Need a loan but already have a BA in Comm

NurseNotRatched, ADN, BSN, CNA · Apr 18, 2009

Good to know I'm not alone. I have a B.A. and have applied for entry to another university to start this summer as "undecided" but I'm actually planning on taking the prerequesites in the summer and fall and apply to their accelerated BSN program that starts in January. I already did my FAFSA from 2008-09 (to cover summer school tuition) and 2008-10 for this fall. I'm still waiting back to hear. *Fingers crossed* But it looks as though I may need to go ahead and declare a major to get a loan. I'll call the FA office monday morning.

nursing_girl1210 · Apr 22, 2009

I'm in the same boat too! I graduated in december with a BS in Bio and now i'm going to nursing school in september to get my BSN. I just received a letter in the mail regarding my FAFSA application and it said that i'm ineligible to receive aid from them because I already have a bachelor's degree. However, I never really got much to begin with due to my parent's income... but hey any little bit would help!!

Does anyone know of any other ways to get student loans/grants?

TeriBoBerrry · May 28, 2009

I am going through this EXACT problem. I have a bachelors in business, but after getting laid off due to the economy, I decided to go back to school. Currently I am unemployed and on food stamps. I talked to the local community college, SAC, (San Antonio College), and they told me that I just need to fill out an appeal form and a loan reinstatement form explaining why I am returning to a community college and why I can't pay for it myself.

Depending on how good my letter is, I will get approved. 2 days before I was offered a job making $21/hr as a temp recruiter at the hospital, and I turned it down because the financial aid office told me that I wasn't too late to apply for the loan. I turned down a $21/hr job!

My letter was excellent. I explained how in any other economy, my bachelors degree would allow me to prosper, but in this economy, I was laid off with reccomendation letters and offered a temp job at best. I wanted to go to school for nursing to help people and make a living for myself and my kids. I wrote in the letter how I passed on a $21.hr job to focus on school!

Well, I got news today that my loan is pending my acceptance and enrollment in the Nursing program. Which means that I cannot get a loan for the 6 prereqs I need. I tried to explain that I can't afford the pre-reqs without the loan!

One guy on the phone told me that they just don't give aid to bachelors degrees. I told him that his people told me that I had a good case to get a loan!

Anyhoo, I plan to go up there tomorrow and try to get an appointment with a director. Someone needs to explain why some people are telling me that I had a good chance, and others knew I didn't have a chance. I mean, why write up the appeal letter if I knew I was going to lose?

I'm forced to apply to U of Phoenix to enroll in a master's program so that I can get a refund check to pay for these prereqs.

SIGH.

I just want to be a nurse!

lilcajun · May 28, 2009

I have over 200 hrs and they told me that I had maxed out everything that I could get in this lifetime until I got into a nursing program. Once I had been accepted, the only thing that I qualified for was for nursing courses. You still have the chance to take out personal loans. The interest is higher, but you can still get them.

elkpark · May 28, 2009

Have you all checked with your home states? Many states have student loan/scholarship programs (funded by the state, that is) designed/intended to help state residents become nurses and increase the number of nurses in the state, which are entirely separate from the federal student loan program(s). My own state has three different state scholarship/grant programs to help people become nurses! Often you can "work off" the money after you're licensed instead of paying it back, which is a good deal.

NurseNotRatched, ADN, BSN, CNA · May 30, 2009

Have you all checked with your home states? Many states have student loan/scholarship programs (funded by the state, that is) designed/intended to help state residents become nurses and increase the number of nurses in the state, which are entirely separate from the federal student loan program(s). My own state has three different state scholarship/grant programs to help people become nurses! Often you can "work off" the money after you're licensed instead of paying it back, which is a good deal.

Yes! I was going to post this. I'm almost finished w/ a CNA course and my instructor told me that she basically got paid to go to nursing school. She applied for as many nursing scholarship/loan programs she could find. Two were state and one was even federal. One didn't know about the other, so by the time tuition, supplies, books, etc was paid for, she still had at least an extra $1000 per month. She finished working them off in no time.