How do you pay for school?

jewelcutt · Mar 5, 2004

For those of you familiar with stafford loans I have a couple of questions. I currently live at home, but will have to (and want to) finally move out of home to an apartment this summer while leasing a car. The school I'm going to gives you 1000/month as long as you repay with work, you know the deal, but I will still need money to live off of after rent and lease :uhoh3: . Anyway, I'm filling out my FAFSA now and I'm wondering how much my being labeled a dependent now will affect how much money I will get in the future. Will I be able to get the maximum 18500 per year like everyone else? That would be great because it should cover everything. I am planning on going to the fin aid office at the university to ask questions too.

u-r-sleeepy · Mar 5, 2004

One idea you might like to consider is contributing to an IRA with "pre-tax dollars" with the plan that you can take distributions later on for school costs - without that pesky 10% penalty! How to do this? I believe it is pretty simple:

Contribute as much as you can legally or as much as you can afford to before school. Then plan on waiting before you withdraw any IRA $$$ until you are doing so in a year where you will be earning very little or nothing (2nd or 3rd year). As long as the money is spent on "IRS approved school costs" - you're done! You can go to the IRS website and read through the Publications for yourself and I encourage you to do so.

You "save" the Govt.'s cut by using pre-tax dollars - saving you taxes right now and then when you withdraw and use those dollars you probably won't pay ANY taxes on the proceeds because you do so during a year when you're earning practically nothing. Yippee! Not too shabby, eh?

Now before someone yells out, "But you shouldn't ever touch your PRECIOUS IRA DOLLARS!!!" I'd like to say one thing again here:

NOTHING MATTERS REALLY - EXCEPT GETTING THROUGH SCHOOL SUCCESSFULLY!!!!!!!! Come on people - do you really think that forfeiting the few thousand dollars you MIGHT have made by leaving that money in your IRA during school is going to matter when you can make up for it after you're practicing as a CRNA? THINK about this friends. All that matters - is getting through your program.

I graduated about 4 months ago and am currently "putting away" 1/2 of my income. Does anyone have any idea how much $$$ that is? I'll let you use your imagination. I will tell you this, we are currently limited to $40k per year in a 401k type of IRA. The only way to go higher is with a DFP (Defined Benefit Plan) which I'm not interested in right now. I mention this because once you are out of school and practicing as a CRNA, you can contribute huge amounts very quickly to your future retirement plans. Anyway, you should have the point by now on how to maximize some tax savings and provide useful money for your 2nd or 3rd year(s) in CRNA school.

I was offered a "Stipend/Contract" from a local Anesthesia group in exchange for 3 years of slavery at much-lower-than-current-market-rates.... I turned them down like a cheap... well... you get the idea. ;-) Some of my fellow students took the same deal I was offered and sailed through school with little to no financial worries only to turn around and leave the group anyways! They simply had to buy their way out of the contract and move on to greener pa$tures. Still, I think the group gouged my fellow graduates with like a $20k or more penalty for that "change of heart".

Lastly - I would just like to say - if you have to - BORROW LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW!!! :) I really mean it when I say, "All that matters is getting through the program!" Once you have successfully completed CRNA school, the world begins to look a lot brighter and all kinds of po$$ibilitie$ begin to show up. Just focus on the priority - SCHOOL!

Try not to worry so much about borrowing an extra $10k - or $30k - or $50k! Just get through school. You'll have a minimum of 10 years to pay it back at the lowest interest rates seen in probably over 40 years. With inflation factored in (whereby your dollar is worth less each year = 5 years from now paying that $50k back is getting cheaper every year while your income continues to increase!) there is really no reason to be worrying over school debt.

Sleeepy

u-r-sleeepy · Mar 5, 2004

One more thought - I would like to voice this opinion based on my own experience while in school. If your school is anything at all like mine was, I would like to DISCOURAGE YOU IN THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE MANNER from

even thinking of working while in school!

There are lots of little phrases that make the point like "Being penny-wise and million-dollar-foolish", "passing on Intel stock 17 years ago for that great little swamp lot in 'sunny Florida'", "missing the timber company for the weed in front of you" - you know - all the old classics...! :) Seriously, unless you have a program that is far less demanding than what I encountered, when it comes to the question of whether or not to work during school even 1 or 2 shifts a month???

