I have found a program that’s willing to accept some credits from a previous school (most places won’t accept them-but that’s another story). You are required to finish their prerequisites then apply for nursing portion of the progeam...so it’s not guaranteed. I’d be spending $85k on tuition. I’m 34 years old without a career after years of being a stay at home mom. Now I’m a single mom. Other option...was thinking to spend about 10-15k on getting my bachelors degree then applying for accelerated bsn through cheaper schools or applying for physician assistant schools (not nearly as many and harder to get accepted....).
Any advice would be wonderful and greatly appreciated.
I finished school with an ASN and no debt. Iwill be using my employers continued education incentive to help pay for my BSN. I recommend doing that as well. Spend the 2 years to get the ASN. Start working and let your employer help pay for the rest of your education
So my advice is going to be a little different because I was in a similar place a few months ago. There are several factors to consider besides the cost itself. I live in a state where $85,000 is close to starting pay for a nurse, but we have a high cost of living. So ask yourself can you as a single parent, afford to take half of your pay check to pay down your loans to get rid of them quickly? In my case with no kids and supportive parents, that was a yes for me. Also what is the competition like to get into an ADN or BSN program? By me the competition is so fierce, getting in could take 3 years, not including the 2 years of attending school. So then you have to factor in how many years you are not earning a higher paying salary. In my area, the hospitals are shooting for 80% of the staff having BSN's by 2020 and I was essentially told no bachelors, don't expect to get into an ER. So that was another thing I had to factor in. With all those considered and the school I started attending having no wait list but a high tuition, I did choose the BSN route at the higher tuition school. I am a paramedic with a great deal of knowledge and a degree in another field, so I am confident I have what it takes. Won't be easy, but nothing worth it ever is. You can't always factor in tuition alone.
But that's not the total cost of the loan causing it. There's tons of different repayment options. To be able to default on a direct loan, you have to not make a payment for 270 days. Now yeah, sometimes you'll have to miss a payment because of life, but a lot of times, if you call your lender, a lot of times they'll let you split up the missed payment by adding it onto multiple future payments. Lenders a lot of times will extend your due date if you're going to be getting a paycheck late. So many student loan problems can be solved with a simple phone call. These loans aren't impossible, people buy houses on loans (mortgage) for significantly more money all the time.
The only way to default on a student loan is to not try to repay it. These lenders are run by humans who understand that life happens. They'll work with you. But you have to take the initiative to call them. And it's going to be way easier to get help when you call them the day that unexpected car breakdown happens rather than waiting until after the due date has already passed. If you're proactive, they'll usually work out a repayment plan that's convenient for YOU. It's as simple as a phone call.
To put some perspective, when I graduate, I'm going to be almost capped on my loans at $54,000 (I know what I'm doing, there's a reason I'm borrowing the way that I am). A monthly payment on an extended loan will only $319/month. Yeah, its for 25 years, but it's only $319/month. That's $80/week. That means that to live exactly the same way I do now, I have to increase my pay by $2/hr. If I go with a standard 10 year plan, that's $579/month, which averages to about $3.62 pay increase to maintain my current standard of living and pay the loan off. If I go with 36 hour work weeks: I need to increase my pay by $4.02. The average pay for unskilled workers in the country is 14.50/hr (which close to half make below). The average pay for an entry level RN is $25.27/hr. So the new job more than doubles what's needed to pay back that loan. But that's a new graduate. The current average salary is about $35/hr. At the low end, most people will probably be around 30. That's still almost 4x the increase that you need in your pay to cover that loan. At the federal loan maximum, I can buy 2 corvettes and pay off my loans while staying where I live now and being more comfortable with bills and food than I am now.
The ones who didn't get better jobs, there's other options for them, including graduated plans, extended plans, and even income-based plans that can actually reduce their monthly payments to 0... Oh, and those loans are capped at 25 years, anything left is forgiven. That also includes any time on a forbearance and while your payment is 0, they count towards the 25 years. What's that mean at 14.50/hr? Well, your payment amount is 10% of your discretional income, which is your salary minus 150% of the poverty level. Poverty is 12,490. The unskilled salary is 30,160. 150% of poverty is 18,735. Subtract that from the 30,160 and you're left with 11,425. If fail out of school my last semester, if I switch to that payment plan, IF I'm making the average pay for unskilled work, my monthly payments are only $114.25, for 25 years.
