$100,000 in student loan debt?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I keep reading about new nurses saddled with $100,000 worth of student loan debt. I'm curious about this. Are these students using their loans to live off of while they attend school or are they attending very expensive schools? You could almost buy a house for that amount. How common is that level of debt?

Specializes in Cardiac.
The economy isn't tanking because people borrowed money to go to college. You want to jump on the debt destruction bandwagon, be my guest! But there are far worthier targets than people who take out loans for their education.

.

Not yet.

And my point, that you missed, is that yes, your choices do affect those around you. People don't live in a bubble.

Why is there an assumption that the majority of people are spending their student loan money on frivolities? I'm sure that some people do but with tuition being what it is at a lot of schools it is possible to borrow a whole lot w/o wasting it on nonsense or using it for living expenses.

I paid for some of my nursing school out of pocket and I worked almost full-time as an LPN during the last year of school but I still had to borrow some money. I needed my income to help pay household bills and feed my children so I was limited in the amount of income that I could use for tuition. During the first year of school I didn't work at all because the program entailed going for 5 days per week from 9am-4pm. There were care plans to write, tons of studying to do, and of course I sill had two children and a husband to interact with...although on a somewhat limited basis because of all I had to juggle.

The assumption that everyone who borrows for school is living in dorms, traveling to France, and paying their rent with the money is beyond me. Not to say that some people don't do this but to assume that the majority do is rather insulting. Even when I was a single mom making less than 15k/year and living with my parents I wasn't receiving much money from FA.

The maximum Pell/Tap/SEOG grant paid less than half of my tuition. Where was I to come up with the rest? Not easy for a person making 15k or less per year to come up with 10K/year to pay for school expenses when they have a child. Guess I shouldn't have went to the school I went to but I believed in the promise that a degree would bring me a good stable job with an income that I could support myself and my child on.

If I hadn't worked at all and applied welfare then I would have received an almost free ride but I always had too much pride for that. So working and going to school can sometimes work against a person because it increases the EFC and reduces the amount of FA a person is eligible for.

Go figure.

Specializes in Cath Lab, OR, CPHN/SN, ER.
At the bottom of each post there is a "quote" button--hit it instead of reply.

And the one next to it with the plus sign and quotation marks is a multi-quote. If there is more than one post in a thread you'd like to quote, click that button, and when you click "post reply", they'll all show up.

And my point, that you missed, is that yes, your choices do affect those around you. People don't live in a bubble.

I didn't miss it, I simply disagree. Can you give me an example specific to the student loan situation?

Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.

I worked all throughout undergrad and still had to take out loans. Sure, I could have put in more hours, but it still wouldnt have been enough to completely pay for my tuition in its entirety. My loans went directly towards my tuition and books. It did not pay for rent, parties, beer or other "frivolous," material things. Like those of us in the minority here have said, SL are necessary in some cases.

My total SL debt wont be $100k, but it will be around $70k...but thats with my Masters. I am a 2nd degree nursing student, so my BS was in another field.

Oh and a nice thing about SLs is that you can deduct interest paid on your tax forms. Its a nice lil write off.

My SL are not going to hurt me in the end, and I have 0 debt otherwise. I consolidated my undergrad loans (all federal...none private...same with my grad loans), and the payments when I was working were absolutely manageable. And if they become hard, then I can defer if need be. The lenders really work with you and dont try and put you out on your butt.

Saying SL are contributing to the downfall of our economy is simply not true. Blame that on people people buying more house than they could afford and predatory lending practices. Oh and CC companies extending the credit line of those who really shouldnt have received the extension. Oh and the massive cost of the war that we are in. Etc. etc.

Specializes in Cardiac.
I didn't miss it, I simply disagree. Can you give me an example specific to the student loan situation?

No, I dont' need to do that. Please use common sense for Pete's sake.

We didn't have any specific instantances in housing until the economy fell either.

Weak argument.

I stand by what I've said all along. 100,000 dollars for a RN degree is reckless. And I have yet to see, "a specific example" otherwise.

Specializes in Cardiac.

My total SL debt wont be $100k, but it will be around $70k...but thats with my masters. I am a 2nd degree nursing student, so my BS was in another field.

.

Huh. When I'm done with my masters my debt will still be zero. I take classes as I can afford them. For instance, I nixed summer classes this semester until I can pay all of them upfront. Some semesters I only take 8 credits or less. For when I want/need full time study I actually save (gasp) money ahead of time for the tuition.

