Does Financial Aid Help More with 2nd Bachelors or Masters? HELP!

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I know I am poor enough to qualify for all the available aid out there, but I was wondering.... in your experience....

*Is fianancial aid helping out with your 2nd bachelors??

*Did you have to go through an appeals process for financial aid to help with grants/fee waivers/loans for your 2nd bachelors??

*Did you qualify for a FEE WAIVER at all?

I have NEVER taken out a loan for school, so I currently owe NOTHING. I was told by one school that I would have to go through APPEALS to get any type of assistance with financial aid... this really sucks, since I am not even guaranteed any type of package if I were to pursue a 2nd bachelors at this particular school...

FOR THOSE IN A MASTERS PROGRAM.....

*Is financial aid helping out?

*Is the amount they are helping enough to get you through school?

*Are they providing grants/fee waivers/loans?? (any or all?)

Financial Aid assistance will partially determine if I will choose a 2nd accelerated BSN or an Entry Level Masters program.... If more help is provided with one over the other, that is the degree I will probably go toward, since I am tight on money.

I am most interested in finding out about FEE WAIVERS and if anyone has been offered any type of them. I know students with low enough income can qualify. Also, I know loans are available, but since I owe nothing in educational loans, I don't want to over-do the borrowing thing....

Please HELP... any advice is appreciated :)

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There is no financial aid for 2nd bachelor's degrees. However, it's like starting out as a Freshman again. The cap for sub and unsub loans is reset and you may borrow up to 46k. The thing that stinks is that since you are starting out as a Freshman again you are restricted in the amount you can borrow from semester to semester and sometimes it's not enough and you have to get a private loan to cover the difference.

Good luck!

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FOR THOSE IN A MASTERS PROGRAM.....

*Is financial aid helping out?

*Is the amount they are helping enough to get you through school?

*Are they providing grants/fee waivers/loans?? (any or all?)

I also had looked into the MSN vs 2nd BS route...I agree with the other poster - you don't get a lot of fin aid for a 2nd BS.

For the MSN, I didn't get any fee waivers but...I did get grants (one that I applied to and two that were given to me by the school). When I filled out my FASA, I changed my financial contribution to zero (the year before school started, I worked and filled out the FASA based on my tax return. However, when school started, I stopped working.) That helped me get the school grants since they were based upon financial need. The grants from school were substantial (altogether 1/6 of my total tuition)

For loans, I took out the max amounts for the Stafford (subsidized and unsubsidized). The government loans were not enough. I used my savings and family helped out. I didn't want to take out private loans though. So, for the remaining amount needed, I took out Direct Grad PLUS.

Hope this helps;)

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I'm having the same situation. I already have a bachelors and I used loans to pay my way for my first degree. You may want to look into your states higher education commission to see if you qualify for grants and scholarships. There's always private scholarships like fastweb.com and other search engines. There are places that are willing to give money, but no one applies.

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Thanks all for the input... I'm thinking going for ADN route so I'll owe NOTHING when I come out, then work on a RN-BSN program & have employer pay for it....

I just hate owing money... I hate debt, period.

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I totally understand. Right now I'm trying to get as many scholarships as I can to avoid taking out loans.

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