Help! Money! In a pickle!!!

Jo Dirt · Nov 29, 2006

Just remember that the key word here is "family" may be the reason you have been able to not had to take out loans. Some of us are single, and don't have that other income to rely on that will allow one to work while the other one quits and the food magically appears on the table every day and the lights mysteriously stay on.
When you are the only income earner, and the only school is full-time, you don't have a choice.
PART-TIME NURSING SCHOOLS are about as rare as the white-elephant. That's sad, but it's the truth. If someone has to take out a large loan in order to be an RN I say so be it....work to find your cheapest route (get a roommate is a MUST! Get rid of your car payment! Set yourself up!), but not everyone can move, because that takes money too!
Just remember not everyone has the same circumstances, and if you are a single parent with a non-school age child you have to PAY for someone to watch that child while you are at school AND at work.

Sunny, I have basic dial up and the most basic Dishnetwork (FamilyPack) satellite service there is, and I also have a Net10 pay as you go phone for emergencies/business for $30 a month and me and the old man are going to take out test for our ham radio license December 9 so we can talk for free...:monkeydance: And no, Sunny, I still insist you can get through school with no debt.

Anyway, BSNtobe, you won't believe me when I tell you this but I'm going to tell you, anyway...I know my circumstances may seem privledged but I promise, they were hardly. My husband is disabled (legally blind) and he drew a little over $600 monthly with SSI, which he lost as soon as I got a job. So, I was living on the dole while I went to LPN school: got a pell grant, I forget what it was called but got some kind of program where you get free child care, I got food stamps. To tell the truth all but two of the 11 who graduated from my LPN class were living on the dole and had children. Some of them had several children with no husband. Me and the old man didn't ever live in the projects but the four of us did live (and God as my witness this is true) in a 12x36 shack with no indoor plumbing (except a kitchen sink) and stinky well water. We took our showers outside with a garden hose hooked to the hot water heater! When you live like that there is a desperation to do well in your studies so hopefully you don't have to stay living like that! And I wasn't in school part-time.

Eventually, we were able to move up in house (we actually own 40 acres and a brick house-even though it's a dump- with a trailer set up on the property free and clear, now).

It seems to be natural for people to assume that others who own property, have a certain degree, etc. have these things because their lives are easier than other people. This just isn't the case, more often, they lived through a lot of sacrifice. And I still do. I can't afford things like dental care. My teeth are rotting out of my head and I'll probably be in partial dentures by the time I'm 35.

I could take out a loan on my home equity line of credit, but I'll risk being toothless first. I'll ride a bicycle before I take out a car loan again (believe me, I've only done this one time for a used car and it was the LAST!)I don't wear pretty clothes. My scrubs are old and faded. Luckily, my bosses say they don't care if I show up to work naked, as long as I'm there... :lol2:

So, my life is anything but glamorous. And I've learned something else about lifestyle and debt...most people who live within their means don't "appear" to be well off for it. They live in plain, modest houses, wear off the sales rack clothes, drive old beaters, don't eat out much...the difference (in many cases) between them and the guy in the flashy sports car is that they are living within their means!

But I deserve to have nice things and I've never had nice things before so that is why I treated myself and ran up this debt...I deserve to have this degree and it's expensive but I want it...

Waa. Lots of people never have anything. Stop already. I'm telling you, it doesn't make good sense to go 50k in debt for a degree. I'm pretty laid back about most everything but this is a subject where I get wild and start pacing around and come as close as I ever have to being a preacher.

Please don't do it.

Epona · Nov 30, 2006

Hi everyone. Epona here. This has been a good thread and I have learned a lot here... like I always do. I LOVE this messageboard.

Ok.. just to touch on a few things... WHY I am doing things this way.

