how to afford school?

Nurseinthemaking · Jul 29, 2005

Whoa that is high!!!

I will just go straight to the point here. I am just finishing up school and I will have to honestly say, If I had to work 1 hour a week, I wouldn't have been able to do it.

We started off with 65 in our class. We are now down to 40. Those of us that are no longer here, it was either because they couldn't pass the Math or they couldn't make it, because they were having to work and not able to study. These instructors pull rabbits out of their hats and ask you to do a huge project and bring it back the next day. There were many of us That would get together and go, OK, you do 1-10, I will do 11-20, you do 21-30, and then we would meet back together early the next day, to get one anothers answers. It is called team cheating/learning, but there was no way, we could have done it, because aside from that class we had 4-5 others we were trying to read for, or study or recopy notes, etc.

Nursing School is tough and quite frankly if you feel like you are not going to be able to make it, maybe you should step down and give that person that is on the alternate list the opportunity.

Plan on spending anywhere between 20 and 30 hours a week on learning outside of class. If its a very tough year but it is VERY much doable.

browneyedgirl73 · Jul 29, 2005

Whoa that is high!!!
I will just go straight to the point here. I am just finishing up school and I will have to honestly say, If I had to work 1 hour a week, I wouldn't have been able to do it.
We started off with 65 in our class. We are now down to 40. Those of us that are no longer here, it was either because they couldn't pass the Math or they couldn't make it, because they were having to work and not able to study. These instructors pull rabbits out of their hats and ask you to do a huge project and bring it back the next day. There were many of us That would get together and go, OK, you do 1-10, I will do 11-20, you do 21-30, and then we would meet back together early the next day, to get one anothers answers. It is called team cheating/learning, but there was no way, we could have done it, because aside from that class we had 4-5 others we were trying to read for, or study or recopy notes, etc.
Nursing School is tough and quite frankly if you feel like you are not going to be able to make it, maybe you should step down and give that person that is on the alternate list the opportunity.
Plan on spending anywhere between 20 and 30 hours a week on learning outside of class. If its a very tough year but it is VERY much doable.

hi, thanks for the reply. i know it's a lot of money, and the only reason why i am thinking of doing it is because they have a spot for me now and no 2 or 3 years waiting like a lot of other places. and i am so excited that i don't want to wait no more. my original plan was , that as soon as i make it into school, i wouldn't work and just concentrate on school, but i have no clue how much financial aid i can get. they told me i should be fine so i am guessing it'll cover the tuition, otherwise i don't see how other people do it.

but thanks for the insides on school and the studying, i kind of expected that much studytime if not more lol. and i know it'll will be hell of a year but i don't care as long as i get the chance to do it. but i am sure everybody gets to see me whining on here sooner or later about it being rough lol. but hey, i guess i asked for it. how much was your tuition? and anybody out there that paid as much as 16.000$????

Nurseinthemaking · Jul 29, 2005

hi, thanks for the reply. i know it's a lot of money, and the only reason why i am thinking of doing it is because they have a spot for me now and no 2 or 3 years waiting like a lot of other places. and i am so excited that i don't want to wait no more. my original plan was , that as soon as i make it into school, i wouldn't work and just concentrate on school, but i have no clue how much financial aid i can get. they told me i should be fine so i am guessing it'll cover the tuition, otherwise i don't see how other people do it.
but thanks for the insides on school and the studying, i kind of expected that much studytime if not more lol. and i know it'll will be hell of a year but i don't care as long as i get the chance to do it. but i am sure everybody gets to see me whining on here sooner or later about it being rough lol. but hey, i guess i asked for it. how much was your tuition? and anybody out there that paid as much as 16.000$????

Hey whining is aloud when it comes to nursing school, sometimes venting is the best way to get though it.

Hey do you know what the pass rate is on this school.

What state is this in?

I am in Texas, where everything is big and we paid $3000. The pass rate is 100%. Which meens 100% of the people that took the Nclex last year passed it. They have had a 100% pass rate for the last 3 years.

I also suggest you check to see how much a new nurse makes in your state. Nurses around here start out making $13 an hour average in the hospitals and $18 in a nursing home. That is not alot of money after you have paid $16,000 for an education.

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Jul 29, 2005

hi, thanks for the reply. i know it's a lot of money, and the only reason why i am thinking of doing it is because they have a spot for me now and no 2 or 3 years waiting like a lot of other places. and i am so excited that i don't want to wait no more. my original plan was , that as soon as i make it into school, i wouldn't work and just concentrate on school, but i have no clue how much financial aid i can get. they told me i should be fine so i am guessing it'll cover the tuition, otherwise i don't see how other people do it.
but thanks for the insides on school and the studying, i kind of expected that much studytime if not more lol. and i know it'll will be hell of a year but i don't care as long as i get the chance to do it. but i am sure everybody gets to see me whining on here sooner or later about it being rough lol. but hey, i guess i asked for it. how much was your tuition? and anybody out there that paid as much as 16.000$????

I am in the same situation and can totally understand you. Not everyone has the good fortune to pick and choose because of the area they live in and endless other factors. Also, most shcools require you to do all your pre-reqs at their school to even be considered and get points in your nursing application, (again in my area it is). God bless all of you who can pick and chose or take pre-reqs in different schools and still get accepted. :) I had no other choice but to pay more than twice the cost for nursing school versus the cc, because I can't wait those years. I am taking out all student loans and deal with them later. Best wishes to you. :)

AtlantaRN, RN · Jul 29, 2005

I went to Gordon College, Barnesville, GA 2 year associates program (RN), pell and hope grant paid for it all, even books...

AtlantaRN

shanshan · Jul 29, 2005

Same here..grants and some wonderful family members..I am a single mom with 3 kids and there is NO WAY i could have held a job!

luv4nursing · Jul 30, 2005

Just wanted to say, u gotta do what u gotta do and its amazing what u can do when u HAVE to. I had no choice but to work part time during my program and I had no room to complain about it because most of the others in my class had kids AND worked part if not full time. Also I consider myself lucky I didnt have to work full time, since my fiance carried most of the weight for both of us for this year. Yes many of the ones who had a rough life are gone, but also many of the ones who didnt have to work or worry about money. Its really about how determined u are

I looked at it as a sacrifice I had to make in order to have a better future. Yes it was a struggle but what was my other option? work minimum wage jobs and live paycheck to paycheck for eternity or give up one year of my life and work my butt off so one day I dont have to? :) Well I graduate at basically the top of the class(not for sure yet but if not then Im at least one of the top 3) on Sept. 6. I must say its been worth the sweat and the tears...lol:)

ok, off my soapbox! About the tuition, I was lucky enough to get a scholarship to my program so all I had to buy was books and uniforms. But had I not gotten in, I would have been willing to pay whatever it cost! Im pretty sure that they offer enough in loans/grants in programs like yours to cover tuition, u should call the financial aid office to find out more. Just think of it as u will make that money back in a year or two if u subtract your old potential income from the one u will have with your license.

best of luck to u!

cursenurse · Jul 30, 2005

$16,000? that is way too much money, especially for an lpn program. the lpn program i went to had 3 terms, i had a pell grant that covered most of the expense. every term i came out of pocket about $500. i don't remember what the cost would be w/out the pell, but i know it wasn't 16,000. i just did an adn program for around 4-5000 when the prereqs are figured in. i say that is way too expensive, check out your local comm college, it sounds like you'd come out a lot cheaper, and you would be an rn.