JUST DON'T DO IT!

That's my honest opinion and I hope you'll take it to heart. I saw more than one student drop out or fail in school while I was there and I have wondered if trying to "work just a little" here or there may have been the straw that broke that Donkey's back?

I know it's tempting, but I'd say you're better off to stick to the plan and... JUST DON'T DO IT! :)

Sleeepy

TexasNS · Mar 5, 2004

I sold my oldest child.

Seriously wife works and Stafford Loans. I work about 30 hours a week and stay in the B range but I am about to start pedi and OB and may cut back on my hours.

TLC RN · Mar 5, 2004

For those of you familiar with stafford loans I have a couple of questions. I currently live at home, but will have to (and want to) finally move out of home to an apartment this summer while leasing a car. The school I'm going to gives you 1000/month as long as you repay with work, you know the deal, but I will still need money to live off of after rent and lease . Anyway, I'm filling out my FAFSA now and I'm wondering how much my being labeled a dependent now will affect how much money I will get in the future. Will I be able to get the maximum 18500 per year like everyone else? That would be great because it should cover everything. I am planning on going to the fin aid office at the university to ask questions too.

I don't think you will be labeled a dependant student. You are over 24 years old and are attending graduate school. I think this makes you an independent student...

Also... Congrats on getting into Oakland!

My friend goes there and loves it!

TraumaNurse · Mar 5, 2004

Jewelcutt,

To my knowledge you should qualify for the full $18,500 for graduate students. Obviously, you should check witht he student aid office. Also, BankOne offers a student loan ( up to $30,000/year)if you have someone to co-sign that you can get above and beyond your fed money. My wife co-signed for me and we had our money within 2 weeks. Check it out at:

http://www.educationone.com

manna, BSN, RN · Mar 5, 2004

Jewel - you shouldn't be labeled a dependent per the FAFSA since you'll be in grad school (that's one of the criteria for distinguishing dependent-from-independent, along with marriage, age, etc)

Oldsalt · Mar 5, 2004

I actually did my thesis on this very topic -

The average cost of school (28 month program, all costs considered....i.e. living, tuition, books, everything in mid 1990's) was about 103K.

If one takes in account of COL (4%) and increases of tuition cost equal to COL for that amount of time - one is looking at a cost most likely 150K average in some areas - (over the same time duration)

A very sobering sum indeed. Many students at the time fell into several categories:

1. Full time student who had saved significantly with minimal living expenses and supplemented w/ loans and grant

2. Full ride students (via the military or institutional programs) who relied on spouses or worked part time (Military could not work part time however).

3. Students who borrowed educational loans or took out equity loans in addition to working PT and occasional FT.

4. FT students who had full spousal support and took no loans (rare)

There were many varying combinations...but these stood out.....Overall there were over 1200 respondents (about 11% of the student population at the time) - so the figures were statistically significant.

Take away point:

One must be prepared, not only mentally, but financially - for the great majority incurred a significant and long lasting debt -

Regards.....

calgal · Mar 6, 2004

Can you apply for a BankOne type loan after school has already started? Even with planning, there may be unexpected expenses....long after the loan applications have been completed.

TraumaNurse · Mar 6, 2004

Calgal,

As far as I know, you can apply for the BankOne loan anytime as long as you have a cosigner. I received the max amount for the first year up front and I hope that is all I will need from them (still getting fed $$), but if I do need more, I can reapply next year.

duckboy20 · Mar 6, 2004

Calgal,
As far as I know, you can apply for the BankOne loan anytime as long as you have a cosigner. I received the max amount for the first year up front and I hope that is all I will need from them (still getting fed $$), but if I do need more, I can reapply next year.

Yes you can apply for the BankOne Loan anytime. This is my second semester to get one

jewelcutt · Mar 8, 2004

Thanks for all the info guys, I've done some online searches for awhile but nothing beats info from people with experience. It's very exciting but also somewhat scary (worrying about getting the money you need and on time). I had a hard enough time stopping contributing to my roth and 403b to save money, HA!