Now I know that tax has to be factored in, but seriously, that's how easy it is to actually pay these loans back. Most people default by bad choices AFTER they got loan, not because of how much they borrowed. Student loans aren't that big, again, people are buying $300,000 houses, and managing to do it.
There are many people and nurses with a lot of student debt. I've worked with several that have between $50,000 to over $100,000 in debt. Usually, it's because they either went to a private school and/or had a previous liberal arts degree that they couldn't get a decent paying job so went back for nursing. There are many expensive options out there from private schools, for-profit private schools, accelerated BSN's and direct entry MSN RN and RN to NP. It is really easy to go into a lot of debt for school. On top of the cost of tuition, many people take out more student loans for housing and cost of living expenses.
But that doesn't mean a person should take out a lot of student loans. I don't think anyone, especially a teenager should be taking out loans without having taken a personal finance class first. I think a personal finance class should be required in high school.
I also believe in restoring bankruptcy protections to student loans as virtually every other debt (aside from child support, unpaid taxes and maybe civil penalties) can be eliminated in bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is actually one of the rights in our US constitution.
It's true govt loans have some protections and the lender may work with you, but until recently they usually offer deferment or forbearance which usually causes the interest to capitalize and the loan to spiral out of control. The 10-year public service loan forgiveness option that was started by President Obama back in 2007 appears to be a scam because over 90% of people whose debt should have been forgiven were denied this.
Income-based repayment over the standard 20 to 25 years is another option (depending on when you took out your loan); but this should not be considered an ideal plan. Who wants to be paying for student loans for decades!
When your income is low you may be paying little to nothing on them, which results in negative amortization where the interest capitalizes and the debt spirals out of control. In the future when your income grows, and as a nurse, we are in the top 30% income; you will probably end up spending more to pay the loan off due to this negative amortization. For those who stay on income based the entire 20 to 25 years will wind up with a big, fat tax bill even higher due to this negative amortization. The forgiven debt is treated as ordinary income and will throw you into a high tax bracket.
The obvious plan should be to minimize student loans as much as possible in the first place by seeking out cheaper schools, scholarships, and grants. Not purposely going into a very expensive program that will take decades to pay off.
Again those loan payments will become a burden and will limit your ability to save for retirement, buy a house and just enjoy life. A single mom already faces financial hurdles and should especially avoid excess student loan debt. But we all should do what we can to avoid excess debt.
I speak as someone who went to a private school and owed $22,000 and my starting pay was only $13/hour back then so full time was less than $30,000 a year. It took me almost 25 years to pay off due to high-interest rates (12-14%) and the occasional deferment/forbearance when life happened such as a couple surgeries, plus I consolidated to buy a house. The student loans were a burden and many years I regretted going to school and felt I would have been better off just working as a secretary. I didn't start saving for retirement until my 30's and I was almost 40 before I bought my house.
I made a lot of financial mistakes due to my naivety and ignorance over personal finance. Thankfully I met a wonderful housing counselor who starting guiding me and teaching me about money when I bought my house. Also, I then starting reading and researching personal finance in earnest.
That knowledge really makes a difference, the more you know, the more you can save and avoid overpaying on loans and living expenses. Some of my friends who did not receive financial counseling or take the time to learn have overspent in tens of thousands of dollars on mortgages, car loans, credit cards, insurance, and even a timeshare. They are poorer than they needed to be, lost thousands due to poor advice of a home broker and mail solicitation of subprime mortgages. If they had gone to a credit union they would have saved tens of thousands. One almost lost her house due to the subprime adjustable rate mortgage she had and then was unable to refi due to her poor credit and high student loans. These personal experiences are why I'm such an advocate of personal finance education for all high school students and for the rest of us also!
Wow! I completed mine online (which is the most expensive way to go usually) and only spent $35,000. That included my books, fees and everything. I would not spend that much at all. You will not get your return on investment.
Where and which degree did you do, if I may ask you. Thank you. ?
Do you have $85,000 to spend on tuition? If not, and you plan to use loans to finance your education, then no it is probably not worth it. You'll be making almost $1000 monthly payments for the next 10 years or so and newly graduated nurses don't make a whole lot of money. $50-60 grand may sound like a lot, but once bills are paid and children are taken care of, it will be difficult to make that kind of monthly commitment, especially as a single parent. Go local or relocate to an area that has a more reasonably priced school. Stay away from for-profit schools. They are junk and overpriced - they prey on the vulnerable. Work hard and do well. Eventually, you'll find a good and reasonably priced program.
