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

Calabria, BSN, RN · Oct 14, 2011

I owe about 48K right now (down from the initial 60K I started with about 8 months ago, and that was after scholarships and working through school :\)... I still have some money left to put in my bank account at the end of every month. That total's from my first degree and my BSN combined.

I'm in the process of getting more loans canceled, and I make double payments every month on some of my higher interest loans to get them paid off sooner. I knew what my debt was going to be when I went back to school for my BSN, and I actually expected my loan payments to be higher. Do I wish I had loans? Absolutely not, but I researched them enough to know that I could be fiscally responsible with the amount that I had. And I knew it'd be worth it to practice nursing.

chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Oct 14, 2011

There's this university that I want to attend to earn my BSN, but it's private and the tuition is about 38,000 per year. I was told by a counselor from there that I would have to borrow about almost 80-90k in loans to pay off the whole 4 years I am there. That pretty much killed it all for me. I really want a BSN because my cousin received her ADN and passed the NCLEX-RN months ago and she's STILL looking for a job. So I don't wanna go to for the ADN. What school did you guys go to for your BSN? How much were tuition fees? Were they impacted? I'm from California and pretty much all the CSU's here have really impacted nursing programs. I don't mind relocating to another state for college, just as long as the tuition fees are not so expensive.

I owe zero dollars. I received my ADN from my local CC at a total cost of less than $6,000. I'm presently in an on-line RN-BSN program offered by a major state university that will run less than $7,500. You can do the math to see what the total is. More importantly, you have the option of doing much the same thing.

It's insane to pay the kind of money you reference. Keep your educational expenses as low as possible and borrow only what you absolutely need and not a penny more. Borrowing $90k is a real gamble and I wouldn't do it. You should be aware that educational loans are not dischargeable - ever - for any reason. If you can't find a job after graduation, tough luck, you still owe the money. If you get laid off, that's tough but you still gotta find some way to pay the loan. If you get disabled, I'm sure the banks will feel sorry for you but you still need to pay the money back, even if it means selling off assets.

Education loans need to be used sparingly.

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · Oct 14, 2011

I am in my third year of schooling, but my first year of Nursing school. I have two more years until I am finished with my degree. I have been lucky enough to have no debt. The most amount of loans I suspect that I will be taking out are 7,500, maybe even less if I pick up more hours on the job.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Oct 14, 2011

Three Associates degrees, one BSN. Never had loans until the BSN, and ended up with $9K in student loan debt. Not bad for 4 degrees. I've already repaid more than half of the loan. Currently doing my MSN (education) with Army tuition reimbursement, which will mean no debt there, either.