College Loans/Future Education/Salary questions

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Jun 14, 2010

i can only answer for the air force, but i'm willing to share what i know.

i'm entering my senior year of college and will have my bsn by this time next year. i have more than one reason for wanting join the military. as i approach graduation, college loan repayment, future education opportunities and salary are some of my biggest concerns at the moment. i will eventually go and talk with a medical recruiter but i'd like to go in somewhat informed as i don't know much about these areas. please bear with my questions and i appreciate any help you can give!
i hope with these questions i don't come off the wrong way. these areas of concern that i express are not the only reasons why i'm considering joining the military. as i prepare to graduate and enter the real world these are major concerns in my life right now. how sweet it would be to be able to serve my country all the while simultaneously furthering my career.
college loans:
1. i read on both the army and air force websites that new-grads can qualify for up to $120,000 in loan repayment over 3 years (max $40k per year). does this mean they will pay all loans up to $120k? (i will have approximately $90k in loans total from a state college by the time i graduate if that matters)
the air force only pays a maximum of $40k in student loan repayment. they've never paid $120k; the army might, but we don't. in the af it's paid in a lump sum a few months after you get to your base, and it's taxed at 26%.
2. is there any "catch" to loan repayment? (ie for every year the military repays my loans do i owe the military a certain # of active duty years in return, etc.)
yes. in the usaf, to accept the loan repayment and the bonus, you must sign for six years active duty time. and it will fly by; i'm already only a few months shy of year in.
future education:
1. my goal after graduation is to become a crna or possibly an np. will joining the military hinder or benefit me in any way to achieve that goal? (will i be put on a track to achieve this goal such as being positioned in a critical care setting and gaining experience to ready me for grad school)
the af won't hinder you, but you'll have to pursue your route yourself. in the af, you'll have an airman development plan that tracks out how you want to navigate your career. you'll be able to pursue whatever track you want, but it will be your responsibility to ensure it happens.
2. does the military have their own exclusive crna or np program or will i attend a civilian grad school?
both options are there. the uniformed services university of health sciences (affectionately known as usuhs) is up in bethesda, md. you have to apply for admission and it's competitive to get in. but you can also attend civilian schools either by competing for a funded scholarship (where they pay for you to go to school and essentially station you at the school - so you get full pay and bennies while you're there) or by using tuition assistance to go on your own near your base.
3. will the military pay for grad school as well as continue paying my normal salary?
i inadvertently answered that question above. there's a maximum amount per year they pay in tuition assistance, and right off the top of my head i can't remember how much it is, but it's sufficient. if you use ta, you'll work and go to school just like you would in the civilian world. if you get a usuhs or an afit (the other funding i mentioned is through the air force institute of technology) slot, you only go to school - they're paying you to attend class.
4. similar to my loan repayment question, is there a "catch" for the military putting me through grad school? (ie for every year of grad school they put me through i owe in return a certain # of active duty year, etc.)
yes. you incur a commitment.
salary:
1. is the salary for all officers the same or is there a differential for nurses? (after looking at the officer pay grade chart i've noticed that the salary for an o-1 is almost 1/3 what some of my friends are making in the civilian world with their bsn) this is not such a big deal when considering loan repayment, grad school costs, etc. but it is an area i'm a little cloudy on.
all officers make the same base pay. brand new rns get no extras; once you're in there are certain extra pays for certain specialties.
you're saying o1 pay is 1/3 of what some of your friends are getting. if that's true, your friends are bringing home a five figure monthly salary - and i really don't believe that. people forget about the two other perks you get every month - bas (basic allowance for subsistence - grocery money!) and bah (basic allowance for housing).
an o1 with no prior service makes $2745 a month base pay. you also get $223 a month for groceries (this amount is the same regardless of officer rank), and an average of $1000 a month for housing (housing allowances vary based on zip code, so it could be a little more or a little less; a grand is a good average for an o1 - the absolute least you'd get is right around $900). so just walking in you'll make about $3900 a month. for that to be a third of your friends' pay, they'd have to be making $11,000 a month ($132k a year!), and i'm thinking that's impossible.
i have eight years prior enlisted service so i make about $5000 a month. in december i'll make almost $6000 a month - i make o2 in december because i was given one year's time in grade for my two years civilian nursing experience. and next december i'll get another pay raise because i'll hit ten years time in service - and that's on top of the annual pay raise passed by congress (which they keep claiming is going away but i truly don't see it happening). no rn with 3 years experience at the civilian hospital i left last september makes that kind of money (not in nc anyway!). i know there are rns in other parts of the country who make more, but they also have higher costs of living than where i lived in central nc. so it evens out. i still say you'd be hard pressed to find a three year rn who's not working her tail off in overtime (which most places now won't pay out like they used to) who makes $6000 a month.
also, you pay no premiums and no deductibles for health care. i paid $300 a month to insure my husband and myself. now i pay $10 a month for his dental coverage - and everything else is free. he had an mri on his knee and six weeks of pt, and we paid nothing. i know no 3 year rn who has that kind of coverage and pays no premium for it - except for my colleagues in uniform.
you also earn 2.5 days of leave for every 30 days served, and can carry up to 60 days on the books or up to i think it's 75 if you've been deployed. and there's no such thing as sick leave. i was sick enough last week that i went to the md, and they put me on quarters for three days - what that means is essentially i was to stay at home and recover. that time is not deducted from your leave - it's time served and you earn leave while you're out! if you get seriously ill or something happens - say i get pregnant and i'm high-risk and am ordered on bed rest for three months - guess what, it's time served - i earn 2.5 days leave for every 30 days i'm out sick, i draw full pay, and i have full benefits. and no leave is deducted from my balance! believe me, your civilian friends will not have that type of benefit.
2. does salary and loan repayment become intertwined/overlap in any way or are they two separate entities? (ie if the military is repaying my college loans will i receive a lower salary?)
no. your pay never drops in the military, it only goes up. the only thing that changes from station to station can be your housing allowance as it will reflect the going rates in whatever area you live in.

