I've already been accepted to a few schools and have an interview at another for 2017 start, but the prices are really making me rethink things. All of my local CC's are insanely competitive and packed, even for someone with a college degree--I was rejected to two of them.
My biggest issue lies with my debt. I have 65k in debt already and am looking at schools that would add another 40-60k on top of that. Now that's a ton of debt, but my plan was to go through the nurse corps loan repayment program and work in a rural area for 3-4 years to pay off nursing school loans while working to pay off the rest of my 65k in undergrad loans in the same time period. Is this a viable plan, or do these "programs" really not amount to much?
Honestly, i feel as though waiting another year or two to try to get into CC just because of the price will be a waste of time. I'll eventually need my BSN if I want to be a nurse practitioner. I could just say "screw it" with the nursing career to save a mountain of debt and work some dead end business job and start paying off my loans from undergrad, but i'd be putting off what i've put in so much work to do.
ADN program is the plan for now. BSN will likely be too costly.
Again I was just confused as to how you could take classes to complete your BSN if you weren't actually in said BSN program. Like I said it's different where I'm from--you have to be in the BSN program to take the courses to complete it, unless you were just talking about BSN prereqs?
OR unless you were taking about your bachelor's in another field! Ha sorry if I'm making things confusing, just trying to get it straight lol
What do you mean take classes toward my BSN? Aren't all those courses ones you'd have to take once you get in the program? I've already taken all BSN prereqs.
Plan as of now is to live and work as a CNA as a hospital near FRCC and see if the hospital will finance my ADN. It's a shot in the dark but will save me tons of money going forward.
Good luck. I have 3 girlfriends who got their ADN's paid for this way, so I'm not so sure I'd call it a shot in the dark :). 2 of the 3 are now bridging to BSN. 2 of the community colleges here actually do offer the RN to BSN bridge at very flexible times and even online. I'm not sure of the tuition but I imagine it is still very, very reasonable.
Glad to see you have the patience to get ADN first. You do what you gotta do!
If it makes you feel any better, I started pre-reqs when I was 32. I'm now 36 and getting ready to graduate in less than 3 weeks. I have no regrets. And I wasn't the oldest person in the class, in fact, I'd say half of my classmates are in their 30s and 40s! I went to my local community college. I worked hard and got excellent grades in my prereqs and was awarded enough scholarships that my entire schooling was paid for in full, even including books, uniforms, everything! It sounds like you are young and don't have kids yet. Work your butt off and save save save while you are waiting to get into the community college program. It is worth the wait! Don't strap yourself down with a ton of debt and don't think that you are too old! Good luck!
Thanks for the replies. I am moving to Colorado from MS and will be living on my own so I'm hoping my employer will consider paying for my ADN if I work for them as a CNA for awhile before classes start in August. Unfortunately don't see myself being able to pay off loans during my time in school as CNA's only make (squiggly key i can't find) $15 an hour. Should be just enough to pay rent and eat/fill up the gas tank. I've been used to being fairly poor though, so another 2 years won't kill me (delusional chuckle).
Ok one last question for you guys--thank you for all the information! :)
How much will hospitals pay for your BSN or ADN? Do they set up arrangements where you agree to work for them for a specified amount of time after you get your degree, and they will pay for at least half of it? Is it even worth it in that regard? I'd like to find a hospital in the Denver area that would do that..
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Ok one last question for you guys--thank you for all the information! :)
How much will hospitals pay for your BSN or ADN? Do they set up arrangements where you agree to work for them for a specified amount of time after you get your degree, and they will pay for at least half of it? Is it even worth it in that regard? I'd like to find a hospital in the Denver area that would do that..
Thank you!
its extremely uncommon these days especially in areas with a surplus of nurses/inexperienced new grad nurses. 10-15 years ago very common.
The more metropolitan area the less likely the need for new grad nurses and more likely a surplus.
The few that tuition reimbursement the employee usually has to work for a year+ full time (some do full time), pay out of pocket earning a B or better for classes required for the approved degree and it's often a maximum amount of $1000-$5000 annually (lower amounts for associates higher for graduate degree) and each semester reimbursed equals ~6 months employment. The reimbursed amount is considered benefit/income and may be taxable.
