How are you supposed to survive while going to CRNA school?

[meganlee614]

Hello everyone.

I am about to graduate with a BSN in the spring. For a long time, I have known that I want to be a CRNA and I am definitely committed to becoming one. However, I have a couple questions... How to people survive financially during CRNA school? I have heard multiple places that you cannot work while going to school because of the work load, so that would mean that I would need to take out loans. I already have a lot of debt from my undergrad degree so I feel anxious about adding more to this debt because of CRNA school. I understand that I will have a few years to pay off my undergrad loans because I need to get that critical care experience before I can even apply to school, but I still don't think it's feasible to pay off all of my debt going into grad school in that few years time period. Is that normal? Have people that have gone to CRNA school gotten out more loans, in addition to the ones they already have? If so, how did that work out once you were done with CRNA school?

Any info about finances and CRNA school is appreciated!

[maverick87]

I'll be starting in the summer for school so I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm just going to pay the minimum or slightly above the min for my undergrad loans (Stafford, etc) due to their low interest and focus on getting my higher interest loans out of the way (car, credit card, etc). Then I'm just going to focus on saving as much as I possibly can. I have friends who are in school/completed school and this is what they've recommended to me. I know a lot of people who have taken out extra private loans (Sallie Mae or from another source). I'm just prepared to accept the fact that I'll be over 100k in debt probably. Hope that helps.

[Mully]

Honestly, the money is there. If it wasn't, people wouldn't be going to school. Government loans have been more than enough for me so far, and should be for the entirety of my program.

Focus on paying down debt and saving. I had 10K debt and 20K saved when entering the program. I should graduate with less than 80K debt and hopefully a little left in savings.

The finances have been the least stressful part about CRNA school thus far for me. The better question is how do you survive doing something anesthesia related the majority of the day, 7 days a week? If you figure that one out, I'll be impressed lol.

[Da_Milk_of_Amnesia, MSN]

save a boat load of money and loans. I only had to take like 56K of loans which paid for school and I've been living off the 80 K I saved prior to coming out to school.

[Sevo Flurane]

What are the least amount of loans that people have been able to survive on while in a CRNA program?

[gazpaz]

I worked two full times jobs as an RN in the ICU in preparation for starting my NAP. I worked like a dog, took electives for the program and then took a 2 week vacation before the program started. Helped big time to save up so much before hand and it was more good experience.

[dressagerdr]

I'd say the best thing you can do is save as much as you can beforehand. I started school with a moderate amount of savings, enough to cover my deductible should I get injured or to fix major repairs on my car if need be. I'm paying for school and living expenses through PLUS loans as well as unsubsidized federal loans. However, be aware that PLUS loans require you to have good credit in order to receive them. Your school determines what your costs of living will be and determines the amount you'll receive. With my tuition and costs of living taken into account, I'm left with about $2000 per semester more than my basic costs of living. I found this very confusing going into school, and my advice is to talk to your school's financial aid office when you get in - they were extremely helpful and clarified things better than the internet did.

You can also get private loans as well, but from my understanding they generally have higher interest. However, I haven't had personal experience with them.