Able to live on your student loans?

[fascinoma]

I'm looking into going to a private one year LVN program

and am wondering if anyone did this but did not work, just got student loans?

[amjowens]

I attend a community college, and accepted all the financial aid that was offered to me. I started classes in Jan, and intended to hold the money in savinings, and work as I can, with the safety net of the aid if work gets in the way of studying. I'm using the financial aid, mostly, earning straight As, and really happy with what I'm doing. There are students in my class who are so stressed-barely able to make good enough grades due to time pressure related to working. I feel bad for them. I see on this site that a lot of students are successful in class and still work full-time, but it's a really individual subject, I think.

I'm extremely frugal right now (not my style!). As I think of it, it's only one year. One year will reap many benefits for me for the rest of my life. That motivates me to be humble and take out the loans, be careful with finances, and choose a lifestyle that doesn't require me to work right now. I'm entering a RN program in Jan '08, and plan to work as an LPN while I do that, but I'll definitely take out loans if I'm feeling the pinch too much at school. For me, grades are really important because I want to be a nurse practitioner eventually, and getting by with Cs or even Bs won't cut it.

Good luck!