Financial Aid

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I finally completed my prerequisites and am ready to apply to ADN and BSN programs this upcoming cycle. However, I have 30,000 dollars in personal debt and 7,000 in school loans. I do not plan to work during the program. Therefore, I will need to take out a loan for my overhead costs, 2 or 3 years worth. I plan to apply to ADN programs with a potential start date of Spring 2019.

Of side note...

I have a 3.7 GPA. I have 4 years of direct patient care in an outpatient setting. I am a competitive applicant.

Does anyone know of any loan types that may suit my needs?

Otherwise, I will have to take 1 year off to work and pay off my debt before continuing my degree. With my current income I can significantly cut my debt by at least 70% in 1 year.

Please share your thoughts and experiences. I am confused and not sure how to proceed. Thank you.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Why take another loan if you can cut your debt by 70% by working full time for a year? Most colleges permit you to defer acceptance by a year or just wait until the next cycle to apply.

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Lots of people work while they work on their BSN, MSN, NP and many other degrees. I work with many people who both continue their education and work overtime to pay down their loans. The debts you have now will only increase unless you start paying soon, and taking out more money on top of that can bury you financially.

Seriously, I work with nurses who work 48-60 hours a week to pay off debt.

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Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.

Ok, some financial lessons for you!

1) Stop living beyond your means right now, and work towards paying off all of that debt. I mean this even if you have to put school on hold for a year or two and work two full time jobs if you have to to get rid of the 37,000.00 you already owe! I am guessing it is also pretty high interest, so think of how much that will add up if you wait to pay it back!

2) you, and everyone else, especially those who do not have kids are fully capable of working full time while you attend school. I have done it through three degrees now (including nursing school!!) Clearly you are NOT someone who can afford to not work!!! You will be way up to your eyeballs in interest and debt when you get out of nursing school as it is without taking on more debt because you don't feel like working! Trust me, none of us really feel like working, but we have to because we are responsible for bills.

3) I highly doubt you will actually qualify for a private loan for school with that amount of debt hanging over you, and the problem is if you finish one year of nursing school or even two if you attend a BSN program, and then the bank tells you they cannot lend you any more money because of your high debt to income ratio you will be in even more financial trouble.

4) Throw away ALL of your credit cards, except one that is to ONLY be used for emergencies. Needing an outfit or whatever else does not constitute an emergency.

5) If you don't already live with your parent or parents, and I know it's painful, but you need to move back in with them to save on rent costs. Use the money you save to pay off the debt and let them know you will pay some rent and money towards the utilities and buy your own food.

6) If you do have to take out school loans when you do finally get to the point that you are financially stable enough to go to nursing school (and that isn't now by the sounds of it) you should not take out more then you need to pay for the actual classes. By this I mean pay for your books and pay for your own cost of living.

7) do yourself a favor and look up what your monthly payments will be with the amount of student loan you would have to take out to cover nursing school and your cost of living, often times that is a good wake up call.

Annie

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I agree with the previous posters -- that you should delay school for a year or two and use that time to pay off your current debt before taking on more debt. If you can pay of 70% of your current debt in only 1 year at your current salary, then it is definitely worth it to wait a year or two for school.

You are at risk of "getting in over your head" if you keep borrowing money and getting into more and more debt. It's time to start paying it off. School can wait.

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I appreciate all of you for taking time out of your day to provide your input. All of your answers only confirms my decision.

I was curious to know if there are any alternatives that I may not be aware of.

It doesn't sound like there is so far.

Thank you everyone!

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Nursing will wait. You may even find you can work during school after alleviating 70% of your debt. Do you know what many would do for the opportunity to eliminate 70% of debt in under a year!?!? School will still be there. Let them know you are taking a year to eliminate the majority of your debt. This will be likely in your favor. Good luck

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Everyone has given you such good advice! I started my prerequisites with $50,000 in debt combined with my husband. This was previous student loans, credit cards, and an auto title loan at 60% interst if you can even believe that! We have two small children not yet in school so we work opposite shifts him as an EMT and me as a hairstylist. Over the course of three years we've eliminated $33,000 in debt. We have had to make sacrifices! No Disneyland, no fancy vacations, we share a vehicle that has no air conditioning (in Arizona!), and the list goes on. We are striving for a better future not only for ourselves but for our children as well. We are trying to break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck and letting our finances own us. I know you are excited to start nursing school but you Wouldn't want to be working all those hard shifts as a nurse and giving all your money away to your debt payments.. I have it worked out so I will have the remainder of our debt paid off and will use grants for nursing school and cash flow the rest. We will be debt free when I graduate. I wish you the best of luck and I can tell you from personal experience that debt payments are crippling, especially when trying to start a family, buy a house, or just enjoy your life!

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Unfortunately, though, not everyone has the luxury of being able to work lower paying jobs and pay off previous debt first. Sometimes you have to make some expensive decisions, that are going to mean that your higher pay after college is going to only leave you with enough to afford a cheap small apartment and a used car for a while, but you have to weigh that out.

Not everyone has family they can fall back on, not everyone is married and has the luxury of splitting bills. This is a situation that only the OP can answer for herself. If she wants to max her loans and throw all the extra towards rent and utilities, that's her choice, and sometimes, that's what it takes to get the job that'll get you out of debt (and actually something I'm thinking about doing. I'm single, I don't need a big house, I can be happy in an affordable apartment with a reliable used car to pay off those loans. It's only 10 years, I'll be working for at least 30). But it takes understanding the sacrifice AFTER school that you have to make to pay off those loans, and a willingness to do it. It costs money to make money. But nobody clears 30,000 of debt while working minimum wage jobs without help.

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