How did/do you pay for nursing school and expenses? I need some advice.

ItsThatJenGirl, CNA · Oct 19, 2017

Have you talked to your school's financial aid office? Applied for scholarships?

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Oct 19, 2017

Can you sell the car and get something cheaper or take public transportation? No way in this world you should have a $350/ month car payment as a student. Half your expenses are car related.

paisling · Oct 20, 2017

the personal finance subreddit has some great information on the questions you're asking: personal finance

They'll probably tell you to:

- deal with the car cost. you are spending a crazy amount on your car.

- deal with the phone expense. $100 is a lot to be spending on one line.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Oct 20, 2017

Hey all,
I have received financial aid for the last 3 years and never had to pay for school, just my own expenses. But this next semester I will not receive any FA and I'm ineligible for government loans. It's kind of a long story, but the bottom line is that I messed things up temporarily and now I have to pay out of pocket for the first semester of Nursing School.
Before January I am able save up enough money for first semester classes ($2k) by working overtime while I am on break between semesters. But I wont have enough time to also save enough to cover my living expenses for 6 months. So I'm looking for advice/ideas on how to eliminate or lower personal expenses to live more within my means.
Here's what I'm working with:
Car payment: $350/month (any experience w/ re-financing a car loan?)
Car insurance: $285/month (cheapest insurance around)
Phone bill: $100/month
Gas, tolls: $100/month
Credit card bills: $150/month (I have debt from paying for last semester's classes)
No rent to pay, I live with my mother (who makes $10/hr and can't really help me with bills much)
That's almost $1k/month. I make enough now to cover it, but when I go down to working 12 hours a week during the program, I'll only be able to cover half that expense.
How can I live within my means more and reduce this by half for at least 6 months, or come up with $500/month for 6 months? $3k is a lot of money..
I have no idea what I'm doing here, what would you do in my position? If anyone has advice, I appreciate it

1] Car payment is way to high for such a limited budget. If you are eligible to refinance you might bring those payments down some, but you'd still have the overall total cost to consider and unless you way overpaid for your vehicle you shouldn't need a luxury car on an economy car budget. Sell it and get something less expensive.

2] Holy Moly! $285/month is the cheapest car insurance you can find? Either you are driving a high end sports car which you certainly don't need on a student's budget or you have one spectacularly bad driving record. Either way, again ditch the car. Get something more affordable or better yet if you live in an urban area with good public transportation get rid of the car altogether and take the bus or subway.

3] If you are paying $100/month for a single phone line that's too much. Shop around for a better deal. Most of the carriers will pay off any early termination fees you might have to get your business. If you don't want to switch carriers at least switch plans, every carrier should have plans that cost well under $100 a line.

4] Gas and tolls can also be dropped totally by guess what...ditching that expensive car and taking the bus! I'm sure you're starting to see the theme here. That car is costing you WAY too much. You can at least save money by getting a car with better gas milage. As far as tolls, isn't there a monthly or annual "easy pass" option that'll save you money over paying tolls every time? No clue if that's a cheaper option for you, fortunately I don't live in an area with toll roads.

The credit card bills really aren't negotiable. Nothing you can do there but figure out a way to keep those payments in your budget.

At least living with your Mom you don't have housing expenses as well. I don't want to sound preachy, but if your Mom only makes $10.00/hr why would you expect her to help with your bills at all? She's putting a roof over your head at zero cost. If anything I hope you are helping her with bills. Her utilities cost more with you living there. You probably do your laundry there, do you buy laundry soap every now and then? Does she pay for cable TV that you watch? Please tell me she doesn't also feed you all the time without you pitching in for groceries.

Shawn91111 · Oct 20, 2017

Sounds like you are living well beyond your means, as the post above me pointed out. That is a lot for car insurance, also plenty of phone carriers have $45 a month deals

MelEpiRN · Oct 20, 2017

You only have $150 a month on credit card bills? I'm jealous.