But that's not the total cost of the loan causing it. There's tons of different repayment options. To be able to default on a direct loan, you have to not make a payment for 270 days. Now yeah, sometimes you'll have to miss a payment because of life, but a lot of times, if you call your lender, a lot of times they'll let you split up the missed payment by adding it onto multiple future payments. Lenders a lot of times will extend your due date if you're going to be getting a paycheck late. So many student loan problems can be solved with a simple phone call. These loans aren't impossible, people buy houses on loans (mortgage) for significantly more money all the time.
The only way to default on a student loan is to not try to repay it. These lenders are run by humans who understand that life happens. They'll work with you. But you have to take the initiative to call them. And it's going to be way easier to get help when you call them the day that unexpected car breakdown happens rather than waiting until after the due date has already passed. If you're proactive, they'll usually work out a repayment plan that's convenient for YOU. It's as simple as a phone call.
To put some perspective, when I graduate, I'm going to be almost capped on my loans at $54,000 (I know what I'm doing, there's a reason I'm borrowing the way that I am). A monthly payment on an extended loan will only $319/month. Yeah, its for 25 years, but it's only $319/month. That's $80/week. That means that to live exactly the same way I do now, I have to increase my pay by $2/hr. If I go with a standard 10 year plan, that's $579/month, which averages to about $3.62 pay increase to maintain my current standard of living and pay the loan off. If I go with 36 hour work weeks: I need to increase my pay by $4.02. The average pay for unskilled workers in the country is 14.50/hr (which close to half make below). The average pay for an entry level RN is $25.27/hr. So the new job more than doubles what's needed to pay back that loan. But that's a new graduate. The current average salary is about $35/hr. At the low end, most people will probably be around 30. That's still almost 4x the increase that you need in your pay to cover that loan. At the federal loan maximum, I can buy 2 corvettes and pay off my loans while staying where I live now and being more comfortable with bills and food than I am now.
The ones who didn't get better jobs, there's other options for them, including graduated plans, extended plans, and even income-based plans that can actually reduce their monthly payments to 0... Oh, and those loans are capped at 25 years, anything left is forgiven. That also includes any time on a forbearance and while your payment is 0, they count towards the 25 years. What's that mean at 14.50/hr? Well, your payment amount is 10% of your discretional income, which is your salary minus 150% of the poverty level. Poverty is 12,490. The unskilled salary is 30,160. 150% of poverty is 18,735. Subtract that from the 30,160 and you're left with 11,425. If fail out of school my last semester, if I switch to that payment plan, IF I'm making the average pay for unskilled work, my monthly payments are only $114.25, for 25 years.
Now I know that tax has to be factored in, but seriously, that's how easy it is to actually pay these loans back. Most people default by bad choices AFTER they got loan, not because of how much they borrowed. Student loans aren't that big, again, people are buying $300,000 houses, and managing to do it.
Usually, when someone defaults it's because the loan servicer refuses to work with the person in the first place. The loan servicers have been notorious for placing people into deferment or forbearance which runs up the loan and makes a profit for the lender, rather than offer the student loan forgiveness option. Once they are done using up all your deferments and forbearances your loan will be much larger.
As to loan forgiveness, I wouldn't count on it. It's public knowledge that over 99% of people eligible for public student loan forgiveness have been denied. Congress then set money aside for these 99% to try to get their loan forgiven thru the workaround and I'm sure it's safe to say the pool of money is nowhere near enough to pay out all these claims!
As we speak, Trump and the Republicans are making it their mission to eliminate the student loan forgiveness option altogether. Frankly, I wouldn't count on a loan forgiveness option 20 to 25 years away! Especially given the incredibly insane track record of the 10-year public service loan forgiveness option with a 99+% rejection!
The income-based repayment option linked with the 20 to 25 year forgiveness option may lead to negative amortization where the payments are less than the interest and the loan just grows and grows and could double! You may end up paying more in total in the end especially as your salary grows. Also if you marry your spouse's income is applied to your income to determine your repayment, even though the loan is only in your name!
The best option is to go to a low priced school and keep student loans to a minimum and then to aggressively repay them once you graduate.
There are many people and nurses with a lot of student debt. I've worked with several that have between $50,000 to over $100,000 in debt. Usually, it's because they either went to a private school and/or had a previous liberal arts degree that they couldn't get a decent paying job so went back for nursing. There are many expensive options out there from private schools, for-profit private schools, accelerated BSN's and direct entry MSN RN and RN to NP. It is really easy to go into a lot of debt for school. On top of the cost of tuition, many people take out more student loans for housing and cost of living expenses.
