So I was recently pondering how I am going to pay for my nursing education...I thought I had it all worked out. I planned on using loans, grants and scholarships to pay tuition. I have been strongly advised by my school to not work while in the program, because of this I intended to quit my job at the begining of the semester and take out a little extra in loans to help with living expenses. I have full intentions on trying to get a job as a tech during the second semester but I was not planning on working the first semester untill I get a feel for things. My financial aid advisor told me this would be fine and that many people do not work and borrow extra to pay expenses. Tuition alone is going to put me around $18,000 in loans. I know I will get a little bit in Pell Grants and I am hoping to get some scholarships. My boyfriend will be paying the majority of our bills, I would just need about $250 monthly for food, gas and cellphone. My dilemna is this....I have seen a few threads recently that recommend working at all costs and taking as little out in loans as possible. To help me rationalize this I wanted to ask you all a few questions....
How much debt did you end up in after completing a program?
Should I try to work while in school no matter what?
How many of you did not work while attending school? How did you survive?
How on earth can I pay for all my books? (our school does not allow us to use financial aid)
Sorry if this is inappropriate....soon-to-be nursing student mega stressing here!!
going into debt is like having a rattlesnake bite you. some people recover completely, some people recovery partially, and some people never recover. but, it's never, ever good!
going into debt is like having a rattlesnake bite you. some people recover completely, some people recovery partially, and some people never recover. but, it's never, ever good!
i'm not trying to be rude or anything, but i think this is a really closed minded way of looking at it. yes, debt sucks, any kind of debt...but sometimes it's inevitable. sometimes it's the only way you can get what you want. not everybody has the means of paying for college if they don't take out loans. i think there are probably plenty of doctors, lawyers, ceo's, nurses!, and may other professionals that would disagree with you on this, because without student loans and this bad debt, they wouldn't have gotten the degree's that got them to the successfull point that they are at.
do you have a mortgage? do you have a car loan? have you ever? if so, do you sit back and regret that you ever took out that mortgage? *unless you bought your house during the bubble*, that mortgage you used to buy your house was an investment because most likely your house is worth a lot more now than when you bought it. same thing with school, if you have to take out student loans to get your degree (a reasonable amount to pay back), you are now worth a lot more with that degree than you were before, so i consider it an investment also.
some people sit up on thier high horse preaching no debt! well, i say screw that (excuse my language!). meanwhile, most of the people preaching this are already established in their career and finished with school. debt is the only way i have to fullfill my dreams and get my family to a better place in the long run.
I hear you all, by the time I Graduate this May I'll be in the 60000's in debt....but its an investment, Id rather be in that with a degree then be without a degree and no debt
Here is a debt calculator - perhaps you could plug in your anticipated salary and get a good idea of what is considered reasonable. IMHO, 18K sounds like a reasonable amount to pay back if you are an RN.
going into debt is like having a rattlesnake bite you. some people recover completely, some people recovery partially, and some people never recover. but, it's never, ever good!
it seems that you took this the wrong way. i understand that some people look at things from an anal perspective, so i will attempt to explain this in a better way.
some debt is necessay, meaning unless you are going to finance your education completely with your own funds then a student loan is not a bad thing, it is an investment in your future.
a mortgage is not a bad debt, but if you can avoid having one and can afford to pay cash up front, then do it. education is something of value, a house is something that gains value
both considered to be good debt(in financial terms)
credit cards are bad debt=no value, no financial gain,
car notes are bad debt= decrease value, wear and tear, probably purchase something new late, more debt, no financial gain
no one wants to have debt, but it is not the end of the world. if you know how to manage your money and pay things properly you can practically eliminate unnecessary debts.
any financial expert will tell you that all debt is not bad and that some debt is o.k., the funny thing about it is even rich people have debt, they just have different debt with different levels of responsibilty, so all this to say that having some debt is not the end of the world.
How much is too much? I'd borrow as little as possible. It doesn't seem so bad to say, "Well, I owe $50,000 in student loans, but it's an investment!" However, students need to seriously calculate how much their monthly loan payments will be, and whether that will cut into their other monthly bills. Plus, people need to see what their potential take-home pay will actually be, and see how much they will have left over after making their monthly loan payment.
