I am a pre-nursing student trying to gather as much information and opinions as I can. I have already taken my HESI, submitted transcripts and GPA to a school that is a 3 year, pre-reqs included Accelerated BSN that costs $87K.
About me: 27 YOF, single, self-reliant. I have been a medical esthetician for 10 years in Southern CA and burnt out on my career and lack of advancement opportunities. My current company may also be acquired in the next few years and I am concerned about job opportunities in the future as I was laid off in Aug. 2013 and it took me 8+ months to find full time work in my industry that would pay me what I could survive on in Southern CA. My school is located in NV - so I would be relocating alone, for cheaper cost of living.
So my question is... is it worth it to take out $87K+ in loans for a quick way to obtain my BSN and start working sooner rather than later? I am concerned about this financially however my future is uncertain in my industry if I were to decide to take 2-3 years for my pre-reqs at a community college, get on a wait list for other programs and then take 2 years to complete those nursing programs.
Personally, I would not go into that much debt for school. Depending on your program, you might be able to complete your pre-requisites in a year, if you do a full load including summer, and perhaps some flex courses.
I'd rather work smarter than be in debt for the foreseeable future.
My other question is, don't you think that is better to be in debt over a student loan instead of a car or house, since my education would be benefiting me for years to come, and it is not something anyone can take away from me once I achieve it.
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As someone who is a property owner and has a mortgage, I would rather have a mortgage; property is power and in terms you can sell with the investment and equity, pay off the mortgage debt and be debt free, or acquire more properties and have the flexibility to get out of debt faster; not so much with a student loan.
This is an absolute terrible idea. I make over $50000 a year as a new grad in AZ. I have two kids and am married so I claim them for taxes. After taxes and benefits are deducted from my checks, having to pay $1000 in student loan payments would be rough. It would make your pay comparable to what you make now.
You are also not taking into account if you fail and still have to pay the debt back. It is incredibly common to have pretty high fail rates in nursing school as compared to other majors. Add to this that you will be applying for jobs when there is no shortage. My income is on the high side for a new grad in my state and I would never in my wildest dreams think it is ok to go into so much debt over my education.
Be patient. Go the slower route. You don't have job security in your field? Well you don't have a job guarantee as a new grad either. Check out the first year forum and see just how many people aren't securing jobs within a few months of passing NCLEX.
Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
The thing is, it's never just the tuition, it will end up being more than $87k. For example, I am in a bridge program that costs $7k/year for full time (community college) on average with additional fees, books, uniforms, etc it's more like $10k/year. My nursing books for my three semester program was $800 alone, not to mention the iPad we were required to buy. There will be more hidden costs.
I would move somewhere cheap with a program that requires you to do pre-reqs and is cheaper. It's just you so if you do run into employment issues during this you can be an STNA, a waitress, etc. It will be cheap living but better than spending a life time drowning in debt!
It is accelerated because it includes the pre-reqs in the program. So each student begins with what pre-reqs they need (they do transfer in any classes you have taken so you do not need to repeat) which are completed in 4 week terms. After that you go into the nursing curriculum with clinicals. It may be a little less than 3 years, depending on what you start with I guess.
Has anyone out there done the $87K+ route out there? What was/is your experience like? Thanks again for all your input.
I had to chuckle with the above... You probably know the above basically comes across as... "for the multitude of previous posters, thank you so much for telling me to avoid at all costs going into $87K+ debt over nursing school..... but I"m still clinging to the idea it can be done... is there anyone who has done it?" :-)
And yes of course I am "clinging" to the idea to some degree... I am considering all options. What kind of research would I be doing if I only heard from one side? : )
What school is this for? For the price tag and pre-requisites being included I'm wondering if it's Chamberlain of which I've heard mixed feelings about and in my opinion is not worth that kind of money. What's their NCLEX pass rate? That's what I'd be more concerned about.
Yes Beachy (Sorry if I am not replying correctly to you- I am new to posting on this site!) it is Chamberlain. This is their link to student/consumer info:
Here is the what I have seen in regards to their NCLEX pass rate:
NCLEX Pass Rate
The National Council Licensing Examination (NCLEX) is a national standardized examination for nursing licensure taken by graduates of pre-licensure nursing programs. Chamberlain College of Nursing's 2014 national average NCLEX pass rate was 83.27%.
I have seen other sites that say 90% but only 33% pass rate due to varied levels of nursing degrees they offer I guess? I decided to go by what was on their site.
But here is another post on that Student/Consumer link:
How long will it take me to complete this program?
The program is designed to take 36 months to complete. Of those that completed the program in 2014-2015, 90% finished in 36 months.
I have also taken to other social media sites and contacted random students at other Chamberlain locations and gotten their feedback, and I have heard nothing but rave reviews about the staff, SIM labs, and everything really. So this is just another aspect of my research, taking to allnurses to get feedback on the financial portion since I have no experience w/ student loans, or debt of any kind actually.
Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
If it's three years, realistically you could do an ADN program in 2-3 years, then one more online for BSN for half the price. I pretty much had to all the pre-reqs for a general nursing program for my bridge program and if I had went full time, it only would have taken me three semesters. You could even add bachelor pre-reqs into your associates program as I have done and have even less time for your BSN. I know one person who has student debt that high - my husband's good friend who is a veterinarian and started off making $80kish (great income for our area's cost of living) and even he had to live with his parents for a little while until he got some of his debt paid down.
Your single, no kids, not married, I doubt you would qualify for any of the reduced payment plans through the government (perhaps a small one but it's based on income and dependents).
Just REALLY think about this before you do it. I know it sounds great and it's so hard to deviate from a plan once you have your heart set on it but you WILL struggle afterwards with paying that amount. Especially when/if you do want to meet someone and a start a family, that debt is forever, never to go away, even if you were to file bankruptcy.
I will be a total of $30k in debt once I graduate from LPN and RN school loans combined and I am freaking out about that. We plan on using every single tax return and dumping into my loans because it already feels like financial shackles and I haven't even started paying on my RN loan yet!
The only way I could see it working out well for you is if you devote your self to work as much OT as possible after your graduate in order to pay it off ASAP.
Have you looked into the community college associates then BSN route?
If you are willing to relocate to NV for cheaper living, consider something in a southern state or western part of the Midwest. Like Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, etc.. Those states may not have as much competition to get into a nursing program as one in a high density populated area. Plus the cost of living is way lower.
I went to my local university program, which is either 2 years or 18 months depending on if you did the traditional route with summer off or plowed through. I payed around 2300-2600 a semester. Clinical fees (50-100 a semester), and books/uniforms increased the price, but nowhere near $87,000. My total for ASN was less than $10,000 and I paid another $7,000 for the optional online bridge program for ASN/RN to BSN.
ItsThatJenGirl, CNA
1,978 Posts
Personally, I would not go into that much debt for school. Depending on your program, you might be able to complete your pre-requisites in a year, if you do a full load including summer, and perhaps some flex courses.
I'd rather work smarter than be in debt for the foreseeable future.