Nursing salary not that useful to pay back loans?!

mrsboots87 · Nov 13, 2014

Whoever told you that doesnt know what they are talking about. The general rule of thumb is to not take out more in loans than you can reasonably make in one year. I am in a community college program. I have had to take out a little more in loans than I would like to help pay for daycare and regular bills since I dont work. My husband makes pretty good money, but its still tight. So far, if I had to start payments tomorrow I would have a $300 payment. By the time I graduate I will have about a $400 payment. That will definitely cut into my wages each month, but it is not going to make it not worth it to become a nurse. You wont be rich as a nurse, but you should make a comfortable wage. New grads make between 26-33 in my area not including any incentive pay. So $400 isnt the end of the world. I plan to just make huge chuck payments for about 6-8 months and love like we do now to just pay it all off quickly so we can enjoy my wages without a bill over out head.

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Nov 13, 2014

It all depends on how you budget your money. It also depends on how much you borrow. If you go to an expensive school that is not accredited so it would be difficult to find a job, then yes you will not be able to pay back the loans. If you go to a reasonably priced school, live within your means, and go to a respected school, you should make enough money to pay it back. Many people are drowning in debt. So lay off the credit cards and don't accrue any extra debt. Nursing will not make you wealthy. That is a common misconception. But it is not horrible pay either. Plus, do you have kids that you have to pay for? My point is, the only one who can answer this question is you. We have no idea about your life and financial situation. If you are worried, speak to a financial advisor. I work with one.

klone, MSN, RN · Nov 13, 2014

You need to consider that you may not find a nursing job for 6-12 months. So yeah, it's hard to pay off student loans if you're making minimum wage while trying to get your first gig.

A lot of it depends on how much you currently have in debt from your previous degree, and how much your nursing school tuition is going to cost.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Nov 13, 2014

It also depends on where you will love. Pay rates vary quite a lot. New grad jobs are very hard to find.

If you already have a lot of school debt and are talking about adding another 40k or something that will be hard to pay back. More like a house payment than a car payment.

You are smart to think about this. Maybe spend a little now to consult a financial advisor.... also, how old you are matters as that translates into how many working years you will have to pay the loans back.

Could you work using the degree you have and start saving up money for another degree. If you saved even half that would be a huge deal.

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Nov 13, 2014

You can put your federal loans in deferment until you get a job, and if you are not making a lot of money, you can do an income-based repayment schedule. Of course it ends up being more in the long run, but you can always make extra payments.

I'm going to have probably 70K+ when I finish my CNM certification program. 40K is from my undergrad. It's scary, but totally doable on an RN salary.

AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Nov 13, 2014

You could also do what I did, although I didn't do it on purpose, I just couldn't decide what I wanted to be when I grew up...

Take general non-nursing classes over a period of a couple of years or longer at a pace that allows you to pay as you go. I ended up with some loans because I had two back to back associate degrees, but I am down to 3500.00 left to pay them. I took classes over a long period so when I actually did my degree programs I only had the core classes to deal with and take out loans on. I have been paying my loans since 2007 and started off with about 14000.00 , which isn't bad for two degrees. I pay 171.00 a month for my student loans combined. I am now doing RN-BSN and paying as I go and on top of it all the money I pay for my current loans is going towards principle, since the government is paying the interest while I attend school part time, gotta love that! I also have the option of not paying them at all until I am done, but my work schedule hasn't changed so I don't need that.

HPRN

ThatBigGuy · Nov 13, 2014

Just like everything else, there are so many variables here that we cannot give you the exact answer. But we can help give you ideas from which you can form your own opinions.

First, use Google to find out how much RNs make in your area. Understand that you'll be a new grad, so you'll likely earn a bit less than the average salary. Then look at the tuition and fees for the schools you might attend. Make sure the programs are accredited. Then check out the schools' NCLEX pass rates (again, using Google).

MrsBoots already said it and I'll repeat it: don't take out more loans than you can reasonably expect to earn in your first year as an RN.

llg, PhD, RN · Nov 13, 2014

No one here can answer the question for you -- because you haven't given us enough information. It really all comes down to the numbers. You have to do put the numbers down on paper and take a good hard, honest look at them.

How much total loan debt will you have at graduation? As a previous poster said, it should NOT be more than you can reasonably expect your annual salary to be in the first few years of your career. So ... how much TOTAL loans will you have? What will the monthly payments be? What are the salaries for new grads in your area? (And be sure to be realistic about what type of job you will be able to get with the degree you are actually going to have. I have seen lots of people be overly optimistic about what they will be making in the first few years of their career.)

Loan deferment, etc. are generally not good ideas -- as the loan grows while you are not paying it back, making it more difficult to pay back later. Sometimes, that sort of thing is necessary when people find themselves in trouble -- but it is never a good thing. So don't build anything like that into your plans on purpose.

Few (if any) employers will pay the debt for you. You will have to make those monthly payments out of your paycheck. So find out how big that paycheck will be ... and how big the loan payments will be. Then add in your living expenses to determine whether or not your paycheck will be big enough to cover them all.

Most people who add big 2nd degree loans on top of big 1st degree loans end up trying to stretch those paychecks too far. But it can be done if the amount of the loans is small. So to answer your question, get the numbers, write them down all on the same piece of paper, and see if they had up to a lifestyle you can live with.

mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN · Nov 13, 2014

I went to community college for ADN,

Pistachio830 · Nov 13, 2014

I would research around other schools if your nursing school is that expensive. I know the private schools cost almost 100k total but there is no wait list, anyone can get in, whereas I'm going to a two year ADN program with a point system (the higher the grades, the better chance of getting in) and it costs around 6 thousand total for 2 years.

Also for my pre-nursing classes, I took one class a semester since I was working full time and paying back another loan at the same time. It did take a while but I'm not in debt.

Summers3 · Nov 14, 2014

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for responding to share your advice with me. Below are the reasons why I'm probably facing more loans:

1) I'm pursuing nursing as a second degree since I already have BA in biology. that alone gives me less grants and more loans

2) Still have some loans on my BA in biology (but I can manage it)

3) ....................... my program is in a private university (there are several reasons for this: program details, location, leave of absence granted halfway through to work to earn money etc)

I am working and saving up as much as I can right now to pay as much as I can to go along the way.

One thing that reassures me the most is that my program allows a leave of absence for student to work. This takes place halfway through the program (and a good portion of the students do!) and that leave can be granted for several months up to a year!!! So I will take out say..... about 1 year or so ish worth of loans before requesting to go on leave. then I can either work fulltime or work part time and school part time.

So at that time, I will have about a year or so worth of loans.......... and can focus on finding a RN job or really, any job to earn more to pay back that 1st year and my future years to come.

So with that said....... I have some savings I earned from work for the past few years, my lifestyle is kept to a minimum (no extravagant spendings), and I am relying on that leave of absence halfway through to work to first pay off the 1 year of school first and save more to pay off future years.

But of course, this is all wishful thinking and my plans might not go to plan (i'm praying it will).

May I ask your opinions on this?

Thank you for calming down my fears, everyone. I hope everything will turn out not as bad as I think. :)