Borrowing $50K at 5% interest leads to a monthly payment of approx. $530 a month for 10 long years. Also, borrowing $30K at 5% leads to a monthly payment of $318 for 10 years. That might not seem like much, but what if the person has a car payment on top of that, along with car insurance/maintenance, rent, utilities, food (among other monthly expenses), plus a credit card bill, for instance?
Plus, I've seen numerous posts here on this site from graduate nurses who cannot find a job, despite the so-called nursing shortage, so that tells me that being a nurse is not the guaranteed-job that it was made out to be by some of the media. I'm a recent LPN graduate, and over half of my fellow graduates are not working as nurses! (I'm glad that I have one, myself.) I know that job openings vary, depending on the location in this country. However, I would caution anyone to seriously think before she or he borrows for an education, and know exactly what kind of loan she is getting, what the interest rate is, what kind of deferments are available, and what the monthly payment will be, and whether one can really afford those payments.
Noone likes debt and just because you have it it doesn't mean you are irresponsible. I don't have credit card debt but my debt is student loan debt.
First degree was about $40,000 then nursing school was about 25,000 add a a private loan to that to live. So I am paying $600 in student loans and I am living.
I couldn't work in my program it was way too difficult. In order for me to complete the program I couldn't work. And I also knew NOTHING was going to stop me from getting my nursing degree.
ALthough I have student loan debt I'm on a plan where I will pay off my private loans in three yrs. If god willing. You basically do what you gotta do--for me Nursing has offered me a much better salary then my previous job, & more job security. In my first degree I couldn't buy a car now am able to buy a good used car & am now looking for an apt. The bad part is that am gonna have to wait three yrs until I get a spanking new car because I want to pay it off as much as my loans possible. Also this also means I cannot rake up any credit card debt--credit is used for emergency purposes only. I pay cash for everything else.
Before you take on debt know yourself are you financiallyy responsible. Do you have high credit card bills? How high are they? How much are the salaries in your area? Take a look at the whole picture. Before you make your decison.
Some people may not have any debt from school but may own thousand on credit card bills or $30,000 on a new car. You gotta do what's right for you.
I hate debt--but at the end of the day in the last six months since graduating I am living better then I was before.
I'm going to have a horribly embarrassing amount of debt when I graduate. BUT using the calculators you can find online (a pp posted one for you) I know that even with a big SL bill each month, I will still be doing better financially working as an RN then I am right now. So that to me says that it's worth it to take out those loans so I can get this degree.
You'll read a lost of posts from the holier-than-thous on this subject that think your education should paid for up front w/ cash and anyone that doesn't is irresponsible, but the truth of the matter is that that is not an option for some people. My dh and I both work FT jobs and go to school. There isn't enough money to set aside for tuition after bills are paid (and i'm talking the basics here, we don't have a big house and drive new cars). So i'll take the loans and be glad that they are there for me.
That being said, my future BIL is about to graduate in December w/ his Bachelor's in high school education (math teacher). Due to some unwise choices he made right after graduating highschool, he will be graduating w/ close to $100K in SL's. My sister will also be graduting w/ the same degree (Choir teacher) w/ $25K. So between the two of them they have $125K in SL's and the income of two teachers so lets say they make $85K between the two of them. Even on an extended payment plan they're looking at over $900/mo in SL bill.
So....like I said if your anticipated income after graduation allows you to pay your SL bill and still be ahead financially from where you are w/o the degree, then I don't think you should hesitate to take the loan if you aren't able to pay for it out of pocket.
How much debt did you end up in after completing a program?
Should I try to work while in school no matter what?
How many of you did not work while attending school? How did you survive?
How on earth can I pay for all my books? (our school does not allow us to use financial aid)
Sorry if this is inappropriate....soon-to-be nursing student mega stressing here!!
Different people will say different things- debt tolerance is personal, obviously more debt will be more work to pay off. You need to be able to focus on your studies and do well, so consider the cost of the loans versus the cost of failing and having to repeat all or part of the program.
I'm working 8 hours a week at a job where I can study a lot of that time. This semester is light, and I'm keeping the job more to have it on my resume because the pay doesn't come close to meeting any expenses and we honestly wouldn't miss it if I had to quit.