Definitely work on the car. Do you live close enough to anything to Uber/Lyft? I live in the city and after my husbands car was totaled, we decided to go down to one and we'd take Lyft as needed- it's way cheaper (for us). Obviously not an option for everybody.

I'd also consider going to a flip phone if possible. Considerably cheaper than a smart phone- I admit, I went to school pre-smart phone, so I don't know if it's a necessity now. I keep thinking about how much I reaaallly need a smart phone, and truth is- I could probably do without and save so much.

Mavrick, BSN, RN · Oct 20, 2017

It's obvious that car expense is killing you.

If you didn't know that before, you can sure see it when you write it down.

Car's gotta go.

Did I mention, you can't afford that car?

If you like nice cars, treat yourself to a one when you graduate. I bought a brand new Jeep Wrangler as my first present to myself when I got my first RN job. I previously had a Ford Pinto. Yeah, ya gotta make sacrifices!

justSara · Oct 20, 2017

Have you talked to your school's financial aid office? Applied for scholarships?

That seems like such an obvious answer, I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of that myself. I previously thought you had to be a straight A student to get scholarships, but now that I'm looking into it there may be some nursing related scholarship I can get. I'm going to go talk to the financial aid office again on Monday. Thanks for your response!

justSara · Oct 20, 2017

Can you sell the car and get something cheaper or take public transportation? No way in this world you should have a $350/ month car payment as a student. Half your expenses are car related.

I agree with you that I should not have a $350 car payment. It's ridiculous. But at 19 when I went shopping for my first car it seemed like a really good idea. In hindsight... not so much.

I live in an area where there is some public transportation, but it would take me hours to get to school/work. I am a 30-40 minute drive away from them both, and I drive about 15,000 miles per year. Also, my mom works the graveyard shift (during times when there are no buses) and since she can't afford a car I let her use mine at night. So having no car seems problematic for us both.

I would entertain the idea of selling the car, except I don't think it would work financially. I bought the car for $12k with an 18% interest rate. So I'm 2 years into a 4.5 year loan and I owe $9k on the car still. It's crazy what I got myself into. When I KBB the car, it said my car is estimated to be valued at $5-6k. So even if I sell it, I'll still be upside down with the loan. And then I'll also have no money for a down payment to buy a cheaper car. So I feel like I'm stuck with this car. It's not even a fancy car, it's just too much for a college student.

Any advice on the car situation is appreciated, I don't really know what I'm doing here. Clearly.

justSara · Oct 20, 2017

the personal finance subreddit has some great information on the questions you're asking: personal finance
They'll probably tell you to:
- deal with the car cost. you are spending a crazy amount on your car.
- deal with the phone expense. $100 is a lot to be spending on one line.

I'll check out the personal finance subreddit. I'm desperate for any kind of ideas/solutions.

I agree with you on the car cost, I'm just unsure on how to go about dealing with it. I live in an area where things are far away (30-40 minute highway drive) and I drive about 15,000 miles a year just to go to school, work, and for my mom to use my car to drive to work (she can't afford her own, she borrows mine at night).

I bought the car for $12k with an 18% interest rate. I'm 2 years into a 4.5 year loan and I owe $9k on the car still. It's crazy what I got myself into. When I KBB the car, it said my car is estimated to be valued at $5-6k. So if I sell it, I'll still be upside down with the loan. And then I'll also have no money for a down payment to buy a cheaper car. So I feel like I'm stuck with this car. It's not even a fancy car, it's just too much for a college student.

As for the phone, I should have clarified that I pay for two lines. My mother's and my own. It's $50 for each line, but I have been paying for hers for the last few years because once upon a time I bought her a new phone and added her to my plan. When I start nursing school I can probably ask her to pay her half, but I'll still be left with $50. I think that's reasonable for a phone. The car is the main issue

caliotter3 · Oct 20, 2017

Consumer Cellular has cheap phone plans. Used to be minimum of $10 month. Think it might be up to $15, maybe $25. Use the phone for little more than emergencies and you can be on their cheapest plan.