Help! How can I pay for school?

I graduate today with a B.S. in Psychology and was faced with this dilemma because I have exhausted all of my federal loan options. I decided to look at community colleges that were much cheaper where I could get my ADN. I decided to stick with my current university because they offer an ADN as well and it was much cheaper. My sister also cosigned on a loan for me so I would be able to attend school without having to work.

Is a community college an option for you? In my area, ADN's are wanted just as much as BSN's - granted, we do have to get our BSN within 5 years but that won't be a problem because the hospitals will pay for that portion if you are a current employee. I say do your research and look at ALL options.

Also, there is the HRSA scholarship through the federal government. They pay for nursing school in exchange for a service commitment. Unfortunately, the deadline was May 5th. Try looking for scholarships through your school and honestly, I would go somewhere cheaper. Good luck!

Thanks for your response, AThom34. I am not considering getting an ADN since it is much more difficult to find an RN job without a BSN in my state. I am trying to look elsewhere but there don't seem to be any accelerated BSN programs that cost less than $60,000 and begin in January. I will continue to do more research and see what I come up with. I wish you all the best in your program. Best of luck to you!

Look into an ADN and then go to WGU for your BSN. The RN-to-BSN program can be done in under 6 months if you work your butt off. And it's $3300 per six month term. I started at WGU on 3/1 and I hope to finish my BSN by 6/1 and I feel like I've been pretty lazy with it.

You might get stuck in long term care or other less competitive jobs until you bridge to a BSN, but it makes the most financial sense to get an ASN and then bridge.

My 12 year is about 45,000. I'm taking out private loans for the majority of it since I'm still young and my parents make too much money for me to qualify for many loans (FAFSA offered 9,000) but not enough to cover my tuition.