Nursing Tuition off the Chain!! Need Help!!

Koala33 · May 28, 2009

Apply for outside scholarships. Trying looking at www.fastweb.com and http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/financialaid.htm. FastWeb has nursing scholarships, but you can look based on other criteria (such as race, ethnicity, gender, etc.) as well. Have you contacted their financial aid office directly? I know some ACErs contacted the office and were able to get some assistance, though I don't know what that help exactly entailed...

Private loans might be an option for you as well.

Ask Drexel about deferring for a year. I'm not sure if they will honor your request, but I don't think it would hurt to try. Drexel is a GREAT school. It is well-known, especially regionally, and ESPECIALLY in Philadelphia. If you do well in school, you will have no problem securing a great co-op and no problem finding a great job upon graduation.

It seems overwhelming (trust me, I'm applying for loans for a program right now, too), but you are not alone. Fortunately, nursing is a profession that has the potential to pay well.

MsLEE2121 · May 28, 2009

I'm not sure if you would want to do this but I am, but have you considered joining the military? They will pay all tuition, fees, living expenses and give you a monthly tax-free stipend! You only have to do a minimum of 4 years. Mayve you should consider that option. I am doing the Navy Reserves at my school. Also, be careful with private loans, these loan companies are trying to jack up their fees like crazy now since they know credit changes are about to happen that could possibly hurt them from making as money as they could!

tfleuter, BSN, RN · May 29, 2009

$38K per year, plus books and living expenses? Yikes!!! Saving up before you start may be a very good idea since you will be burdened w/ a heavy debt load once you graduate if you pay for everything with loans. Have you gone over what the loan payments will be once you are done and what your can reasonable expect to earn as a new grad? Also, are you interested in pursuing an advanced nursing degree? If so, you really want to be careful with how much you borrow for your undergrad. Hopefully you are eligable for quite a few grants, b/c the pell grant (if you qualify) will barely make a dent in your tuition each semester. See if you can talk to an advisor at Drexel and get any help with finding grants you qualify for. I know some private colleges seem very expensive upfront, but many of their students qualify for various grants that bring down the price quite a bit. Good luck!

beth66335, BSN, RN · May 29, 2009

Yikes is right! I'm glad my school is 93.00 a credit hour with a deferred pymt plan each semester and a 98% NCLEX pass rate. I'm glad you like Drexel, but are the people you want to work for really going to care where you went to school, or just that you passed the NCLEX?

tfleuter, BSN, RN · May 29, 2009

I just thought I would add this link for anyone who is curious about calculating student loan payments: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

Put in your expected loan amount and it will calculate your estimated monthly payments once you graduate. You can either enter in 10 years or select extended term, which calculates for 30 years.

Not only will it tell you how much your monthly payment will be, it will also give an estimate on how much you will need to EARN in order to comfortably afford that payment. It will break it down even further and show you how much interest you are paying as a result of the term you choose.

This is a great site and I would encourage anyone who is considering taking out student loans to look at this first. I had an idea of how much I was willing to take out in loans, and then I found a site similar to this and it really opened my eyes!!

krltdy · May 29, 2009

I'm a BIG Dave Ramsey fan. The advice he would give to you is this:

A degree is a degree, no matter where you recieve it from. You are paying waaaaaay too much money! There is absolutely no reason to put you and your future family into that much debt! You probably won't even be able to afford to buy a house when you're done because your tuition payment will be as much as a house, or close to it!!! Please consider another school.

I will have my degree in 2.5 years, and have little to no debt when I get out. Total tuition for me will be 32,000. I am getting Pell Grants, State Grants, and will be working for a hospital that will repay 6000.00 of my tuition for working 16months for them. It's a good feeling to know when I graduate, I won't have any debt looming over me. All the money i make will be all mine.

JoI8815 · May 29, 2009

WAW thanks guys...you all gave some great advice...I don't even know where to start...Well let me start with the degree thing. Yes, a degree is a degree, but there is just something about going to a well-known school that gives you a little advantage over others with that same degree. If two people were to interview for the same job, both got their bachelor's degree, one from an Ivy League school and one from a regular school, who do you think they will hire first?

Military Service? I actually think its a great idea because of all the benefits. My cousin just enrolled and I felt a little jealous because she seemed to have everything together...good for her! But I just feel like the Military is just not for me...

Have I contacted their financial aid office? I sure did. They referred me to certain institutions that would lend me money but the payments are like $350-$415 per month when I graduate for 10 years AND I need a co-signer for such a large amount [i'm still very young]. Yikes is true. That's just a little ridiculous. The good news is that they got me down as a freshman when I'm really supposed to be a junior [according to my updated transcripts]. So that should qualify me for more aid...we'll see how much more. Sigh...I'm def going to continue to look. I have applied to other schools...some of which I ended up on a waiting list [last minute me] and some I'm still waiting on the response...this is overwhelming because it was really the last thing on my mind when I applied to nursing school [silly me]...thanks tho. and I will be checking out those websites:)

tfleuter, BSN, RN · May 29, 2009

If two people were to interview for the same job, both got their bachelor's degree, one from an Ivy League school and one from a regular school, who do you think they will hire first?

Job interviews rarely come down to what school you attended. Many other things besides your academic background are taken in consideration. Personality, attitude, good interviewing skills. These will matter more than where you graduated from. Each applicant brings so many different factors to the table that very few are equal in everyway except for whom they recieved their diploma from. It could happen, but are you willing to spend over $100K as "insurance" in (the rare) case you would find yourself in this situation?

And lets not forget, where you graduated from is a main factor for your FIRST job. After that, employers care more about your experience than your education (assuming it meets requirements, that is). So, the positive benefit you may recieve from this school may only last up until your accept your first job (perhaps 2nd if you don't stay there long). But the massive student loans will stay with you for years and years....

elkpark · May 29, 2009

And lets not forget, where you graduated from is a main factor for your FIRST job. After that, employers care more about your experience than your education (assuming it meets requirements, that is). So, the positive benefit you may recieve from this school may only last up until your accept your first job (perhaps 2nd if you don't stay there long). But the massive student loans will stay with you for years and years....

This is true; the longer you're out of school, the less it matters where you went to school. It only really makes a difference in the case of your first couple jobs or so. After that, it's more about your experience and abilities.

CuriousMe · May 30, 2009

However, where you got your undergrad, and how well you did, might help you get into a better grad school program if that's something you're interested in.

tfleuter, BSN, RN · May 30, 2009

However, where you got your undergrad, and how well you did, might help you get into a better grad school program if that's something you're interested in.

I have heard of some grad schools giving preferance to applicants who completed their undergrad with them. And of course, graduating from an accredited program is a must. But I have yet to hear someone say they were accepted into a program primarily b/c they went to a prestigous/expensive school. Work experience, undergrad GPA, GRE scores, written essays, and interviewing skills seem to be the areas prospective students are told to focus on from those in the know. Just from what i have seen anyways.

I would be interested in hearing from someone who was certain that the school they graduated from snagged them a spot in a highly competitve grad program. Maybe these people just don't feel the need to mention it since its a moot point for someone who is seeking advice that already has their BSN?