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.
I guess I feel as if I am in a jam, and I am sure others out there may feel the same as me. I have no family that I can live with for free while in school (this was suggested to me in another post) I have to work full time to barely live check to check currently, my job is unstable so I do not want to get stuck doing PT pre reqs at a community college only to lose my job, look for another one and it may not align with my class schedule and I may not be able to afford my rent for a bedroom (San Diego,CA) is $1000 alone. So I am not sure if this maybe helps people understand why I am even considering doing the $87K school option. It is 36 months only, cheaper than living in CA if I have to take more loans out to live, I can do my profession in Las Vegas and I feel like the sooner I can get a degree, the sooner I can start to pay it back instead of waiting up to possibly 7 years for an associates even....
There's nothing wrong with wanting a better life. I am pursuing nursing for the same reason (among others). Everyone has different things to think about. My nursing education is a joint venture between me, my family, and my boyfriend. I'm 28, work roughly 20 hours a week for $12.50/hr in NC that covers basically my car payment, insurance, etc. but I depend wholly on my parents to feed me and pay the rent on my apartment in addition to my health insurance. My boyfriend gives me money for everything else. I probably won't be able to work my last two semesters because of the work load so I will be relying on them heavily for the last year. My case is not like everyone else's.
Obviously this is a decision on you can make, but I URGE you to at least consider the future implications a debt like that can have. It could prevent you from buying a house, etc. for a very long time. I can only provide you info about the decision as I see it from the outside.
The problem with the "for profit" programs is just that: their goal is to make profit for their corporation, at your expense. So the price is sky-high, promising you things like easier admission etc. but that money is meant to create profit for them.
I know its tempting to want to get started right away and be guaranteed admission, but they also do things like fail students and the student must fork out more $$ to retake a class, because they are already so invested, they pretty much have to.
I went to Natl Univ in so cal, an Accelerated BSN program that cost around 40k. Its 15 months, but u already had to have a previous bachelors.
So if u dont already have the bachelors, u cant do accelerated unless u want to pay 100k.
I think the stress of the competition and grades for getting in compels people to do the expensive route. But i have heard horror stories about some of the private loan companies.
Google fannie may, not sure of the spelling. But u could be paying off this loan for 20+ years, with their interest...
Like the op, i would like to hear about the experiences of people who went through these programs...correct me please if i am wrong.
I'm going to be about 14k in debt and I'm crying about that.
I don't recommend the 87k thing at all but if it's what you're set on doing, just make sure you have a good plan and a good idea of what paying them back will look like-- and a backup in case things fall through.
No, its not worth it. As pp have already stated you will end up taking out more than 87k. You really dont want to start your career off being so far in debt. Have you considered doing an lpn program, then going into a lpn bridge rn? It may take longer that way, but at least with your lpn cert, you can work and earn actual money while getting your rn.
If you just wanted people to come here and agree and tell you to do it you should have said so because all you have done is say you are "researching" options yet have made it very clear this is the only option you are considering. You even admit to not really even looking at other options because you are extremely unknowledgeable about traditional programs and how to get in.
One thing you keep going back to is time and how this program includes the pre reqs and all that jazz. So let's break it down.
To take pre reqs at a CC and then apply into a nursing program, you mention only being able to take them part time while you work. But you don't even look into the fact that there are MANY students who pull over 12 units a semester and run through summer to finish pre reqs in a year or less. Then they apply into a program that runs two years. There are even accelerated ADN degrees that run over 18 mos.
if you are saying you can't take a full load while working, how do you expect to take a full load of nursing courses while working. Nursing courses are your hardest pre reqs on crack X10 in the amount of time you have to devote to studying and careplans and all that.
So that leads me to believe you expect to take cost of living loans out which will add exponentially to your already minimum 87K debt. This will make your total debt what like $125-$150. Now add interest to that. And assume you will qualify for private loans because that is almost triple the max government loan amount. Percentage rates on private loans are higher than federal loans and the lenders are less forgiving.
If not, then you are vastly ignorant to what it is you think you are getting into.
Now the smarter option would be to suck it up buttercup because your idea in going to this school is quite stupid to be bluntly honest.
You could do as I say above and take full time pre reqs. Do well in them so you are a competitive applicant. There are an incredible amount of programs out there that are not wait list. If you are willing to move out of CA even better. You could have the whole degree completed (ADN OR BSN) in 3 to 4 years for an exponentially lower price tag and not ruin your future before you even start.
Are the you seriously willing to sacrifice half or more of your income to monthly payments? Because that's realistically what you would be signing up for. And your lucky friend who secured an ICU job out the gate is the exception and not the rule. There is a very real chance you will not be so lucky. Especially with a degree from a school like chamberlain. Because yes, the school reputation DOES matter.
(higher income comes with a higher tax bracket, being single with no kids means no additional deductions)
So that's realistically $37,500 a year in disposable income. Roughly $3000 a month disposable income. Not too a happy right? If you want health insurance and other benefits it's now $2500-$2800 a month depending on how expensive the benefits are.
Your monthly payment will will very likely be over $1000 because your will have over $120K in debt plus interest. But for arguments sake, let's say it's $1000 even.
You now bring home roughly $1500 a month in disposable income for an emotionally and physically demanding job that you will already feel underpaid to do. Now realize it will likely be 15-20 years of paying this loan back because of the interest rate from the private loans. Do you want to sacrifice a lot of time and stress to get paid crap money for 15-20 years due to impatience.
So so tell me now, is it really worth it to shave a year off your education and risk getting a job at all?
To beat a dead horse some more....my ADN cost me $3,000 and my BSN will cost me $4,000. And I finished both in 3 years (total). There has got to be a better option. No matter how you try to justify the cost, just don't do it. Nurses don't make enough to justify that. And you haven't even added in living expenses!!
There's no need to take expensive pre-reqs as part of a program. Take the pre-reqs at community college. If you can't get into your local college then there are online regionally accredited community colleges, which also offer labs as part of their course. Take a look at Edukan which is a group of community colleges in Kansas or New Mexico Junior College.
Then you could apply to any normal 2 year BSN starting in the Junior year
WookieeRN, BSN, MSN, RN
1,050 Posts
There's nothing wrong with wanting a better life. I am pursuing nursing for the same reason (among others). Everyone has different things to think about. My nursing education is a joint venture between me, my family, and my boyfriend. I'm 28, work roughly 20 hours a week for $12.50/hr in NC that covers basically my car payment, insurance, etc. but I depend wholly on my parents to feed me and pay the rent on my apartment in addition to my health insurance. My boyfriend gives me money for everything else. I probably won't be able to work my last two semesters because of the work load so I will be relying on them heavily for the last year. My case is not like everyone else's.
Obviously this is a decision on you can make, but I URGE you to at least consider the future implications a debt like that can have. It could prevent you from buying a house, etc. for a very long time. I can only provide you info about the decision as I see it from the outside.