I have wanted to go to RN school for a while. Been planning this for many months. I was accepted to this BSN program back in the Fall. I DEFERRED until this Spring so I COULD GET MY FIN. AID together. I knew it was going to take some time. I had had other friends who went to this particular school for other majors... History, Pharm., etc. They were minorities (just being honest here) and got ALMOST ALL of their expenses paid for by the school. Ok.. so I guess I was dumb, but I thought.. Ok.. me being a minority I will get most of my school paid for too. The school was not far away, had a BSN program (I already have a BS) and I figured I would get some fin. assistance. A good combination all around. Nope. I did not know I would receive nothing until after I spoke to the fin. aid dept. once I was in. So once I was in again (which took several months to find out)... I proceeded to check out fin. aid in detail at the school. The fin. aid people would not talk to me about fin. aid UNTIL I was accepted again. I tried discussing fin. aid options with them months before and they were not receptive. I was accepted around the beg. of Nov. and $7,300 was due by Dec. 1. Well I called the school, went up to the school, got really no help and had to track down the DIRECTOR of the fin. aid dept. I was told there was no assistance for me except maybe some loans and it would not be much. SO.. I called the Nursing dept., nothing really there either. So.. in the end... I got no real assistance from the school. I have heard since then that this school is terrible with paper-work, following up, folks are hard to run down and the like.. just a mess to deal with, and I have now witnessed this for myself. It was too late to try and find another school. I was set to go to RN school and had been planning this a long time. It was suggested on this board I check out Sallie Mae and I did. Credit not being all that wonderful, I was rated "fair" and therefore had to pay a higher interest rate.

In all good faith, I think the loan stinks too, but I have already deferred once and have been working on this decision for about a year. I bought books on fin. aid a few months back and read them. So I have tried to learn the ropes.. my first degree was paid for. I am SO THANKFUL that my first degree was paid for. I am very grateful. When the time came, the people who were supposed to help me in fin. aid were virtually useless.

I have a minor heart condition so my docs. have told me not to work while in school fulltime. I also am Ok now, but had a devastating illness a few years back that left me on life-support. I am better now, but still have remnants from that illness to deal with... so my doctors want me to just focus on school. I decided well Ggeeeeezzzzz... I will HAVE to work so I can at least pay on some of the interest on my loans. My husband told me last night he will help pay toward the interest so I will not have to work. He wants me to get through Ok. He does not make much either, but says he will help.

We have no children and no big debts. I have a small car payment and he pays the mortgage. I help with the lights, groceries, etc. I have an emergency phone plan only and the cheapest DSL plan you can buy. Our bills are really not that much. I buy most of my clothes second-hand off eBay and in thrift stores. In fact, almost all of my Xmas presents were purchased off of eBay. So we are not living an extravagant life style and I clip coupons on a regular basis.

As far as someone saying "stay in your job now and go to school" that really is not possible for a number of reasons. One I already mentioned about the health reason and another is the job is an hour and 15 minutes one way and involves late nights and then early days. That would not work with my day school schedule. I work for a local TV station in my area. The news and the news people are NOT forgiving. News, like working in a hospital, is an around the clock job. Disasters, homicides, etc. you HAVE to be there. The news goes on...it's not like a flexible schedule like a clerk or a waitress.

I am 34 and feel like it's now or never. I have been hemming and hawing about this for a long time. I have not been happy in my current field with no advancement and the pay is horrible... I make around $10 an hour. That is BAD for someone with a double degree (Broadcasting and Bio, Pre-Med). I was an honor student and attended one of the best colleges in my state. Really sad. I have always loved the medical field (hence the double degree) and know I would make a great nurse! I agree with you that the loan stinks. I do. But once I get in and the new year rolls around, I am going to apply for scholarships out the gazoo. I have looked into scholarships, but since it's the end of the year, most have already dead lined.

I will stay in touch... hey.. may need more advice.

THANKS to everyone, and those are some of the reasons I went the way I did. Best to you!!! E

:Snowman1:

sunnyjohn · Nov 30, 2006

Epona,

I hope things work out for you. I've had to turn down acceptance twice and may have to do it again because of finance and illness. so I feel you!

This time I've made up my mind. If I have to take a decent loan to go, I'm going to take the loan. It's high time I get going.

Epona · Nov 30, 2006

Yup. I am in the same boat... it's now or never. :w00t:

Best of luck to you!!! Epona

Sylv · Nov 30, 2006

My husband is disabled (legally blind) and he drew a little over $600 monthly with SSI, which he lost as soon as I got a job.
Why did your husband lose his SSI? Can you appeal that?
I agree with you about loans. I got my education for next to nothing.
Hope everyone loves nursing once they get into it.
Sylvester