Air Force Nursing Bonus, Student Loan Repayment

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I am considering joining the air force as a nurse and I have been told that all slots are full for student loan repayment for this fiscal year (2009). But that the bonus is still available.

I know the new fiscal year starts October of this year. However, my recruiter says that he has heard that there will be no bonus or student loan repayment because of the economy and that they over-did the amt of nurses that they accepted last year. Does any of that sound accurate?

I am also told that I need to give a definitive yes or no on whether I want to join the Air Force before he will even enter my application into the system. He says if I go through the process of getting accepted and then turn it down, then I wasted 4 AFB's time and money.

I am uncomfortable with giving a yes to this before I even get the opportunity to find out about student loan repayment & bonuses for the next fiscal year and before I even find out if I am accepted.

He says if I want to wait to hear about that, it will be December before he knows anything about student loan repayment and then he can enter my app.

Does any of this sound accurate?? Just curious b/c I have no other sources.

Thanks.

The AF Board is reviewing packets starting this week according to my recruiter. He told me that I will have an answer by Aug 7th and will go to COT in Oct. We are still hoping for Mt. Home AFB and going crazy thinking of the other possibilities.

I'm still waiting for the "phone call" from the recruiter. Has anyone else gotten any news yet?

Specializes in Med/Surg.

I just had an interview with an AF chief nurse last Friday, and she said that they are offering a bonus and loan repayment. I don't know why your recruiter would say such a thing. Good luck to you and everyone else going through this lengthy process!

It could have been that at the particular point the OP was mentioning, Congress/Dept of the AF/the Pentagon had pulled the bonus and loan repayment offers because either recruitment needs have been met (which I doubt) or because simply some sector of the government had pulled the funding.

They do this on a whim and without warning, which sucks - so it could have been that the recruiter had just been told that the incentives no longer existed as of that day.

"Ask and Thou Shall Receive" I got the phone call from the recruiter. I'm leaving for Oct 09 COT. Thanks to everyone who has had input on all the message board. What a great website for nurses! GO AIR FORCE!

Specializes in Med/Onc, Med/Surg, Stepdown, ICU.

Congrats Spencer!!! Did you get the base you wanted??

Specializes in psych/medical-surgical.

wish my recruiter would stop ignoring me... somehow i was told i would not be able to go to COT until after Jan 1st of 2010. if they don't offer the bonus or loan repayment, i will just wait till they do.

Specializes in Flight/ICU/CCU/ED/Trauma.

You were likely told that you couldn't go until after January because there are only so many school seats available. There are more recruits than there are seats, so they just keep getting pushed ahead. If you get your paperwork together and have all of your physicals and pre-testing done ahead of time, it makes you a good candidate if someone gets sick, injured, pregnant whatever shortly before an assigned class date. Keep in mind, also, that some units are getting ready to become deployable and will get extra seats for their people so they can be at or near full strength.

There is not much that is fast in a corporation/operation as large as the US military...do what you are supposed to do, research as much as you can to be as preparred as possible and you'll be fine. It's a lot of hurry up and wait, but the rewards are often worth it.

wish my recruiter would stop ignoring me... somehow i was told i would not be able to go to COT until after Jan 1st of 2010. if they don't offer the bonus or loan repayment, i will just wait till they do.

I was told there was no loan repayment either - and then I got an email from someone down at AFPC direct to me (she used the email on my resume) telling me how to apply for the loans AS SOON AS I GET TO MY BASE. So apparently, they have money hanging around (typical USAF/DOD/Pentagon/Congress - they have a mattress stuffed somewhere), we'll just have to jump through hoops to get it.

If you really want to be an officer in the USAF, I wouldn't recommend waiting - there's always the chance that they may not offer it again, especially given the current budget crunches. You might find that you've waited, and they've downsized the number of COT seats available. Not likely, but not unheard of either.

STAY ON YOUR RECRUITER.

Hummm I wonder why my recruiter neglected to tell me there is an October COT ship out date when I went for Meps in July. He told me all the other ones, at least I think he did. September was supposed to be the meeting about budget, loan repayment, and bonuses....Still no news. Apparently, now November is the time to wait for. I'll just be happy if I'm seeing new places and I'm making enough to pay my bills in this economy.

-Hoping for January pending acceptance.

*May BSN graduate, still no job =\ No interviews either*

Looking for news about the new PT scoring system if anyones heard also.

Thanks.

J

There is no November COT date.

After the October class, the next class date is 11 January 2010.

http://www.au.af.mil/au/holmcenter/OTS/documents/SignedHolmCenterClassSchedule-FY10.pdf

They don't run a November class because you would graduate during the Christmas holiday.

November to hear about loan repayment....

September was supposed to be the meeting about budget, loan repayment, and bonuses....Still no news. Apparently, now November is the time to wait for.

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