paying education..HELP

loisane · Dec 30, 2002

lpnga,

Lots of your questions have been discussed on other threads here. Spend some time looking around, there is alot to be gained from the folks here who have shared these same experieces with you.

You are right that since you will need some experience as an RN, working off that debt for a couple of years is a viable option to explore.

Don't sweat it about paying for CRNA school. There is lots of help available. At CRNA salaries it is possible to pay loans and still have a good standard of living. Many, many employers are willing to pay for your schooling in return for a committment to work for them after graduation. Lots of SRNAs go this route. Some would rather avoid a committment, and go on just savings and loans, but that way is little more sacrifice. It is all up to you. When the time comes, you will be able to tell what will work best for you.

CRNAs do work mostly in hospitals. Many are moving into office based practice now, also (providing anesthesia for patients who have surgery in their surgeon's office.) And there are ambulatory care centers, where several surgeons work just like a hospital, but there is no overnight stay for the patient. Some CRNAs are beginning to get involved in pain management, providing longer term pain relief pain procedures to patient with chronic pain.

Go to aana.com to find out more.

Good luck,

loisane crna

rez RN · Dec 31, 2002

sounds like the hospital is a good route... if the pay is decent?

i moved away from the south for better pay and student loan repayment the fedrl govt offers diffrent programs to pay back your loans usually over two to three yrs for bsn...then if you reapply as a crna you can qualify for further repayment

lpnga · Dec 31, 2002

I received an email from a local hospital that for every $750 used to school I would have to work for six months and if I decided not to work for them I would have to pay it back.or does hospitals reimcuburse you in full....If so then I could take out a loan and then after working for six months then I could take that and pay my loan off...ummmmmmm. I need to check this out..Any one know what happens in your area............I was also told that a local place may help pay for CRNA school..then I would just have to take out a loan for bills during those two years of school.,...what does everyone else do???????????

smogmatt · Dec 31, 2002

1 Work in a hospital as a CNA. I did this and it helped tons w/ school, tests were easy, I had more confidence in clinicals and I my tuition was paid for, plus I was able to jump right into an ICU spot out school because I wasn't the typical "new grad" sounds like you got lots of responsibilities. If you can balance them all out I would go for the CNA work (be careful, you can feel burned out on nursing because you are so engrossed in it. I would recommend you just do the bare minimum to get the tuition reimbursement, 24hr/wk =70% repayment for 1 yr for me)

2 Perkins loans, perkins loans, perkins loans!!!! I don't know if Idaho is the only state that does this but if you get a perkins loan, after you graduate 20% of the principle is canceled per year if you are RN working full-time plus deferments and grace periods are longer and no bank fee to get the money.