I am a high school senior, and planning to attend a $40,000 college to get my BSN. I am willing to sacrifice it for the general experience and the opportunity.
At the end of 4 years, I will have about $160,000 in debt.
After getting my BSN, I plan to work for one year. Then I plan to apply to CRNA schools, and hopefully get my master's. That will be another $40,000 in costs.
Once I become a CRNA (with persistence and hope), I will be making adequate money.
At the end, I will be graduating with about $200,000 in debt.
Do you think that this is manegable?
For RNs and CRNAs, what are your opinions and advice on the financial side?
As a practical matter, you would max out your eligibility for government financial aid and still not have enough to make it work. The government places a limit on how much you can borrow.
If you seek out alternate loans, the interest on them may be double, triple, or higher than government loans.
If you don't have help from your family or scholarships, please look into public universities.
You will never get out of that much debt, look into a BSN program at a state universtiy and the same for a crna program. I did that for my BSN and ended up with about 20k undergrad debt. I am now attending the same nursing school but in their crna program and will end up in the 80-90k debt range for all of my education. ANd even this will be a challenge to pay off over 10-15 years. If the debt was any greater i would not even pursue it. Be careful, many young people now a days are getting saturated in debt they will probably never be able to repay. Worse yet, the colleges no this but still keep telling students that they will be able to pay it off.
If you choose a top notch state school or the flagship state school in your state, you may be surprised to find out that the resourses and education are as good or better than many private schools. MY school for example is located in a health sciences center and has first class resoures and high pass rates for the boards. The undergrad tut. is about 1300.00 a semester, how could anyone justify paying many times this for a similar or inferior education. Shop around and look hard at your state schools, you may end up being pleasantly surprised, I know I was.
I'm sure there are other similar private schools who won't charge near to the 40,000 dollar mark. Check these out too. You may find yourself comfortable in a different situation. If you have already made the decision to go to this expensive school, then god bless you when you get out is all I can say.
As Athein said, it will be difficult for you to get a loan when you get out of college with your BSN, especially if if you don't have anything on scholarship or any loan forgiveness. Think about your living situation after college. It won't even be very frugal, trust me. Hell, I'm an RN who graduated 2 years ago, and I make an adequate living, but I still have to watch what I spend, and I have no kids to look after.
Many Doctors end up being in heavy debt after they get out of meidical school, but your debt will equal their debt after you complete your BSN, and you'll only be making in the neighborhoods of maybe 40,000 dollars a year as an RN, and that is for one year before you return to school. On top of that, you won't make much over that 40,000 dollars as a staff RN. Loan programs expect docs to be making greater than 100,000 dollars when they complete their residency.
Nursing school and CRNA school are hard enough. You don't want to make it more difficult by making your life situation harder as well.
There are a lot of good private schools out there, as well as a lot of good nursing schools. I think the consensus is that you can get a great education for a lot less money, and still have room to enjoy your life along the way. Good luck in your decision.
I was in a situation similar to yours. I was looking at attending a school that was going to run me about 25K a year. I ended up not going there for mostly one reason: I do not want 100K in undergraduate debt when I get out of school. I finally realized that it was plain stupid on my part to do that to myself. I still want my BSN from this school, and I will have it.
I chose to attend a local community college for awhile and then I will be transfering to the RN-BSN program at the school. I will end up spending under 40K for the community college AND the RN-BSN program. If it's the degree from a certain school you are seeking, I would highly look into the way I am planning. I know that some people would tell you not to do a two year program then go to a RN-BSN, but you know what is best for you and that's what you have to do. By going this route, I will have less than 10K in student loans, if that much, when I am through with my BSN. Makes a lot more sense for me in my situation.
I agree with MBARN and have the experience to support her comments. I have my bachelor's degree in biochemistry from a state college ( I owe $10,000 for the entire 4 year degree). I subsequently chose to go into nursing and attended a quick 2 year ADN program ( basically free--My work paid for it) , from which I got Hired directly into a Pediatric Intensive CAre Unit where I have been working for over a year. I am now applying to CRNA school for next fall's class.
Key Point:
1)Get your RN the cheapest (LEgal) way possible
2)Get Good ICU experience--This is were you learn all you will need for CRNA school.
3) Get into a CRNA School.
Don't get caught up in the status game, because in nursing it is irrelevant. Play the game smart! Credentials can be obtained on a budget. I work with plenty of nurses that paid over 100,000 grand for their RN, and you know where they work: RIGHT BESIDE ME--NO DIFFERENCE!
Great post, anestat46! I completely agree. When I first moved to NC, I was upset because there was no 4 year college that offered a BSN program within driving distance. I went the ADN route, and have been very happy with the program thus far. I look forward to obtaining my BSN online while making some money and getting my ICU experience. Also, the online BSN program is from a school that also has a CRNA program, which is great! I would put my clinical skills up against a new BSN grad any day. Best of luck!
Athlein
88 Posts
Financial suicide. Period.
As a practical matter, you would max out your eligibility for government financial aid and still not have enough to make it work. The government places a limit on how much you can borrow.
If you seek out alternate loans, the interest on them may be double, triple, or higher than government loans.
If you don't have help from your family or scholarships, please look into public universities.