Paying for Nursing Pre-Reqs

Nursing Students General Students

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Hi All,

I am in the process of going back for my accelerated bachelors in nursing. Financially, torn as to how to pay for this-seeing what others have done? I know that credit cards, and private loans are an option but if you are not ahead of the game in that area-any ideas?

Thank you

Elba

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

1. Delay your start a little, get a job and save up the money.

2. Find a job that offers some tuition reimbursement and take the courses 1 or 2 at a time. You'll be earning money and also getting some financial help with school. The hospital I work for pays $5000 per year in tuition and books for full time employees, $2500 per year to part time employees.

3. Take out a student loan

I took my pre reqs at a community college, 12 credits were about 2,200. I paid for my pre reqs on a payment plan, however my actual nursing program I took out federal loans. FYI, im a second degree student but I only took out 10,000 for my first bachelors so I had more access to federal loans than most. Another option is scholarships, you would really be surprised by how many scholarships are left on the table, apply! : )

I have my first bachelor's also. My ABSN program is also connected to a 4year college (Graceland University) and the admissions counselor even told me to look into getting the pre-reqs from a community college, since it'd be so much cheaper. I was able to CLEP two of my classes, saving a bundle. I took 3 through online courses and I found a proctor that would do it free in one state, and when I moved, a proctor at the library that was supposed to charge me but we just hit it off and I guess she waived the fee! Now I'm taking my last two in-person ( one is College algebra! I like my math to be face to face) and I think it's funny that my tuition for these two classes, broken up into a payment plan over four months, is actually less than my federal loan monthly payment (which is now deferred since I'm taking classes part time).

So. It takes some finagling and I'll have debt down the road.

Seconded on the looking for scholarship money. The state AORN might have some you can apply for, or let you know about little-known scholarships.

Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.

In terms of paying for pre-reqs I paid as I went along and took only as many classes a term as I could afford - which meant that sometimes I was taking only one pre-req class per term. I could have finished them faster taking more courses per term, but taking them slow meant I avoided debt during the pre-reqs. I had time to work, and going through them slower also allowed me more time to build my knowledge of the nursing profession and really confirm for myself that this was the right path for me.

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