another benefit of the military - you won't be cut from your job unless you seriously screw up (like kill someone due to negligence). you're guaranteed a job for at least the length of your initial commitment, and with officers, separating is a bit different because once your commitment is up, you essentially serve at the whim of the president. you can be downsized (they have other names for it - force shaping is one and drawdown is another), but in the medical field, it's very rare because we're always needed. my point is you won't be given a pink slip the way folks are in the civilian world - it's different here.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Jun 14, 2010

I want to add that the pay is uniform across the services; I make exactly what an O1 with my years of time in service makes in the Navy, Marines, and the Army - to include housing allowance and BAS, as all of these rates are set by Congress and the DOD. They are not service specific.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Jun 15, 2010

I just realized I paid MORE than $300 a month for insurance. That was just for hospitalization/medical insurance. I also had to pay for long term care insurance, short term disability coverage, vision coverage, and dental coverage - AND life insurance (a lovely paltry $25K). So I actually paid about $450 a month for insurance.

Now I pay about thirty bucks for DH's dental and my life insurance - $400K worth of coverage payable for any reason as long as I'm legal (if you go AWOL they don't pay out; but if you're on leave and your plane crashes, they will).

I think it's great that you're asking all these questions. The fact that you're concerned about this kind of stuff before you're even out of college shows a lot of maturity - a lot of kids don't consider these sorts of truly important topics. There are no daft questions on allnurses and especially on the military forum. The military's a great way of life (I spent my formative years as a Navy dependent and later enlisted at 23; I got out and missed it so much I decided to come back in!), but it's not always easy to decipher the fine print, so to speak.

For the most part, everything I've said above is true across the services. Where it differs is how much bonus and loan repayment you get (varies by service) and I think TA is different across the services. Of course, you will also still get the GI Bill, and you can use that to go to school to help defray expenses after you've been in at least a year.

HNELLA · Jun 15, 2010

The evening news reported that the cist of healthcare is expected to rise by 9% this year and that the average deductible for health insurance will increase to $400. Add in the co-insurance and that is more money out of pocket than ever before.

The older I get the more concerned I get about the cost of healthcare and dental coverage. It will be nice not to pay into to health coverage and never really see the benefits of what I pay for....now if only the government would help out on homeowners insurance :nuke:

lifeafter40 · Jun 15, 2010

Also don't forget that the entitlements of BAS and BAH are tax free... so as an O1 you could be getting $1200-$1500 tax free dollars each month.

