How on earth do you pay for NYU's ABSN program?

nyc1990 · Dec 17, 2014

Wow! That is a lot of money for just a BSN. And living in the city is really expensive unless you go out about 40 minutes on subway. Is this your end degree? If BSN is as far as you want to go then maybe it's worth it, but, honestly I don't think NYU is that good a program. I know a couple of people who did the accelerated there and they were not that happy with it. It's not a bad program, it's just not what $70,000 should get you.
Maybe not the feedback you're looking for but I feel a responsibility to warn you about getting into that much debt. Especially with how tight the new grad market is in NYC, even with a BSN.
Good luck with whatever you decide but be sure it's really worth it.
Sent from my iPhone -- blame all errors on spellcheck

Thank you! I appreciate the honesty. and I do plan to advance my degree (eventually) to be an NP.

edmia, BSN, RN · Dec 17, 2014

Thank you! I appreciate the honesty. and I do plan to advance my degree (eventually) to be an NP.

Great! Then I hope you find a more affordable way to get the BSN and put the debt into your graduate degree. There are lots of loan repayment programs for NPs.

Sent from my iPhone -- blame all errors on spellcheck

ThatBigGuy · Dec 17, 2014

First of all, don't take out more loans than you can reasonably expect to earn in your first year of work.

Let's take a look at some numbers. You'll be spending approximately $70,000 for a BSN and the opportunity to live in NYC for a few years. However, you forget about the interest you'll be paying on that loan. The average interest rate is 4.6%. The most common repayment length is 10 years. Over that period of time, you'll pay about $750 a month, and will end up paying about $17,500 in interest, for a total expenditure of $87,500.

You could qualify for an income based loan repayment plan. The interest will likely be the same, but the length of repayment will be stretched. However, you will pay more interest the longer the repayment lengthens. A 20 yr repayment will cost you $37,000 in interest at $450 a month, and a 30 year plan will cost you nearly $60,000 in interest with monthly payments of $350.

This degree could cost as much as $130,000 in a worst case scenario when you add tuition plus interest!

Or you could go to Louisiana College's Accelerated BSN program for about $30,000, then move to NYC for work. The difference would be $10,000 in interest on the 10 year plan or $35,000 on the 30 year plan. That's a ton of cash, considering NYU's NCLEX pass rates are 10% lower than LC's.

That's not even considering the simple cost of living in NYC compared to Louisiana. Nor is that considering the added cost of advanced degrees, should you choose that road someday. And we won't even talk about the added savings of attending a state school like LSU on a regular BSN track for about $10,000 total.

PLEASE, take a long, hard, responsible look at your plans. You're going to have to decide if the dream of getting your BSN from one particular place is worth the substantially large financial penalty.

zzbxdo · Dec 18, 2014

First of all, don't take out more loans than you can reasonably expect to earn in your first year of work.
Let's take a look at some numbers. You'll be spending approximately $70,000 for a BSN and the opportunity to live in NYC for a few years. However, you forget about the interest you'll be paying on that loan. The average interest rate is 4.6%. The most common repayment length is 10 years. Over that period of time, you'll pay about $750 a month, and will end up paying about $17,500 in interest, for a total expenditure of $87,500.
You could qualify for an income based loan repayment plan. The interest will likely be the same, but the length of repayment will be stretched. However, you will pay more interest the longer the repayment lengthens. A 20 yr repayment will cost you $37,000 in interest at $450 a month, and a 30 year plan will cost you nearly $60,000 in interest with monthly payments of $350.
This degree could cost as much as $130,000 in a worst case scenario when you add tuition plus interest!
Or you could go to Louisiana College's accelerated BSN program for about $30,000, then move to NYC for work. The difference would be $10,000 in interest on the 10 year plan or $35,000 on the 30 year plan. That's a ton of cash, considering NYU's NCLEX pass rates are 10% lower than LC's.
That's not even considering the simple cost of living in NYC compared to Louisiana. Nor is that considering the added cost of advanced degrees, should you choose that road someday. And we won't even talk about the added savings of attending a state school like LSU on a regular BSN track for about $10,000 total.
PLEASE, take a long, hard, responsible look at your plans. You're going to have to decide if the dream of getting your BSN from one particular place is worth the substantially large financial penalty.

I love numbers. Awesome post.

SierraBravo · Dec 18, 2014

Others have given awesome information. I attended an Accelerated BSN program, albeit not in NYC. The cost of my program was about the same as the NYC program you are attending. I was fortunate that my employer offered tuition benefits and thus I was able to get my BSN for less than $10,000. Looking back, I don't know that I would have attended that program if I had to pay the full amount. I've got less than $40k in student loans from my undergrad degree because I went to a state school. I can't possibly imagine having potentially had $110,000 in student loan debt. As others have said, we all take the same licensing exam regardless of what school you go to or what program you pursue. Don't get me wrong, I had an awesome experience in my nursing program and I'm so glad I did it. I'm currently working on my MSN (for which I've paid virtually nothing for so far).

