I have 60 grand of student loan when I finished BSN

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I had my ADN in 2014, then I went back to school two months later for BSN, now I just graduated from BSN, and the student loan I owe is little over 60 grand..Oh load. I had to pay over 600 a month for 10 payment. That seems a lot to me. Any suggestions? any programs that can reduce or forgive my loan? Thank you very much!

She graduated with a BSN, sent off for CES per Texas BON they determined it same a US BSN.

She had her BSN done at age 19, got her RN in Texas at age 20. I saved a lot of apples.........

And pretty smug about it, eh?

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Specializes in Surgery.
It depends on the type of debt. Personally, they paid my student loans off for me (from a previous degree).

How long ago? The military is tightening up on enlistments lately, and I have seen in several military forums - Air Force, Navy, Army, which are the only ones to have Nurse Corps - that they are not paying off nursing student loan debts now because of it. And, as you also mentioned, high amounts of debt (of any kind, not just Student Loans) are a bar to enlistment. High levels of personal debt make for unfocused, less than optimally performing Soldiers, Airmen, and Sailors, prone more to risky financial behavior in the future. It's a trend they have seen for decades, and have had to devote significant resources to, in order to help them get out of it. I don't mean by making loans or paying off debt, but by getting counseling and guidance resources established to help show folks with less than stellar money management skills the way out and to STAY out of serious problems. I've seen some get the axe for writing bad checks repeatedly. It WILL get you in deep trouble very quickly, and their best way to avoid dealing with the situation in the beginning is not to enlist them at all.

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Specializes in Surgery.

From the Loan Repayment Program | Indian Health Service (IHS) website -

"The IHS Loan Repayment Program (LRP) can help dedicated health professionals like you chart a course for a long-lasting and successful health care career. The LRP funds IHS clinicians to repay their eligible health profession education loans — up to $40,000 — in exchange for an initial two-year service commitment to practice in health facilities serving American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Opportunities are based on Indian health program facilities with the greatest staffing needs in specific health profession disciplines. As an LRP participant, you are eligible to extend your contract annually until your qualified student debt is paid. Many health professionals enter this program because of the financial benefits but find the cultural and professional rewards to be so great that they spend their entire careers working in Indian health."

So, read carefully, for an INITIAL commitment of 2 years, you get $40,000 paid off, AND if you extend for a year at a time, you get an additional $20,000 per year paid off. SO - you could POTENTIALLY see the whole kit and caboodle paid off after three years of service.

Can you do this for only three years, IF you qualify, of course, and see it all gone and the rest of your life Student Loan Debt free?? OR would you rather struggle through the next 10 or 20 or who knows how many years dealing with the "Interest Monster"??

It's sure something to think about, especially if you are single and unencumbered. Think about where you were three years AGO, and imagine yourself just now DONE with three years of service and loan repayment. That wasn't so long ago, now was it? Some people say, "I can do anything for a week, a month, a year, two years" - well, what about three?

You're asking an awful lot of whatever agency, service, or employer is involved, to pay off FOR YOU, or forgive FOR YOU, a very large voluntary debt, which you undertook apparently without really understanding all of its long term ramifications. And this in addition to paying your salary and benefits, relieving you of a student loan of that size - (read it "FREE education!) I don't think it's too much to ask that you be required to bring something significant to the table as well. Do you?

I am certainly NOT saying this is something that you MUST do. Not by a long shot, because I'm not your keeper, your parents, or your master, but I am trying to bring some reality to the situation, as others have done. If you expect someone, anyone, to do such a large "favor" for you, then you should consider it only fair that you contribute something to their benefit as well. It's not going to be easy, no matter which route you take, but I can't possibly see an easier way out of your current predicament than this!

The service is also done in Alaska Native communities, as they mention above, not just in Indian Health Service, if for whatever reason you happen to have a preference of one over the other.

My very best wishes to you as you find all your options for finding your way out of the Student Debt Maze, in which too many people find themselves interminably entangled. It's not fun to get yourself out, but you can sure have MORE fun after you do!

Yes, I did it. Twice! But, manageably, and quite a few years apart! My first student loan balance, which was combined with a part time job during prerequisite classes of two semesters; a VERY partial Pell Grant which paid for exactly one semester; a work-study grant which paid me to WORK 20 hours per week at an on-campus job for a semester - I became my A&P Professor's Lab Assistant part time after I passed both his classes with an A; and some grants from "Bank of Mom" who considered she was getting off cheap, after having provided 0 assistance in the past for any of her four children to go to any college after high school, and I was 34 at this point. Oh, the loan balance to be paid off after graduation? $600. Paid off in six months. In 1993. The second time around was more, but it also has been permanently retired. It can be done, but sometimes you just have to get creative about it.

