How much do you owe in student loans?

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Nov 1, 2020

I maxed out my student loans for living expenses when I went to school for my ADN. Back then and attending community college it was around 18,000 in loans. I took my sweet time paying them back as well since I was locked in to a 1.06% interest rate and fixed payments of $50.00/month. My student loan providers tried several times over those years to convince me to refinance, that was a hard no. Why would I ever refinance when my original loan terms were so favorable?

I see the loans my kids got stuck with at graduation and I am so glad they were able to pay them down in a reasonable amount of time without much difficulty. The days of close to zero percent interest are long gone and tuition at all levels of higher education have skyrocketed.

Now with the increased cost of education and the less favorable student loan terms combined with stagnating wages those student loans have a real and measurable negative impact in people's lives. Too many graduates are putting off buying that new car they dreamed of. They are often surprised when they discover they are unable to even qualify for a mortgage because of their student debt. Many are even needing to factor in their financial burden when considering marriage and starting a family.

Of course the one positive for those entering degree programs in the Health Care field, including nursing is the demand for practitioner's remains relatively high so at least graduate's aren't also faced with years of paying for a degree that they aren't even using.

In our current economy I couldn't imagine any scenario where I'd be OK with looking at paying off student loans into retirement years as so many people seem to be faced with.

pluckyduck, MSN, NP · Nov 7, 2020

I did my master’s & FNP in Canada, where I’m originally from, at the same school I did my BSN at. My student loan was $18K Canadian. Part of the reason I chose to go back in Canada even though I live in the US is because the tuition was better and the program was structured in that they found my placements for me. My school was recognized by AANP and ANCC as an accredited institution and I only had to write one board exam in the US, which was recognized in Canada. It was a win win for my situation.

ICU/EMTP, BSN, EMT-P · Nov 8, 2020

About $350k in our house.

Future.Derm.NP · Nov 10, 2020

On 10/18/2020 at 10:46 AM, Rose_Queen said:

I still owed about $11,000 on my undergrad degree when I went back for an MSN. I took out $16,000 in loans for my MSN. Currently owe about $16,000 on both combined.

I maximized employer tuition reimbursement and didn’t go to an expensive school.

Hey, would you mind on elaborating how you went about with this? I am interested in tuition reimbursement as my current option is to take out loans for my ABSN degree (no loans from undergrad) due to financial issues with family.

Future.Derm.NP · Nov 10, 2020

On 11/7/2020 at 1:28 PM, pluckyduck said:

I did my master’s & FNP in Canada, where I’m originally from, at the same school I did my BSN at. My student loan was $18K Canadian. Part of the reason I chose to go back in Canada even though I live in the US is because the tuition was better and the program was structured in that they found my placements for me. My school was recognized by AANP and ANCC as an accredited institution and I only had to write one board exam in the US, which was recognized in Canada. It was a win win for my situation.

OMG Im currently in Canada too and I am applying to both the US and Canada. Im always interested in other folks who got their canadian education and went to the states. Would you advise checking if the specific school in Canada is recognized in the US?

Editorial Team / Admin · Nov 10, 2020

32 minutes ago, Future.Derm.NP said:

Hey, would you mind on elaborating how you went about with this? I am interested in tuition reimbursement as my current option is to take out loans for my ABSN degree (no loans from undergrad) due to financial issues with family.

What an employer is willing to pay is going to completely depend on their policies. Mine was a max of 4800 per year for grad school. I didn’t attend classes in the Summer. Took longer, but it also meant I had an extra year to take advantage of tuition reimbursement.

Hoosier_RN, MSN · Nov 10, 2020

7 hours ago, Future.Derm.NP said:

Hey, would you mind on elaborating how you went about with this? I am interested in tuition reimbursement as my current option is to take out loans for my ABSN degree (no loans from undergrad) due to financial issues with family.

Your employer would have to offer this, and you would need to meet their criteria. Some require length of service with company, x hours a week worked etc. It will vary. And some don't offer at all. You will need to check with your HR or look at your employment benefit package

pluckyduck, MSN, NP · Nov 10, 2020

9 hours ago, Future.Derm.NP said:

OMG Im currently in Canada too and I am applying to both the US and Canada. Im always interested in other folks who got their canadian education and went to the states. Would you advise checking if the specific school in Canada is recognized in the US?

Hi,

I went to school in Ontario. There are 9 schools in Ontario that offer primary care NP programs at the Master’s level. Primary care in Ontario is equivalent to “family/FNP” in the US. A consortium of nine Ontario universities currently offers the program: Lakehead, York, McMaster, Ottawa, Laurentian, Western, Windsor, Queens and Ryerson. (http://NP-education.ca/) They are all accredited and recognized by AANP and ANCC. If you write your US board, CNO in Ontario will allow you to apply for your license by endorsement, so you only have to write one exam. If you write the Canadian NP exam, you’ll still have to write either the ANCC or AANP exam should you choose to practice in the US.

The biggest pro to going to school in Canada was that my school found all my placements for me based on my learning needs and program requirements, which was invaluable. I have worked with many US colleagues in FNP programs (especially online ones) that have not been able to graduate as they can’t find someone to take them for a a placement.

Drawbacks to going to school in Canada include you may have to go farther for a specialty program. In Ontario, the only Adult and Pediatric NP programs are offered at university of Toronto. McGill is the only school in the country (I believe) that offers a psych NP certification.

This is a link to a list of accredited nursing programs in Canada.
https://www.casn.ca/casn-members/

Good luck!

Future.Derm.NP · Nov 10, 2020

9 hours ago, Rose_Queen said:

What an employer is willing to pay is going to completely depend on their policies. Mine was a max of 4800 per year for grad school. I didn’t attend classes in the Summer. Took longer, but it also meant I had an extra year to take advantage of tuition reimbursement.

Thank you! I will look more into this!

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Nov 10, 2020

On 10/29/2020 at 8:34 PM, alice1902 said:

Around $45k. My wife owes over $150k (RN, career changer). We’re both planning to go back to school in a few years and continue education. I feel like loans are just a sacrifice you have to make in 95% of cases if you want something better in life

But will you have something better if you obtain that much more debt?

myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN · Nov 10, 2020

I think that it is worthwhile to reemphasize that so long as you avoid private loans that payments are capped at 10% of income. Many people spend more than 10% of their income on a car payment. As someone who has never owned a car less than 10 years old or with less than 150K miles I am not too bothered by high student loan payments. Especially, since my interest rate is fixed, and I look forward to my "hyper inflated" Bismark like dollars (likely to hit our nation in the next decade). I will be able to use one day's pay to pay off my loans, and the next days pay to purchase a loaf of bread. Also, since I only eat one meal per day and fast two days per week (Tuesday's and Thursday's I don't eat) even the bread won't be too bad although I suppose since I also eat low carb I won't be able to afford much in the way of eggs, or nuts on my eating days.

Ella26, BSN, RN · Nov 12, 2020

I paid my LPN as I went. Paid in full.

I went back to pursue RN.

Took out loans for LPN to RN and then RN to BSN. I was at 28k, now at 22k. Graduated 2017 with BSN.
Don’t plan on going any further.