That could easily add up to an additional $5000 of per year in tax savings (money in your pocket that civilian counterparts would pay out in taxes).

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Jun 15, 2010

Also don't forget that the entitlements of BAS and BAH are tax free... so as an O1 you could be getting $1200-$1500 tax free dollars each month.
That could easily add up to an additional $5000 of per year in tax savings (money in your pocket that civilian counterparts would pay out in taxes).

I always forget that part - so that's worth about 30% more than what we're actually being paid.

They are SO stuck with me to retirement....

Gazi · Jun 15, 2010

Carolinapooh, thank you so much for your detailed responses! I feel much more confident getting real life answers from someone who's actually been through all of this!

Believe it or not it isn't uncommon for BSN students up here in the NY/NJ/CT tristate area to be hired at around $75-90k first year out of school. Add to that some OT and per diem gigs and you can easily break into 6 figures annually. As you pointed out though, it's all relevant considering the cost of living and taxes up here. I believe roughly 35% of our check is deducted. With this in mind a full time position up here at $80k equates to not much more than an O-1's salary (including food and housing allowance).

Is a soldiers pay exempt from taxes, or only to a certain extent?

I came across a thread with this some info regarding Loan repayment + Bonus. Please correct me if any of this info is wrong or is no longer valid:

3 year active duty commitment = No Loan Repayment + No Bonus

4 year active duty commitment = Loan repayment (up to $40k) + No Bonus

6 year active duty commitment = Loan repayment + Bonus

I'm not sure how much the Air Force Bonus actually is. I believe I read it was $20-$35k. Also, is the Air Force Bonus a lump sum payment? My brother-in-law's $20k Army bonus is scattered over 4 years. This wouldn't be very helpful in my situation regarding my college loans.

Is there an inactive duty commitment required after the 3,4 or 6 year active commitment?

Also don't forget that the entitlements of BAS and BAH are tax free... so as an O1 you could be getting $1200-$1500 tax free dollars each month.
That could easily add up to an additional $5000 of per year in tax savings (money in your pocket that civilian counterparts would pay out in taxes).

I'm not familiar with these terms, can someone please explain tax free entitlements of BAS and BAH are?

Thank you all so much for your help!

jeckrn, BSN, RN · Jun 15, 2010

BAH is your housing allowance which varies by location. BAS is your food allowance around $220 a month.

lifeafter40 · Jun 16, 2010

I came across a thread with this some info regarding Loan repayment + Bonus. Please correct me if any of this info is wrong or is no longer valid:
3 year active duty commitment = No Loan Repayment + No Bonus
4 year active duty commitment = Loan repayment (up to $40k) + No Bonus
6 year active duty commitment = Loan repayment + Bonus

That seems to be about right. Just keep in mind that the bonuses are all subject to availability and that changes regularly, so you will need to talk to your recruiter to see what the most current options are (the respective websites are not always up to date. For instance, although the bonus schedule is the same, the Army is not accepting new-grad applications until the next fiscal year, Oct 2010).

Is a soldiers pay exempt from taxes, or only to a certain extent?

typically, only certain entitlements are tax exempt; base pay is what your earnings tax will be based on. That being said, there are situations involving overseas duty in which all pay and allowances are tax exempt.

LA40

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2010

Air Force current bonus/loan repayment:

3 years - no bonus, no repayment.

4 years - this is $30K in bonus ONLY, with no loan repayment.

6 years (this is what I took) - $20K in bonus, up to $40K in loan repayment.

The BAS and BAH are also explained in my original post.

I don't know how or why the 4 year commitment keeps getting screwed up. It's bonus with no loan repayment, and that information came straight from the Air Force Personnel Center.

lifeafter40 · Jun 16, 2010

I don't know how or why the 4 year commitment keeps getting screwed up. It's bonus with no loan repayment, and that information came straight from the Air Force Personnel Center.

OP stated interest in Army as well as Air Force... Army still claims to offer the 4 year commitment option of bonus OR loan repayment..