How did you pay for nursing school? Help...I'm in a pickle!

nursejackie821 · Mar 2, 2015

I think you're overthinking this. I personally worked an average of 60 hours a week while attending nursing school and managed just fine. I worked open to close as a bartender on the weekends, evenings as a server during the week and one day a week all day at a campus student help job. Even working 3 jobs, 7 days a week most weeks, I still came out of school $17,000 in debt (granted, I wasn't exactly frugal with my money in college). My monthly loan payments are roughly $230, which, on a nurse's salary are totally manageable. Especially since it sounds like your other expenses will be minimal, even once you graduate, you will be just fine taking out loans.

Yuppers21 · Mar 2, 2015

My advice would be to find a CNA/tech job with a local hospital or nursing home - particularly if one offers tuition reimbursement. For my graduating class, pretty much the only students who found RN jobs in less than six months were those who already worked in health care while in school. Of course, this is all competely individualized to location, but just another possible benefit to consider besides more income, less debt.

Mr. Murse · Mar 2, 2015

As others said, if you leave school with only $6k in debt, you'll be way better off than most nursing students finishing school.

Honestly though, most people work through school. I worked full time until my last year, but I had a very flexible job that worked with me. If you really feel you couldn't swing it then I guess that's a decision you have to make.

I always strongly advise nursing students to try to work as a tech/CNA/PCT/etc while they're in school. Many hospitals (in my area anyway) will hire nursing students with one year of school under their belt and give them very lax requirements on how much they have to work. The hospital I'm at calls them "nursing externs" and they are only required 2 shifts a month, but you can pretty much work as much over that as you want too. Besides the money, it will also honestly put you ahead of the game and make you a better nurse......not to mention get your foot in the door when you're licensed. I had 2 job offers before I even graduated and absolutely no waiting period looking for a job after I had passed boards.

Eclectic Swain · Mar 2, 2015

Work full time in the summer. 3 months can net around 2k easily!

_iamkel · Mar 2, 2015

I work between 16-24 hours a week. If I have tests or a busy schedule one week I will take off that entire week to prepare for what is going on. I find that extremely doable in regards to being able to afford my bills. My bills include: Car payment, insurance, rent (which isn't much- just $200 a month to my parents), gas, cell phone and any extra expenses such as copays, food, hanging out, groceries, ect.

I take out loans for my tuition. But, I get a really great scholarship for my academic performance plus some grants. I pay for books, scrubs and clinical supplies out of pocket (this is most expensive when you first begin nursing school because you have to fork out all of this money up front, it gets better.)

Look online for scholarships that you can apply for. People and companies are giving money to nursing students left and right! You just have to be motivated to search for them and do the work to apply for them.

My advice to you is to work while you are in school. If others can do it, so can you! Don't underestimate yourself. ðŸ˜‰

llg, PhD, RN · Mar 2, 2015

Take out the $6000 loan -- and try to spend as little as possible. (Work a little if you can.)

Then, if you are lucky enough to get a job soon after you graduate ... you can pay it back almost immediately. That's what I did with grad school. I took out a loan that was a little bigger than it needed to be and put that money in the bank, just in case I needed it before I got settled into a new job. I was able to pay back about half of my loan within that first 6 months after graduation -- and just had a very small loan left that I was able to pay off very quickly and easily.

The caveat to this plan is that you have to be disciplined enough not to spend the extra money. Just because it is in your possession, doesn't mean you should feel free to spend it. Set it aside for "emergencies only" so that you still have some left when you graduate. And once you get a job, pay the loan back as soon as possible.

AZBlueBell · Mar 2, 2015

6k total of a loan would be totally doable to pay off fairly quickly after school. The rule of thumb is not to take out more than you expect to earn in one year, so 6k would be absolutely doable.

dc1994 · Mar 2, 2015

Thanks guys! I think I've made my decision.

I'm going to take out loans for sure. I'm gonna do some more number crunching to figure out exactly how much I will need, but it should be in the neighborhood of 6k-10k for the full 2 years. No more than 10k.

I'm also going to look into some VA/CNA/PCT positions as suggested, and I'll look into some externships while I'm (hopefully, fingers crossed) in the program.

Thanks for the advice! :up:

cdsavannah59, CNA · Mar 2, 2015

Even if you have a hope and pell grant, once you get selected to proceed into the actual nursing program the semester gets more expensive with credit hours. Make sure your grants cover each semester fully. My friend had to get a loan after prerequisites were done and she was selected to proceed to LPN program, Example the first semester the nursing program required payment of books to be used for the entire program to be purchased in the first semester of the program, which was expensive to get all the books at once.

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · Mar 2, 2015

I worked two jobs (1 PT and 1 PRN) while in school for the majority of my nursing education, and many other people worked FT and PT jobs. With the money from my nursing assistant wages, I was able to pay as I go while living at home. I graduated with my BSN debt free.

I highly encourage you to go this route.

KellyRN2013 · Mar 2, 2015

You can do it!!! I worked full time through LPN and RN school AND I was a single mom. I had my son when I was 16 so I know the struggle but It can be done!!! If you really want to achieve your goal then nothing will stand in your way. I also went to school with several girls who didn't work at all so really the decision is what works best for you but it can be done! I had labs, lectures, clinicals, skills boot camps, and simulation labs and got through just fine! You will do great. If you end up with a loan and its not much then that is fine too. most people coming out of a BSN program have anywhere from 30,000-60,000.00 in loans. My suggestion to you is to start school, then get your foot in the door somewhere as a patient care technician, and see if you can work baylor for them and that way you still have your whole week to focus on school and the weekends to work and still make decent money. Good luck to you! Keep us updated on your journey :)

KellyRN2013 · Mar 2, 2015

I forgot to mention...apply for scholarships!!! You can get a scholarship for anything literally lol you can get a scholarship for being left handed or even having a dog as a pet. Ask your school for a list of scholarships they provide and apply apply apply!