Many facilities have cut initial degree reimbursement if in a surplus area plus cost cutting measure to counteract reduced insurance reimbursement rates.
You need to investigate the facilities where you are seeking to apply.
My hospital offers tuition reimbursement up to $3000 per calendar year. They are in negotiations to increase it. They also offer scholarships once a year though too, so that could be another $1500. They give out several.
As a nurse that graduated this past spring, I advise you to seriously cut down your debt. There is big fallacy that nurses make a lot of money and we don't. I have interviewed at a couple of places and based on the hourly rates and benefits offered , I would highly discourage going into 6 figure debt for nursing, its just not worth it. Did you research the new pay for the area you want to work in ? In my area , the average tuition reimbursement is $3,000 a year for full time employees for undergraduate nursing degrees. Knowing what I know now, I would highly advise to work and pay down that debt before embarking on your nursing journey.
I applied to 3 CC's in my state (MS) this year and was waitlisted. I heard from a girl who's in her last semester at one that the waitlist could be as long as 2 years. Suffice to say, there are an absolute fecal-matter ton of people applying for nursing school at CC"s nowadays--which I can't blame them for..I mean, you could be 21 and making a 50k salary. Not bad.
I'm starting to feel depressed about the whole thing, honestly. The only schools I can get accepted to are going to put me six figures in debt, and the community colleges are a 1-2 year wait list. Alright, pity party over. I guess as someone new to nursing with a college degree already, i'm just baffled at how competitive it is even for community colleges. I think in the end the best decision going forward is to work on my debt already accrued and go from there. Paying $1,500 a month for 10 years would be crippling.
I applied to 3 CC's in my state (MS) this year and was waitlisted. I heard from a girl who's in her last semester at one that the waitlist could be as long as 2 years. Suffice to say, there are an absolute fecal-matter ton of people applying for nursing school at CC"s nowadays--which I can't blame them for..I mean, you could be 21 and making a 50k salary. Not bad.
I'm starting to feel depressed about the whole thing, honestly. The only schools I can get accepted to are going to put me six figures in debt, and the community colleges are a 1-2 year wait list. Alright, pity party over. I guess as someone new to nursing with a college degree already, i'm just baffled at how competitive it is even for community colleges. I think in the end the best decision going forward is to work on my debt already accrued and go from there. Paying $1,500 a month for 10 years would be crippling.
Unless you are ready to move to another area , that will allow you to attend nursing school for a decent price, I think you should reapply to those schools, work very hard and cut down your debt while you wait to be accepted. $50,000 may be good money at 21 but its not good money when your older with kids to feed and mortgage to pay or very huge loan to pay off. People also tend only include only their student loan debt, but one has to include their overall debt, car loan, credit card debt , personal loan, or mortgage. $65,000 is a lot of money but you can cut it down, I'm not sure what your age is but the average age in nursing school between late twenties to early thirties. Just be financially smart, the market is very competitive right now especially for new graduates.
Specializes in Cardiac (adult), CC, Peds, MH/Substance.
The ones in this area (the nice, major ones, not the scary ones that no one wants to work at anyhow) seem to pay 4-6K/year.
Most of them do not require a contract to work with them after for normal tuition assistance. There are some programs that send you to expensive grad school MSN programs, where they require a 2 year commitment after you finish, but those are most like 60-100K expenses, so they deserve the commtment.
Ok one last question for you guys--thank you for all the information! :)
How much will hospitals pay for your BSN or ADN? Do they set up arrangements where you agree to work for them for a specified amount of time after you get your degree, and they will pay for at least half of it? Is it even worth it in that regard? I'd like to find a hospital in the Denver area that would do that..
(delusional chuckle).
rock hopper
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ADN program is the plan for now. BSN will likely be too costly.
Again I was just confused as to how you could take classes to complete your BSN if you weren't actually in said BSN program. Like I said it's different where I'm from--you have to be in the BSN program to take the courses to complete it, unless you were just talking about BSN prereqs?
OR unless you were taking about your bachelor's in another field! Ha sorry if I'm making things confusing, just trying to get it straight lol