I'd try to work, but have loans set so that if you need to quit, you can. Luckily for me, my husband's salary covers our living expenses. If I had to take loans for living expenses too, I would have picked a slower, cheaper program (I'm doing an Accelerated BSN). I will end up with about $27K in loans (not counting loans from my first degree).
What do you mean your school doesn't let you use financial aid for books? I've always been able to use any loans in excess of tuition for books.
I graduated from nursing school with about $17k in student loans. 5k was from Perkins loans, which got cancelled at a certain percentage each year I worked full-time, and after 5 years, they were all gone. So it left me with $12k I had to pay back.
I'm 8+ years out and still paying a very reasonable $143/mo, which it has been the entire time. I've qualified for a couple reductions in the interest rate because I've always paid on time (applicable rate is 4.75%, I pay 2.75%). I was fortunate enough to a) have a parent that paid any interest on my student loans while I was in school; and b) qualify for several grants/scholarships as well, so I didn't carry the entire financial burden in student loans alone. I worked my first 2.5 years of nursing school (4-year program) but quit after that. I just couldn't do it. Fortunately my situation as outlined above allowed me to not work while I was in the worst part of nursing school. I'll probably be able to pay my loan off a few months early.
I have a loved one who also went to a 4-year program, worked all the way through, and took out loans to get through. They ended up with almost 3 times what I did in student loans, but they did what they had to do and they made it. Not a lot of sleep in the process but it's over with now. All that to say, we all do what we can with the information and resources we have in front of us. No sense in beating yourself up over it one way or another, because eventually there will be an end. Nobody likes debt, but sometimes it's a necessary means to an end.
Credit cards are bad debt=no value, no financial gain,
Car notes are bad debt= decrease value, wear and tear, probably purchase something new late, more debt, no financial gain
Actually, credit cards and car loans are some of the best ways to build POSITIVE credit history. Loans and credit cards paid on time and eventually paid off increase a credit score immensely.
I was 23 and had better credit than my friends and family who had no debt because I had credit cards and a car loan that I paid off. They couldn't get approved for things like apartments because they had NO credit history.
Sorry to go off topic, but I am a fan of looking at all sides of a situation. You can't say that certain things are always good or bad.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
Actually, credit cards and car loans are some of the best ways to build POSITIVE credit history. Loans and credit cards paid on time and eventually paid off increase a credit score immensely.
I was 23 and had better credit than my friends and family who had no debt because I had credit cards and a car loan that I paid off. They couldn't get approved for things like apartments because they had NO credit history.
Sorry to go off topic, but I am a fan of looking at all sides of a situation. You can't say that certain things are always good or bad.
Ok I have to disagree here real quick, I am also a huge fan of Dave Ramsey, with that said I will also have some student loan debts, without my loans I could not pay for childcare so that I can go to school. So although I know I should keep out of debt I will justify this one for myself.
As far as the above statement, car loans are about the worse debt you can get into, just about as bad as CC but car loan debts are usually a lot more then a CC debt. I would never agree that getting a car loan is a smart thing.
The dave ramsey way you don't need a good credit score because you don't use credit to pay for things, now I know someone will say what about buying a home. Their are other ways to get home loans without using a credit score. With that said though, I also can understand the need for a good credit score, like it or not, some employers and car ins. companies and other things look at your credit score.
I am a fan of seeing many sides of the spectrum, but I would never say it's good to get CC or Car loans. With that, I would also never begrudge someone that needed to go that route either. Debt is a personal decision. Sadly though the economy has really reaped the consequences of people getting themselves into debt without having a good understanding of the things they were doing.
We have all kind of non usefull elective classes for our children in JHS and HS, a good semester on an elective that focuses on finances should be mandatory, sadly it's not and a lot of times children go out into the world clueless.
A little off topic so I aplogize, I just have to cringe though when I see some of these things now that I am older and have a whole knew perspective on debt. (not at all saying all young people are dumb with money, just that I was and I wish I would have been made to take like Dave Ramsey's FPU when I was a lot younger, my husband and I would be millionaires right now if we had)
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Lisa From Maui
143 Posts
there is no such thing as good debt!!!
going into debt is like having a rattlesnake bite you. some people recover completely, some people recovery partially, and some people never recover. but, it's never, ever good!