Plus, I wanted a summer vacation and we decided to spend some more money on my house.

All while working more than full time. And being married. And owing a home, and two cars.

Somehow, it can be done. Easily. And for nowhere near 100k!

Excuse me???? When did I ever suggest ANYONE kill themselves?? Or mention a Time Machine??? You will live and learn, it's all anyone can do. That is all I have ever said. Do I think it's absurd to rack up so much debt for a ADN-RN or a BSN-RN Absofreakinglutely, I don't care what the justification is. 100,000 thousand plus dollars for these one of these 2 degrees, I think is absurd. That is MY OPINION. BUT like I have stated many times, it's not my debt, it's not my problem in the end. I simply gave my opinion on the topic.

You ask what you should do??? Pay your debt, you already incurred it so it's a little to late for advice. So all you can do now is pay it. Or don't pay it and get in trouble. Either way, it's not my problem.

I do think quite a few posters are wearing some rose colored glasses about the seriousness of this amount of debt that will be found out later when it's time to pay back and you have all lifes other bills to boot. But hey, what can you do, it is what it is.

Please don't accuse me of saying things I did not, such as killing yourself over debt. No amount of money is worth somones life. As someone who has battled suicide many many years ago (not due to money) I don't take comments like that lightly.

Amen to that last statement. I am one of the seriously in debt loan holders, but I too will just face the music. The lenders were good enough to invest in me and make the money available to me, one way or another they will get payed back, but I certainly am not going to lose my mind over it. I too am in the same boat with battling two previous suicide attempts 18 years ago, so I thought that was kinda out of line too. But to each his own. We all have different circumstances, different realities, and different opinions. Sometimes we have to agree to disagree, and mostly whether we agree with each other or not, I think it is important that we try to walk in each others shoes and be supportive of each others struggles. We are after all a community of nurses. We are individuals, but we are one.

Specializes in L&D/Maternity nursing.

well...good for you! I however made the decision to take all my classes at once and get the program done and over with as soon as I can. I can focus my all my time on my studies and wont be pulled elevently billion directions. So for me, this was the better choice.

Basically this is what it all boils down to.

Again I ask what is the point of this discussion? Is it really to warn future nursing students about the pitfalls of SL debt? If so then why is it in the general nursing forum and why is the question being asked of people who have already acquired the debt? Why isn't someone with a 100k debt going into the pre-nursing or the other student forums and posting about their experiences and warning others to not go the same route? Why hasn't someone who managed to go to school with no debt accumulated gone into the pre-nursing/general student forum and explain in explicit detail how they did it?

No that would actually be helpful. Rather this thread is full of post from people who want to browbeat adults about their choices. :rolleyes:

Amen to that last statement. I am one of the seriously in debt loan holders, but I too will just face the music. The lenders were good enough to invest in me and make the money available to me, one way or another they will get payed back, but I certainly am not going to lose my mind over it. I too am in the same boat with battling two previous suicide attempts 18 years ago, so I thought that was kinda out of line too. But to each his own. We all have different circumstances, different realities, and different opinions. Sometimes we have to agree to disagree, and mostly whether we agree with each other or not, I think it is important that we try to walk in each others shoes and be supportive of each others struggles. We are after all a community of nurses. We are individuals, but we are one.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
the dave ramsey "financial peace" program is awesome !!

i agree, i have gone through fin. peace university twice, once alone and than i made my husband go through it as well.

shoot i was all excited when i got a christmas card from the ramsey's this past christmas, i know it's a bulk thing they send out but i was still excited. i :heartbeat dave. i implement a lot of the teachings with my kids and i have no doubt they would will not have 150 thousand dollars worth of debt in their early 20's unless they just happened to purchase their first home. i just wish we would have taken it when we were younger, with the money my husband was making at 19,20 years old and since, we could have been beyond wealthy and had a great savings.

but much of the mindset i have seen in this thread is the mindset we had as well and well things went very array and we about lost everything. never again though.

Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
What type of 'interesting people' will you meet in high-priced schools? Either those from wealthy families or those incurring tons of debt to go to school. How cool is that? :rolleyes:

I don't know, but you can meet someone super cool like me at the cheaper CC. :smokin:

+ Add a Comment