If you want to spend the year in NYC and you are drawn to the allure of the city, so long as you can appreciate the future ramifications of taking on that kind of debt, I would say go for it and enjoy yourself. If you decide that taking on that kind of debt is just too much, then there are other more affordable options. Yes, you make more money in NYC, but the cost of living is absurd so like you said it pretty much comes out in the wash.

The other thing I'll say is that, unlike medical school, where you go to nursing school doesn't matter outside of going to a nursing school that is linked to a large, academic medical center; new grads sometimes tend to have an easier time getting a job in that linked hospital.

In terms of financing your education, there are several private loans available for programs such as an accelerated BSN, just do a quick google search. Yes, there are plenty of public grants and scholarships available, but that may not be helpful in your situation because the applications are usually due far in advance of starting school. See if your school has any private grants or scholarships available to you. And as someone else said, you do have to file the FAFSA but you won't be eligible for enough to cover the cost of tuition, thus the need to supplement with a private loan.

Best of luck in your decision, and congrats on beginning an awesome career which I hope you're going to find very rewarding.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Dec 18, 2014

To Missmollie: Thanks for your response! I agree that a great student can succeed anywhere but I would love to be in New York City (any of the boroughs, really). Hunter would be awesome, so would Lehman or SUNY downstate but I'm already out of the running for Hunter because of certain VERY particular requirements that they have, Lehman also has a hefty load of prerequisites that would take me another year to finish and I'm ready to start ASAP (also, the Bronx isn't my ideal location, to be honest), and downstate would actually be my first choice if I didn't decide to go to nursing school so last minute (I missed the deadline so I'd have to wait another year to go) because the tuition is much cheaper and their NCLEX pass rates are high. Pace is basically just ask expensive as NYU and possibly harder to get into, I believe and Long Island University (Brooklyn campus) is close to $60,000. Also, for the state schools I would still pay out of state tuition.
SO NYU is pretty attractive to me because they allow you to finish certain prerequisites after you've been accepted. My plan is to look into grants and loans and scholarships I just didn't know where to start so I was hoping for some guidance. As for FAFSA, NYU said that I would fill out those forms in my application. I also went to FAFSA's website and they don't have an option for a 2015-2016 school year. In reference to you mentioning funds will run out after a certain amount of credits, I believe the BSN is 60 credits...would this most likely exceed funds?

The ineligibility is due to already having a bachelors degree. There are no federal grants for 2nd bachelors students, very little, if any in subsidized loans. There are unsubsidized and private loans as well as private grants & scholarships that may be an option for you.

(Unsubsidized & private loans interest accrues on day 1)

Medic6758 · Dec 18, 2014

This is a little off topic, but I never understood the lure of NYC, I lived most of my life, worked and retired with the thought that I would one day leave and head some place warm and beachy. Part of the reason for my relocation was that once I retired I could no longer afford my home due to the ever constant yearly raising of property taxes. If I could have stayed I would of; but what is the point of retiring if you cannot enjoy it?

Smithk06 · Jan 5, 2015

Hi. I just graduated from the NYU accelerated program in May 2014. It's a great program but very expensive. I'm 35 and I commuted from NJ daily. I'm married so I had the financial support of my husband. I have $80,000 worth of debt, plus a mortgage, etc. I'm also working as a nurse at NYU making more than that. I took all of my loans out through Wells Fargo. In the end, you have to do what works for you. Good luck :-)

Evans1238 · Jan 6, 2015

Hi,

It's a very expensive program my close friend graduated from there it will run 100k easy with interest. Not saying that it's not a great investment because it is! But just be mindful of the numbers.

notnursezelda · Jan 6, 2015

The average interest rate is 4.6%. The most common repayment length is 10 years. Over that period of time, you'll pay about $750 a month, and will end up paying about $17,500 in interest, for a total expenditure of $87,500.
You could qualify for an income based loan repayment plan. The interest will likely be the same, but the length of repayment will be stretched. However, you will pay more interest the longer the repayment lengthens. A 20 yr repayment will cost you $37,000 in interest at $450 a month, and a 30 year plan will cost you nearly $60,000 in interest with monthly payments of $350.
This degree could cost as much as $130,000 in a worst case scenario when you add tuition plus interest!

Remember, 4.6% interest is only if its all federal loans and they only give you a limited amount per year. The rest will be private loans, which can give you a much higher interest rate cause they are based on credit worthiness. I had one place offer me loans for 11%. So way more expensive, depending on credit score and cosigner, and other stuff.

zzbxdo · Jan 7, 2015

Hi,
It's a very expensive program my close friend graduated from there it will run 100k easy with interest. Not saying that it's not a great investment because it is! But just be mindful of the numbers.

I can't compare it to an investment as there are other ABSN programs across the states for cheaper.. Tuition and living expenses. Op is paying for the experience of living and practicing in the city, whether or not that is worth it is up to him/her. But really, in terms of investment, it's terrible (relative).

JLC418 · Jun 6, 2017

Hi nyc1990 - I'm curious if you have any feedback on your experience, for someone who is looking into the same program and who is also terrified of the price tag.