. I'm currently in nursing school for my associates and the entire program is about 9k... That's tuition, books, fees, everything. Seriously, you should strongly consider it!

Also, my program allows you to take your prereqs while you're in nursing school. Maybe that would be something to consider also?

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