How much do you owe in student loans?

Nurses General Nursing

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I want to go back to school but I can't justify the cost since I am still paying on my loans. But, if I wait, the degree won't have much of a return on investment.

I currently have $45k from my first associate's degree and bachelor's degrees (I'm almost finished with the first bachelor's). I'll probably have around $50k when I'm finished with that. When I'm done with my BSN, I'll probably have about $80k in total (assuming I have to resort to loans only to pay for it). My first two degrees are irrelevant to nursing and I obtained them for totally different reasons. I decided to pursue nursing later in the game, so that's what I'm working with now. 

My plan to pay everything off is to work for about 1-2 years and get some experience and then do travel nursing. I do want to pursue advanced practice and obtain more education but I definitely want to knock off a huge chunk of that before doing so.

2 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.

I think about 14k, I paid it off my first year as a nurse. 

4 Votes
16 hours ago, juan de la cruz said:

To practice as an FNP, the current requirements are either MS/MSN or DNP and state NP license/certification with majority of states requiring passing one of two national FNP certification exams.  Early during the development of the DNP, the national association of US nursing schools came up with a recommendation to transition all APRN programs to DNP by 2015.  That's a tall order if you ask me and it never happened. 

It's now 2020 and we still have a number of MS/MSN FNP programs that did not transition to DNP.   Majority of schools now offer a DNP in some form or iteration and some have phased out their MS/MSN NP programs altogether.  As it stands, you have a choice between MS/MSN or DNP depending on what school you end up attending.

Nursing in the US is not a monolithic establishment -- it's composed of various camps each wanting to have their say on a specific issue to the point of making things more confusing than it should be.  As of now, there is no defined deadline for when NP programs will transition to "all DNP" after the 2015 time frame never materialized. 

The CRNA field, however, having been governed by a single organization with little "outside nursing" control has set a deadline for 2025 for all CRNA programs to transition to a doctorate.  They may be the only group to achieve that goal.

Thank you for this!  This really clears up a lot of confusion and I've had! 

1 Votes
Specializes in ICU, trauma, neuro.

160K, but I've got a plan.  Go back to school for my DNP (that way I can keep them in deferment) then perhaps go after another degree (more deferment) and then pay the minimum with the "graduate payment program". By then if I put them in a fixed rate program perhaps the hyper inflation which will have likely overtaken the US economy by then will allow me to pay them back easily (think of people in Bismark Germany earning $1000.00 per day, but bread costing even more than that per loaf).  If all else fails once I'm on social security I should qualify for income driven plan which caps payment at around 10% of my income (maybe around $1200).  Then again there is always death I fairly certain that even Sallie Mae cannot collect from me in my ultimate destination of Heaven or Hell.  Of course if I manage to keep earning what I am now as a new grad PMHNP (around 250K) I might actually be able to repay them without the above routine.  

23 minutes ago, myoglobin said:

160K, but I've got a plan.  Go back to school for my DNP (that way I can keep them in deferment) then perhaps go after another degree (more deferment) and then pay the minimum with the "graduate payment program". By then if I put them in a fixed rate program perhaps the hyper inflation which will have likely overtaken the US economy by then will allow me to pay them back easily (think of people in Bismark Germany earning $1000.00 per day, but bread costing even more than that per loaf).  If all else fails once I'm on social security I should qualify for income driven plan which caps payment at around 10% of my income (maybe around $1200).  Then again there is always death I fairly certain that even Sallie Mae cannot collect from me in my ultimate destination of Heaven or Hell.  Of course if I manage to keep earning what I am now as a new grad PMHNP (around 250K) I might actually be able to repay them without the above routine.  

Oh my god. Is that debt from your BSN and MSN? How much did each of those costs? Also, that’s a good starting salary for PMHNP. I thought it was lower than that. What state do you live in?

1 Votes
Specializes in ICU, trauma, neuro.

I actually racked up most of that debt on my ASN and BSN over ten years ago to help with living expenses when my significant other was going after her graduate degrees. About 20K was accumulated while working on my MSN mainly because I went down to part time hours because I feared not passing. Also, I don't ever plan to "retire" and my current "retirement" plan is to end up in a Medicaid nursing home or to set out in the wilderness on my own to meet my fate. Also, I figuring having "nothing" is a pretty good insurance policy against any malpractice suits that might arise. 

Just now, myoglobin said:

I actually racked up most of that debt on my ASN and BSN over ten years ago to help with living expenses when my significant other was going after her graduate degrees. About 20K was accumulated while working on my MSN mainly because I went down to part time hours because I feared not passing. Also, I don't ever plan to "retire" and my current "retirement" plan is to end up in a Medicaid nursing home or to set out in the wilderness on my own to meet my fate. Also, I figuring having "nothing" is a pretty good insurance policy against any malpractice suits that might arise.  I rent from my significant other, and don't even own a vehicle so I'm fairly close to judgement proof.

 

Specializes in ICU, trauma, neuro.
1 minute ago, myoglobin said:

I actually racked up most of that debt on my ASN and BSN over ten years ago to help with living expenses when my significant other was going after her graduate degrees. About 20K was accumulated while working on my MSN mainly because I went down to part time hours because I feared not passing. Also, I don't ever plan to "retire" and my current "retirement" plan is to end up in a Medicaid nursing home or to set out in the wilderness on my own to meet my fate when I hit my 80's (I'm 51 now) or suffer some debilitating condition or diagnosis.. Also, I figuring having "nothing" is a pretty good insurance policy against any malpractice suits that might arise. 

 

 

54 minutes ago, myoglobin said:

 

What state do you live in? You don’t seem too hopeful about your “fate.” Things can always change around. I’m sure you could also work at a company that gives you loan forgiveness after some time of working there. I’m not sure how plentiful they are but I always see people discussing those as options on here. What you still choose your path if you could go back?

Specializes in ICU, trauma, neuro.

I am happy. I enjoy my job much of the time and so long as my belly is full and can play my PS4, go for my am walks and lift weights/read books a few times per week I don’t really need much else.

1 Votes
Specializes in Med surg.

I owe WAY too much. I wonder is it worth it, too.  Unless you’re travel or contract you don’t make enough for those high repayments. It’s ridiculous. 

3 hours ago, 1dwigt said:

I owe WAY too much. I wonder is it worth it, too.  Unless you’re travel or contract you don’t make enough for those high repayments. It’s ridiculous. 

How much do you owe?

4 hours ago, myoglobin said:

I am happy. I enjoy my job much of the time and so long as my belly is full and can play my PS4, go for my am walks and lift weights/read books a few times per week I don’t really need much else.

Low maintenance type of guy/girl. I dig it. 

2 Votes
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