How did/do you pay for nursing school?

[Joe V]

Nursing school is expensive. Many people have used student loans, scholarships, VA loans, grants, and even worked through school to pay for their education. The main reason for this thread is to provide information for people who can't afford the rising costs of nursing school. Many people aren't aware of the resources that are available. You don't have to give specifics but it would be great to see how people are paying for school. Please share how you paid for nursing school. Give any links or resources that you may have. Click Like if you enjoyed it. Please share this with friends and post your comments below!

[vdrapeau]

Lost my career after a corporate buyout and subsequent closure of manufacturing facilities and elimination of the corporate engineering and research and development departments. Because it was a job loss due to foreign competition, we all received Trade Act Assistance. That paid for up to 24 months of school, all books, tuition and supplies except computers, and there was an extended unemployment benefit that went with that, as well.

Trade Act Program: TAA for Workers, Employment & Training Administration (ETA) - U.S. Department of Labor

I used TAA benefits too. We paid for my pre-reqs (already had all the GE type classes) and then used the retraining benefits to pay for nursing school itself. There have been changes to the extended unemployment benefits, the last I looked you only got it if you started the program within 4 months of being laid off. I didn't qualify for that, but I did receive some extra unemployment through the state rather than TAA.

[christina731]

I will be paying for school myself. I have been working full-time as a certified pharmacy technician for 6 years and I have been able to save a bit for nursing school. Luckily my tuition for my ADN program will only run about $7000. I don't qualify for most grants/scholarships because I have already graduated from my school with another major and I have about 80 credits (community college) apparently I don't "need" another associates degree and I should be going for my bachelors. Well unless I can get financial aid, I'm sticking with my cheaper community college, no matter how many associates degrees I earn from them! I am terrified of student loans because they can literally haunt you until the day you die! So I'm stuck with paying my way through school. I have been paying my way for 9 years of part time college and I have accumulated zero debt and it feels REALLY good to say that.

[tots24]

I chose probably one of the most expensive schools in the US in one of the most expensive cities in the US. It's also the one with the highest average student loan debt for alumni. Great choice. Oof.

Now that I'm done I'm working one full-time job (nurse), one part-time occasional job (day care provider), and I sell my plasma. Barely scraping by with all of the loans I have! Don't make the mistake I did!

[hopeful_27]

For my 2 year tuition in school with books, equipments, and uniform would be ~$ 65,000.

Living cost ( moved out of state)/food/gas ~$ 25,000

Totaling a grand whopping: ~ $ 90,000

How did I pay?

-Maxed out my federal student loan

- Maxed out Private Loans

- After maxing everything out, I had to borrow more from my relative.

When I get a job, I will barely be scraping by. Think I will be eating ramen for a long long time.

[CrufflerJJ, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

After leaving a 22 year Engineering career, I paid for about a year of nursing prereqs out of savings, and did an accelerated BSN program. In the accel program, I was able to get a "graduate scholarship" based on my GRE scores which paid for ~60% of the tuition. The rest was paid for out of my darling wife's salary, plus student loans, which are about 60% paid off (4 years after graduating).

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Where is the option for "Things I am not very proud of"....

Nah my rents paid for it.

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

Ive been in school since jan 2010 taking prereqs to get into a BSN program. To avoid debt, I intentionally chose to go to community college, where the tuition was so cheap, I paid myself or asked for a fee waiver. In 2011, husband left us and I continued going to community college, but opened my mind to considering loans since I *needed* them at that point to pay for living expenses and would need them to pay tuition after I transferred. I also began considering taking out loans for expensive, accelerated private schools. But couldn't get funding because all of them cost more than the federal loan amounts (12,500)/ yr. (9,500if you have less than 60 credits or so)

I was finally able to get funding from WIA (workforce investment act) its for displaced workers, people on unemployment, people on other forms of aid. WIA will pay for ~$9000 of the $24,000 tuition for a 1 year LVN program. I'll get a partial pell grant, since I nearly maxed that out already. Welfare (calworks, TANF) is mandated to pay for "supportive services" and they will pay for my books, which are included in the tuition. I will take out federal student loans for remaining amount.

To learn more about WIA, go to a "career center" or contact an employment and training agency".

As far as living expenses, I'm very grateful to friends and family who've allowed my children and me to stay with them since my spouse abruptly evicted us about a month ago. I also get welfare and food stamps.

Welfare will also pay me an extra allotment for gas, which will help a lot.

I work super part time as a CNA.

http://www.careeronestop.org/wiaprovidersearch.asp

http://m.careeronestop.org/JobCenterSearch/

[Streamline2010]

WIA will pay for ~$9000

I don't know what state offers $9000. Not in Pennsylvania, Ohio, or WV. In WV in 2005, the limit was $3000/year. In PA in 2009-2001, it was only $4000, and I'm not sure whether that was a total amount, or whether that was per year. If they give you $4000/year, then that would be $8000. WIA is federally funded, and the funds pool is only replenished once per year. I think that the "bucket" gets filled in July (in PA at least), and then the funds are available first-come-first-served until they run out. The latecomers may be WIA-eligible but there is no money available until next year, because this year's allotment has been used up.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

i made out a check....they cashed it....i was in.

Also worked full time while in school.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

My father, who is a doctor, paid completely for my schooling.

My husband's mother is also a doctor, and she paid completely for his schooling as well.

The moral of our story is that going to medical school pays off.

[chuckster, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

how did you find time to study!? and projects, papers and clinical assignments!? I was working weekends but now barely can do that because I am so busy. Most of my classmates all quit their jobs and are all on loans now. I thought I could get scholarships because I have always been an A student. But in my program you need 90% for an A, 70% to pass...sign. You are an Idol.

I would have loved that grading scheme. My program had a minimum passing score requirement of 78 © while a B required 84 or above and 92 or above got you an A. I worked 60+ hours a week with some business travel thrown in the mix, but still managed to do OK, though my GPA suffered (my formerly well above Dean's List average quickly got down to below 3.0 after a couple of grades in the low 80's from the 10-credit nursing classes...). I was actually pretty fortunate in that I never missed a clinical day - 100% attendance was required (clinicals were pass/fail), except in some rare cases such as serious illness - travel, even job-related travel, wouldn't have counted. Despite the tough grading, we only lost two out the class along the way, but this was an evening/weekend program with mostly older students. The school also had a pretty tough acceptance policy based on standardized test scores, which resulted in turning away well over 50% of applicants which may have helped retention.

[RunnerRN2015, ASN, RN]

My school is affiliated with a large hospital system that offers a loan forgiveness program. For every 4 months you work for them after graduation, they "forgive" 80% of one semester. When it's all said and done, I'll only owe a few thousand dollars and I'll pay cash for that. I won't have any student loans to worry about! We also currently have 2 kids in college (yep, 3 of us at once!) and we're paying cash for theirs so they won't owe any money, either.