Able To Work Business Hours?

[mirandaaa]

Posting in the General Nursing Student forum because I want to direct this to students who are enrolled and currently taking classes in the nursing program.

For my school, before applying to the ASN or LPN programs, we're required to attend a seminar where a director from the programs speaks to us about requirements and general questions.

When it came down to clinicals, she said that they cannot work around everyone's schedule 100% of the time, but if you knew of something recurring (such as not having a babysitter every Wednesday, for example) they would try to work with you on that. I raised my hand and stated that I work normal business hours (Monday-Friday 8-4) and asked if that would be doable and she said absolutely not (even though I'm open [grudgingly] to doing overnight clinicals and skipping sleep when needed).

I understand it varies by school and the times of the classes/clinicals offered, but I'm just wondering if anyone else here works the same hours and are able to do it?

[SunriseDay]

They are out there. I worked full time M-F and went to Nights/Weekend nursing program.

Where? What program was that?

Maybe the OP can either take out living loans and/or shorten their work schedule to part-time.

Or the OP could re-apply to a program like yours.. which was what? OP might be able to ask RN schools in their region if they know of any night programs if that's necessary, though it sounds like they wouldn't want to move bc of their job.

Tough choices...

[caliotter3]

I was able to work a PM shift clinical placement one time but it was not because I requested it, it just turned out that way, not the norm.

[mirandaaa]

Can you take out loans for the living costs and also use grants?

Because of my age I don't have a high enough credit score to take out that high amount of loans for the next two years while I'm in school (on top of my car loan and growing student loans).

[SunriseDay]

I didn't know you had car and student loans... but I think student loans can get deferred when you re-enter school? Or am I wrong?

There are many federal school loans... I think there's Stafford, Subsidized and unsubsidized Direct Loans, and some others. I don't think federal school loans do credit score checks.

[COLOR=#990000]"How do Federal Student Loans use Credit Scores?[/COLOR]

The Stafford, Perkins and PLUS loans do not depend on your credit score. The Stafford and Perkins loans are available entirely without regard to your credit history. The PLUS loan, however, requires that the borrower not have an adverse credit history.

An adverse credit history is defined as being more than 90 days late on any debt or having any Title IV debt within the past five years subjected to default determination, bankruptcy discharge, foreclosure, repossession, tax lien, wage garnishment, or write-off."

http://www.finaid.org/loans/creditscores.phtml

You should be eligible for federal loans?

You can also ask for deferment of those loans while in another college program (many grad students do this, but it can also be done for any college work), although the interest still accrues.: https://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/deferment-forbearance

[TABLE=align: left]

[TR]

[TH]

Situations When You May Apply for Deferment

[/TH]

[TH=colspan: 3]

Deferment Available? (and for how long, if applicable)

[/TH]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TH]

Direct Loans

[/TH]

[TH]

FFEL loans

[/TH]

[TH]

Perkins Loans

[/TH]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=width: 56%] During a period of at least half-time enrollment in college or career school

[/TD]

[TD=width: 14%]

Yes

[/TD]

[TD=width: 13%]

Yes

[/TD]

[TD=width: 15%]

Yes

[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

And/Or maybe people on here can refer to night programs?

[mirandaaa]

SunriseDay, getting loans for school isn't an issue; I do that every semester. What I'm saying is that I cannot cut my hours to part time and get loans through a bank to pay my monthly bills, and the money I have left over from school loans after tuition and fees does not even come close to what I'd need monthly.

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

I have heard of evening LPN programs but not RN programs. These would still cut into your afternoon by a couple of hours though. Have you tried working as a CNA in a LTC facility? I'm not sure where you are from but I had an aunt that years ago worked the overnight shift as a CNA, had full benefits, and was making more that I was making as a nurse in the hospital by about $5/hour (this was close to 15 years ago and LPNs are no longer in the hospital in my state). Many LTC facilities are still 8 hour shifts. One thing that I would caution against with school is that it is very hard to go through a 12hr clinical day after having little or no sleep. You need to be able to perform nursing skills onsite and sleep deprivation tends to cloud the brain over time (I have a child that was a night owl, after three months of hardly any sleep and trying to work full time during the day it wore on me and I did it the first six months. I could not imagine going through sleep deprivation for 18 months or more going to nursing school and passing the curriculum). Do you rent or own your place? Would you consider a room mate to help share the costs of rent and then this would decrease your overhead expenses? Best of luck finding a program that works best for you.

[mirandaaa]

Do you rent or own your place? Would you consider a room mate to help share the costs of rent and then this would decrease your overhead expenses? Best of luck finding a program that works best for you.

Rent, but I already live with my boyfriend. He pays the rent and I pay cable, utilities, and groceries. Can't do much cost-cutting in that area.