But that doesn't mean a person should take out a lot of student loans. I don't think anyone, especially a teenager should be taking out loans without having taken a personal finance class first. I think a personal finance class should be required in high school.
I also believe in restoring bankruptcy protections to student loans as virtually every other debt (aside from child support, unpaid taxes and maybe civil penalties) can be eliminated in bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is actually one of the rights in our US constitution.
It's true govt loans have some protections and the lender may work with you, but until recently they usually offer deferment or forbearance which usually causes the interest to capitalize and the loan to spiral out of control. The 10-year public service loan forgiveness option that was started by President Obama back in 2007 appears to be a scam because over 90% of people whose debt should have been forgiven were denied this.
Income-based repayment over the standard 20 to 25 years is another option (depending on when you took out your loan); but this should not be considered an ideal plan. Who wants to be paying for student loans for decades!
When your income is low you may be paying little to nothing on them, which results in negative amortization where the interest capitalizes and the debt spirals out of control. In the future when your income grows, and as a nurse, we are in the top 30% income; you will probably end up spending more to pay the loan off due to this negative amortization. For those who stay on income based the entire 20 to 25 years will wind up with a big, fat tax bill even higher due to this negative amortization. The forgiven debt is treated as ordinary income and will throw you into a high tax bracket.
The obvious plan should be to minimize student loans as much as possible in the first place by seeking out cheaper schools, scholarships, and grants. Not purposely going into a very expensive program that will take decades to pay off.
Again those loan payments will become a burden and will limit your ability to save for retirement, buy a house and just enjoy life. A single mom already faces financial hurdles and should especially avoid excess student loan debt. But we all should do what we can to avoid excess debt.
I speak as someone who went to a private school and owed $22,000 and my starting pay was only $13/hour back then so full time was less than $30,000 a year. It took me almost 25 years to pay off due to high-interest rates (12-14%) and the occasional deferment/forbearance when life happened such as a couple surgeries, plus I consolidated to buy a house. The student loans were a burden and many years I regretted going to school and felt I would have been better off just working as a secretary. I didn't start saving for retirement until my 30's and I was almost 40 before I bought my house.
I made a lot of financial mistakes due to my naivety and ignorance over personal finance. Thankfully I met a wonderful housing counselor who starting guiding me and teaching me about money when I bought my house. Also, I then starting reading and researching personal finance in earnest.
That knowledge really makes a difference, the more you know, the more you can save and avoid overpaying on loans and living expenses. Some of my friends who did not receive financial counseling or take the time to learn have overspent in tens of thousands of dollars on mortgages, car loans, credit cards, insurance, and even a timeshare. They are poorer than they needed to be, lost thousands due to poor advice of a home broker and mail solicitation of subprime mortgages. If they had gone to a credit union they would have saved tens of thousands. One almost lost her house due to the subprime adjustable rate mortgage she had and then was unable to refi due to her poor credit and high student loans. These personal experiences are why I'm such an advocate of personal finance education for all high school students and for the rest of us also!
You basically nailed it!! I agree with every aspect of your detailed comment. Paying loans for 25 yrs is a nightmare. Good Lord tution in this country is going out of control. Then you add living expense into the pictures you got something that u will never get out of. I'm not sure how someone is ok with repaying loans for 2.5 decades. No way!! I didn't go to school to be a slave for this system I just want to make a decent amount of money and enjoy life.
Agree here. I went to a "no name" local community college and got my ADN. Did a work sponsored RN-BSN (i.e. my BSN costed me a total of $0.00), and am starting my MSN in May. You can do it, make it happen for yourself, just be smart about it. Working to pay student loan debt is a difficult job!!
I'm honestly very annoyed at these answers. What matters most is what CITY you live in. I live in NYC. Most nursing programs are 85k AND above for just a BSN. Don't even get me started on MSN programs. It is insanely competitive and difficult to get into ANY program here. If you live in an expensive area like NYC or SF then 85k is nothing. If you live in a less populated city and 85k is the maximum tuition for a school in your area, then obviously don't do it.
Leadkrm, RN
211 Posts
I finished school with an ASN and no debt. Iwill be using my employers continued education incentive to help pay for my BSN. I recommend doing that as well. Spend the 2 years to get the ASN. Start working and let your employer help pay for the rest of your education