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!!
A misconception that many people have is that simply HAVING a credit card means that you have credit card debt. You turn 18, you get a credit card, you purchase only items that you already have the cash to pay off. No interest owed, and credit score goes up.
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.
I'm not quite sure how a person is expected to buy a car without a car loan? I saved half of all my money from working starting at 16, and that was all I had to pay for college AND buy a car.
After building up my credit with a credit card, I was able to get a very nice used car and secure a loan with a very low interest rate. I would not have been able to do that without a decent credit history.
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.
It's a personal finance class from high school that taught me to build up my great credit. I have paid off all student loans and car payment, and I save money and max out my IRA contributions each month on a small budget.
Be careful following Dave Ramsey. I fear for people who follow his investment advice when it comes to the stock market. I also don't trust financial advice that is tied to religious views.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
A misconception that many people have is that simply HAVING a credit card means that you have credit card debt. You turn 18, you get a credit card, you purchase only items that you already have the cash to pay off. No interest owed, and credit score goes up.
I'm not quite sure how a person is expected to buy a car without a car loan? I saved half of all my money from working starting at 16, and that was all I had to pay for college AND buy a car.
After building up my credit with a credit card, I was able to get a very nice used car and secure a loan with a very low interest rate. I would not have been able to do that without a decent credit history.
It's a personal finance class from high school that taught me to build up my great credit. I have paid off all student loans and car payment, and I save money and max out my IRA contributions each month on a small budget.
Be careful following Dave Ramsey. I fear for people who follow his investment advice when it comes to the stock market. I also don't trust financial advice that is tied to religious views.
It's a VERY SMALL Percentage of people that actually pay off their CC each month, many do start out with the intention of doing that but life tends to happen and maybe the car needed new tires and what not so it usually doesn't end up that way. If you were able to stick to that great, but you are in a small percentage. Also part of your score is rated on your balance, paying it off each month or having it maxed out isn't always what the companies want to see. Some of the score will be based on carrying a balance, just not more then 70% at least it was 70% when I worked for the Credit Bureau
I didn't follow Dave Ramsey for Financial advice, he has great advice for personal finances and living debt free. If you don't trust following him that is great, they're many people that do.
How do you buy a car without a car loan you ask?? Ummmm you save up and pay cash for a car. You decide what is important and what is not, you buy a car you can afford and it might not be the nicest car but then you continue to save, sell that car take the new money you have saved and you buy a nicer care and continue the cycle. It can be done, my husband bought me a 2003 Yukon Denali Xl this past March or April, can't remember which month it was, we saved for it all winter, got a really good deal on it with the Gas prices being higher and economy down. It's older, has more miles, (had 83 thousand when we bought it) so later on it might need some work, but it's ok because we paid cash for it and don't make payments on it and can take the money that we would have in a car payment each month and save it and if it did need a new engine or something we could buy one without putting it on a credit card or having to stress out about it.
When you set out to live a life with no debt you don't need to worry about credit good enough to get loans to go into debt. Everyone has to do what works best for them.
The federally funded student loans don't look at your credit score.
I don't begrudge anyone for their debts, I have some of my own, my goal is to have no debt eventually but I wouldn't be able to be in school right now without the student loans. I am getting there. It's a personal goal for me and what I teach my children. But I would never tell people Debt is a good thing either. I don't think it is. I can't wait for the day that I only have my reoccuring bills to pay each month (Ins. Utilities, stuff like that) and have a nice savings and money to do whatever I want with. Like I said before, I wish my husband and I would have been smarter with money when we were teens, we would be living the high life now without having to worry about money, thankfully we are still young and it's not to late.
When I graduate I will have about 28-30K in debt for my BSN but I'm not really all that worried about it. All of my loans are federal loans which give you a six month waiting period after you graduate and about half of them don't collect any interest. I know 30K sounds like a lot but considering that my sister is in debt 80K for an accounting degree, I think I did pretty well for myself. I don't plan on getting a job that is outside of internships/volunteer/preceptorships and that will more likely be part-time because I would be doing it for the experience not to pay for school. And I won't be doing any of those until about Senior year when most nursing students do them. I'm one of the rare ones that got a GREAT financial aid package (my school is around 30K/per year) and I live at home with my parents and I don't pay anything so that's why I can. I'm extrememly lucky and I don't think I'd be able to do it if I had to work while going to school.
It comes down to the kind of person you are. Maybe for me it's okay because I'm young so I don't have any other debts. If you think you can work and get through it then go for it, if not then I wouldn't take the risk. I'd rather graduate in some debt then not graduate at all because I failed one class and got kicked out of the program.
One of the mistakes people make is that when they get a loan, sometimes they get too much and instead of giving the money back, they use it which puts them in more debt. My sister use to do that a lot. She'd get a 20K loan, but her school would only need about 13K. Now I'm not saying that she couldn't take 1 or 2k for herself for books and just little misc items but she kept the rest of the 7K and eventually it all adds up. I would personally never trust getting a private loan, I made sure the only loans I did get were federal loans.
It really depends on you, your personal financial situation, and your ability to pay them back.
In terms of my education, my husband and I decided that we were more than okay in assuming additional SL debt (he has some from his undergrad, as do I and now are assuming SL debt for my Masters).
We have no other debt besides our house and my car which will be paid off next year. We have no credit card debt.
Once I finish my program and get my license (I am in a direct entry program, so no RN yet), one of my loans will be completely forgiven-wiped out. Finito. Then for the remainder of what I own, I will be on at least 15, if not longer, year repayment plan, and after paying back for the first 10 years (120 payments), I can have the remaining balance wiped out too.
This is for Federally borrowed loans (Subsidized, and Unsubsidized) under Federal Student Aid Loan Forgiveness for Public Service Employees
I suggest those of you who have these types of loans to check it out:
.thumb.jpg.5aa4d55557c0228e31b94de19666bbbb.jpg){kind=small}
mrs.tt
10 Posts
A misconception that many people have is that simply HAVING a credit card means that you have credit card debt. You turn 18, you get a credit card, you purchase only items that you already have the cash to pay off. No interest owed, and credit score goes up.
I'm not quite sure how a person is expected to buy a car without a car loan? I saved half of all my money from working starting at 16, and that was all I had to pay for college AND buy a car.
After building up my credit with a credit card, I was able to get a very nice used car and secure a loan with a very low interest rate. I would not have been able to do that without a decent credit history.
It's a personal finance class from high school that taught me to build up my great credit. I have paid off all student loans and car payment, and I save money and max out my IRA contributions each month on a small budget.Be careful following Dave Ramsey. I fear for people who follow his investment advice when it comes to the stock market. I also don't trust financial advice that is tied to religious views.