I have a high volume of bills from old medical bills I'm still paying off and because of my age, basically everything else is elevated (car loan because of high interest rate, car insurance, etc).

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

Rent, but I already live with my boyfriend. He pays the rent and I pay cable, utilities, and groceries. Can't do much cost-cutting in that area.

I have a high volume of bills from old medical bills I'm still paying off and because of my age, basically everything else is elevated (car loan because of high interest rate, car insurance, etc).

Yeah, that cuts out the room mate option...

You may be able to refinance the car loan for a better rate if you have had it for at least a few months and have made the payments on time, though this won't cut the cost much in the end. Car insurance for young people is horrible. I went with State Farm when I was 20. Their rates went down at age 21 instead of the normal 25 that most follow. They also offer a lot of discounts such as good driver, good student, vehicle safety/anti theft items, and I don't know if your boyfriend could be on the same policy (if his driving record is like my husbands you wouldn't want to do this) but if you went that route it ends up being very little difference between insuring one car versus two.

[mirandaaa]

I went with State Farm when I was 20. Their rates went down at age 21 instead of the normal 25 that most follow. They also offer a lot of discounts such as good driver, good student, vehicle safety/anti theft items, and I don't know if your boyfriend could be on the same policy (if his driving record is like my husbands you wouldn't want to do this) but if you went that route it ends up being very little difference between insuring one car versus two.

I actually just switched to State Farm! Their rates are fantastic for my age group. I had Progressive and they didn't offer anything. I asked for a student discount and they said that they have student discounts, but it would only apply to someone else on my plan, but not me (basically I'd have to have a child as a full time student and they would get the discount, but I was not able to).

I switched to State Farm and my rate dropped by about $30 a month which is great. I signed up for a student discount, multi-line (renters insurance cut my auto down quite a bit), and the Drive Safe And Save so if I continue driving well then my premium will decrease.

I have also been looking into getting rid of cable. There's a great app called Sling TV and it's live TV just like on cable, but it streams through your phone/tablet and you can download it onto an Amazon FireStick and watch it just like normal on your TV and it's only $20 a month (vs. the $150+ I'm spending on cable...Comcast is insane).

Once I get my medical bills paid off around September, I'll feel much more comfortable. But being required to pay for health insurance now also puts me back in the hole a little since that's not cheap either.

Everything is expensive when we're young and don't have money

[zzbxdo]

If you have a good job and making good money now, why don't you try to defer your enrollment a year. In that year pay off your debt, bills and save some reserve cash. Doesn't really add up or make sense to take loans for daily living when you're already in debt, looking for more debt, or give up a reasonable career. For being early 20s you seem very financially mature. I'm against unnecessary debt and wouldn't want you to be piled down to the ground because you're eager to go school (which is a great thing don't get me wrong). But nursing in many areas, only provides a subadequate salary. Look down the road where you area is. Is it worth the salary bump or loss, and what kind of total debt are you looking at between life, school loans and bills?

[mirandaaa]

If you have a good job and making good money now, why don't you try to defer your enrollment a year. In that year pay off your debt and save. Doesn't really add up or make sense to take loans for daily living when you're already in debt, looking for more debt, or give up a reasonable career. Is it worth the salary bump or loss, and what kind of total debt are you looking at between life, school loans and bills?

I'm definitely not looking into getting living loans because like you, I'm against getting into debt that I don't need to be in.

As far as putting off enrollment goes, I've already put it off for about 4 years and I've decided I'm finally ready (and comparing my GPA and grades from now to high school, you'd see what I mean!)

I'm not "in debt" per say, I have no credit card or outstanding debts (I pay off my cards every month and only use them for groceries and gas to build credit). I am 2 years into my 5 year car loan (still owe $5000) and have about 6 months left on paying off my medical bills, plus the student loans that I currently have (which are around $5000 and 4 more upcoming semesters at $2500 a semester). I also pay off the interest on my student loans quarterly so that kills thousands off of what I'll owe in the long run. So realistically I'm not doing too bad as far as debt goes.

Also I would just like to say THANK YOU for the comment about being in my 20s and being financially mature. I had to grow up really fast when I was younger so it always makes me happy to see my efforts don't always go unnoticed.

[lovinglife2015]

Unfortunately that isn't an option without waiting 3 more years. This is the only school near me that will do a dependency override for financial aid that I've found. Because I'm under 25, not married, and don't have children, the government places me as a dependent student (even though I've been fully independent since 17 and the closest parent lives 12 hours away).

If you were a legally emancipated minor at 17, you can qualify as independent.

https://studentaid.ed.gov/fafsa/filling-out/dependency#dependent-or-independent