Loans for BA holder going to ADN program?

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Hi everyone,

I'm interested in knowing your experience with obtaining a Stafford Direct Loan to get an ADN degree when you already have an unrelated BA/BS.

I know that having a bachelors automatically disqualifies you for grants but how hard was it for you to obtain a federal loan? What other options are there if your school will not consider you for a Stafford Direct Loan?

My situation is that I'm starting an ADN program in the fall. I have a BA and was told that I need to go through a petition process where I basically explain why I'm trying to get an ADN degree when I have a BA. I'll try my best to lay it out for them but in the end, it will be their decision whether they want to qualify me for the loan or not.

Just curious to know if it can be done and if rejected, what other options I might have. The cost of school and supplies is one factor, but the other is being able to afford a place to live while I'm in school. Which is why I'm hoping to get a loan.

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I was able to get this type of loan when I went for a BSN, but that was under whatever the rules were about 20 years ago. Guess I was lucky to get even that. They disqualified me for everything else.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

Not successful at all. Going for an ADN doesn't just disqualify you for grants, it disqualifies you for any financial aid, including loans. You can appeal and hope you catch a break, but you're less likely to be approved if you're at the very beginning of a new program, versus the end. I appealed and lost, so I ended up applying to scholarships and paying for it that way.

A BSN is totally different, because you qualify for financial aid when you have up to 150% of credits required for a degree. That makes the different between ~ 90 credits at a cc and ~180 at a 4 year university.

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Thanks for your comments. I'll have to do some homework on scholarships since it doesn't sound like I have a chance with the petition process. :(

They said that the board of governor's fee waiver is not affected by having a BA and I qualified for it at another program. So I hope I can at least get that for this ADN program.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.
Thanks for your comments. I'll have to do some homework on scholarships since it doesn't sound like I have a chance with the petition process. :(

They said that the board of governor's fee waiver is not affected by having a BA and I qualified for it at another program. So I hope I can at least get that for this ADN program.

It's not hopeless! I think it really just depends on your colleges appeals committee's attitude toward putting appeals through for a lot of hours.

But I would definitely look into some Plan B stuff, and in all reality, you're better off with free money if you can find it! I have my tuition, books, uniforms, supplies, and all of my testing fees/health care costs paid through WIA. I was really upset to not get financial aid, but I'm so much better off debt-free.

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I have a previous Associates, a Bachelors, and a Masters degree (none of them nursing related) and I have no problem getting financial aid loans.

ETA: I never once have had to file any kind of appeal. My financial aid office told me as long as I haven't capped out and have the minimum amount of credit hours needed, I can get loans. Also, these are federal loans, not private ones.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

All I can say about that is have a back-up plan. Federal guidelines are all the same and they have to be in the the school's policies. If you good your school and SAP, it'll probably come up.

But when a school doesn't do an awesome job monitoring , I've seen some people fall through the cracks. I've also seen some people get caught in the middle of NS and have no way to pay when they have no more access to financial aid.

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Hi Willowita,

I am in a similar situation; I have a previous Bachelors and start nursing school this Fall. As soon as I tried to sign up for pre-reqs, I was sent a notice saying that I would no longer be receiving financial aid (but I could appeal). So I went through the appeal process and actually went in to the financial aid office to make sure that I had turned in/completed everything. It took about 2-3 weeks, but I was approved! I think that, well at my school at least, as long as you know why you want to continue your education and can give a plan for completion, they will usually approve you.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!!

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Thanks for your experience Mama_Cashew!

I was also under the impression that federal loans were still a possibility even if you have a BA as long as you meet credit hours and haven't capped. But I guess it's at the discretion of the school.

My hope is that the petition process is just some red tape I need to go through so they see I'm not trying to rip off the system or just take random classes to get financial aid. I'm definitely going to get an education plan from the counselor and show that I will be done in 2 years and not lollygag.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele.
Not successful at all. Going for an ADN doesn't just disqualify you for grants, it disqualifies you for any financial aid, including loans. You can appeal and hope you catch a break, but you're less likely to be approved if you're at the very beginning of a new program, versus the end. I appealed and lost, so I ended up applying to scholarships and paying for it that way.

A BSN is totally different, because you qualify for financial aid when you have up to 150% of credits required for a degree. That makes the different between ~ 90 credits at a cc and ~180 at a 4 year university.

Getting an ADN does not disqualify you from getting Stafford loans (at least not at every school) There are a lot of different factors involved in getting Stafford Loans such as school policy, FAFSA EFC number, dollar amount of all previous Stafford Loans etc.

I have a bachelors in Business and $80K in student loan debt ( a mix of personal and Stafford Loans)

In January 2012 I signed up for Chemistry and A&P1 at my local college and was able to get a Stafford loan to pay for those classes. Then just 2 weeks ago, I found out that I was accepted into the ADN program at the local college. I spoke with the financial aid dept. yesterday and I have gotten another Stafford loan for the 2012-2013 school year.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

Like I said, it is a federal regulation, and I'm

100% certain you'll find the information in your school's catalog. Once again, I know some people who have gotten away with it for a while, and then been denied randomly. I know some people (at other schools) who have never heard anything about it and just continue to take out loans. That does not mean there isn't a rule in place that should require an appeal or waiver process where you explain why you're back in school when you've already received a certain number of credits.

The issue is not the degree - having a bachelor's degree on its own only disqualifies you from grants. It's the completion rate - most bachelor's degrees (if not all) require more credits than 150% of an associates, which would automatically suspend all financial aid. Like the drop/conpletion rate, and minimum gpa.

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