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Specializes in Surgery.
The problem with this plan is that you have to move, get the job, and then HOPE you get the money.

Not only that, it does NOT pay off your total loan debt, for your commitment to the program. As quoted:

" Learn More

Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program

This program application cycle closed on February 25, 2016, and it's scheduled to open again in early 2017. Sign up to be notified when it does.

NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program enables dedicated registered nurses committed to caring for underserved people to serve in hospitals and clinics in some of America's neediest communities, improving the lives of their patients and transforming their own.

Before You Apply

Applications are accepted once each year. Before you apply, please read the annually updated Application and Program Guidance (PDF - 374 KB). The application includes a contract that obligates you to serve two-years at the Critical Shortage Facility listed in your application if you are selected to participate in the program. If you are selected and you do not fulfill that obligation, you will face serious financial consequences.

About the Program

NURSE Corps members help to create healthy communities in poor urban and rural areas as they build their own fulfilling and productive careers.

NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program sets registered nurses (including advanced practice registered nurses and nursing faculty) on a rewarding career path while paying off 60 percent of their unpaid nursing student loans in just 2 years – plus an additional 25 percent of the original balance for an optional third year.

In return, NURSE Corps members fulfilling a service obligation at one of the thousands of eligible nonprofit hospitals, clinics, nursing schools and other facilities located in designated mental health or primary medical care Health Professional Shortage Areas across the U.S.

NURSE Corps members enjoy the same competitive pay and benefits negotiated with their employer as do non-members."

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

I was directing that at pinay, who is NOT a nurse...

I got a great deal, $3000 for the entire BSN
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I am appalled at the responses here, I have $100k in debt for my BSN and I'm adding an additional $30k for my MSN. Why so much? Because when you live with your family in an urban area where the schools are all so impacted by foreigners and you get put on wait lists of 4 years, and then you start core and have to repeat your core sciences because they expire in 5 years, and those classes are all impacted so you have to wait and re-apply. The situation isn't ideal, which is why all of these private schools have opened up that offer no waiting and accelerated programs. Why am I upset? Because the OP was asking for help, not be told they are a fool for incurring debt. We don't know the reason why they chose the schools they did. I thought as nurses we are to assess first, isn't there something in the code about beneficence? I'm sure not seeing it here in a lot of these posts. When I graduate, I can easily make $80-100k a year, isn't it better to take on that debt than to sit around waiting for a program to open up? Regardless, a lot of people incur huge debt for school. It's all over the news, it's even a part of political platforms. Criticizing someone for a decision made in the past is not helping them, it's going to prevent them from seeking help in the future.

Thank you for your candor. I am getting my ASN and I am choosing a private institution and it will cost me approx 20k. A public school is about 12k. I am also most likely going to do my BSN through the same university and it will be another 30k as well. I prefer a smaller private university, because there is nothing more important to me than my education. It seems like people on this site are extremely judgmental if you didn't choose the route they went down. Someone will prob comment to this and ask me what issues I have with public education. The OP prob read some of these comments and decided not to reply.

:)

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Specializes in Hospice,LTC,Pacu,Regulatory,Operating room.

There are some different programs. They are available by your loan servicer. You can do a pay as you go loan which is based on your annual income and once you've made so many payments they will forgive part of your loan. I had 94000 in student loans . Paid for four years and they forgave the rest. I paid 200 for one year then it went up to 400 and then back down to 200 just depended on my income each year.

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Specializes in Hospice,LTC,Pacu,Regulatory,Operating room.

Also if you can't afford you can do a forebearance and make payments you can afford until you get a job.

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Thanks everybody

But, what is IHS?

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For the 10-year payment I would have to pay back 72000 in total. If I chose 25 years plan, I would pay about 120,000, that would be insane, that is a house I could buy plus the student loan, right? hahah

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Oh, thank you! Now I know what is IHS. I will check that out. Thank you so much.

I work for Indian Health Service and lived on a reservation for 8 years. They provide housing, which you pay a nominal fee for but then can deduct it on your taxes. They offer loan forgiveness. Many healthcare professionals do this and it's a great experience. Also, please check out Commission Corps, which is the uniformed branch of the U.S. Public Health Service. Good luck to you.
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For me the shock wasn't that it cost her $60,000 for a BSN, it's that she already had an ADN so spent $60,000 for what usually amounts to about a year or so of completer courses. Starting from scratch and getting a four year degree for $60,0000 is still too high for what tuition costs in the US but at least it's a complete 4 year education. This was an amazingly high overpayment for what she got.

I think I wasn't very clear. My student loan for ADN and BSN are 62,000. I did not get any grant because I had a bachelor's degree in another field 10 years ago.

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