How much did you owe in loans after earning your BSN?

litchi · Oct 12, 2011

When I get my BSN in May, it will be my second bachelor's degree. Both of my degrees combined will still cost less than $40k. Of course, the first degree cost considerably less than it would now because I took classes 10 years ago when it was much cheaper.. but still. $38k per year? No thanks!

Even though there are plenty of schools with much more acceptable tuition rates, moving to another state usually = higher out-of-state tuition rates. You can still look around and try to find better alternatives though. Hopefully, someone else here will have some good suggestions for you too!

Honestly.. If I had it to do over again, I would just go get all my basics out of the way at the cheapest community college I could find.. then transfer to a good, moderately priced school to do my nursing classes. I'd try to get the best grades I could at the cc and go for a transfer scholarship once I was done. Of course, when I graduated high school the last thing I wanted to do was go to some crappy community college so I went to a 4 year college instead and, well.. I won't even get into how that went! I definitely wish I had done differently now though.

Juwon · Oct 12, 2011

I agree with litchi, go to a cheap community college and take all of your pre-reqs and then transfer to a university to get your bachelor's degree, preferably a state school since they tend to be cheaper. You will save a ton of money this way. Some people go away to universities because of the college experience, but personally I could care less. I don't want to be stuck paying a school over 30,000 for a degree and then have to turn back around and have to compete in this competitive market to get a job, plus it takes a while to pay off al of that money while trying to live decent....I'm at the community college finishing up my pre-reqs and either heading into the associates degree nursing program or bachelors at another school that I have been accepted into of next year, while working and networking at the same time. Sometimes its all about who you know. One can have all the credentials in the world compared to someone who have hardly anything, but the one with less credentials are given the job based on who they know. Networking is essential in todays brutal market.

Leafhouse · Oct 12, 2011

Another thing you may want to consider is how your grades match up with the applicants that have previously been accpeted for each particular school. Also i would look at the point system that each nursing program uses when evaluating applicants. Every program is different and you may have a better chance getting into one school than you do in another. If you have good grades, don't let the word "impacted" scare you away from applying. They have to accept somebody. Why can't it be you? I would also look at how many applicants each program accepts. I applied to CSULB and not CSUF based on their poin systems and how many applicants they accepted.

ErinS, BSN, RN · Oct 12, 2011

I had $8000 in student loans after my bachelors, and I am paying out of pocket for my master degree. Your student loans should not be a mortgage, and certainly not for a nursing degree, where you might make $90000 a year if your are really, really lucky. REALLY LUCKY. And if you are not really lucky, you will probably end up making close to $50000 a year. Go to a community college, and find a cheap program in your area.

wsuRN09 · Oct 12, 2011

In-state public university. Total loan debt... zero. :) I had a couple scholarships, worked part time during school and full time during breaks and my family was able to help me out a bit. But I was broke pretty much the whole time. It is possible to come out with your degree with very little to no debt, you just have to consider ALL of your options.

kids · Oct 12, 2011

I owed zero when I finished my BSN.

I did it 1-2 classes at a time as I could afford it.

Leafhouse · Oct 12, 2011

Just like wsuRN09, I graduated from in state public university with a BSN that cost me about $20,000 (that's not including the 3 years of GE and pre-reques) with zero debt. How did I manage? I had about $10,000 in scholarships (beyond grateful for); I had about $6,000 in my savings by the time I started; I worked part-time throughout nursing school which gave me about zero free time and was broke living off dollar menus throughout nursing school. The time that I didn't spend at school or at home studying, was spent working. Every penny of my paycheck went to school. School and study groups were my only source of social interaction. It was a miserable existence at times but so worth it.

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Oct 12, 2011

I owe 70k, It stresses me out daily. My loan payments are ridiculous. I literally have hardly any money in my bank account....and I haven't even started paying all of it back yet. I was between a rock and a hard place as my husband became very ill and I left the BSN at cal state I was in to go to a private ADN program, 9 months versus 3 year program allowed us to at least not be homeless. I went back for my BSN right after, probably not the best choice, but I've been able to find work in this horrible economy so who's to say what was right or wrong.

If you are not having a family to support, honestly, take your time. The cal states usually aren't as bad as you think, when they get so many applications, usually most of them are incomplete. Make sure yours isn't and you have EVERY class and every line dotted and T crossed. I used to work at a CSU and knew the girl who had to sort through the applications, she said "We usually get about 1000 applications a year, but really only 200 of them are complete.." Thank about it 200 True applicants for an average of 50 spots....that's much better odds.

As for me, I'm in the process of trying to consolidate all my loans to direct loans, and additionally, beg the VA for a job because I know some of them do loan forgiveness. It sucks because I've worked at some amazing hospitals and had some amazing opportunities, but I basically have to work either a minimum of an extra shift a week, which doesn't seem to exist right now. Or find a job that has some sort of loan repayment, which I think only the VA really does.

You don't want your life after school to be controlled by having to work at a very particular place in order to make ends meet. You want to have the ability to work somewhere because you LIKE it there. You don't want to lose sleep at night because of something as pointless as debt because you were just in a hurry.

We've become a generation of instant satisfaction, and I think we are going to truly all regret it when we have to pay the piper. I honestly think that's a big portion of why the US economy is as bad as it is. We were all thinking of now, and not looking towards the future.

Just my 2 cents. I wish you luck!

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Oct 12, 2011

Another consideration is getting tuition reimbursement for a BSN from your employer if you get the ADN.... even LTC companies offer tuition reimbursement- and anywhere that pays for school requires a commitment to their facility for a number of years (generally 2-4)....but no debt :) You have to maintain a C (some reimburse based on grades, with A's getting NICE reimbursement; others do a flat reimbursement for a passed class).

Take advantage of this benefit, and ask about it when interviewing- it shows intent to pursue your BSN, and shows motivation :)

Hospice Nurse LPN, BSN, RN · Oct 12, 2011

I owed zero when I finished my BSN.
I did it 1-2 classes at a time as I could afford it.

Same here. I have saved a bunch and plan to go full time the next 3 semesters. If all goes as planned, I'll graduate debt free.

Hawkens · Oct 12, 2011

I got my ADN with about 25k in loans (it took me 3 years with the prereqs and all) no jobs for new grads in my area, the damn ads are even starting to say new grads not eligible to apply or new grads need not not apply, so I am continuing on for my BSN at 421 a credit hour and I need 43 credits for it so it should be about 43k total (**##@@## ) I hope I can get a job soon so it doesn't get that high but right now it isn't looking good hopefully the BSN will open more doors.

I am currently looking up to an hour plus driving time (one way) for places willing to even interview new grads.