Nursing School Debt...

Sally_ICURN · Jan 10, 2003

Something to keep in mind about Perkins Loans. If you complete your program and obtain a job in nursing, you will be able to have the Perkins loan cancelled. All you have to do (and they send you this information) is prove that you are working with a letter from your employer. If you work full-time, the loan is 100% cancelled over a period of 5 years (I think that's right or sooner). You can also have a portion of it cancelled if you work less than full-time.

So, when you're deciding whether to take the Stafford vs the Perkins, take the most from Perkins!

Also, there are hundreds and hundreds of scholarships and grants out there for nursing students. Look into them and then apply!

~Sally :cool:

DIPLOMATICRN4HIRE, MSN, RN · Jan 10, 2003

I worked as a LPN during my RN schooling. I worked full time and every dime I made went for my education. There are some that took the loans and some of the hospitals they went to work for paid off the loans for a contract of 2-4 yrs. As far as total amount of school, mine was to date (doing MSN now) over 65, thousand. Included in costs have been books, clinical needs, classes, certifications, licenses,nclex. With more expenses to come.

Zoe

renerian, BSN, RN · Jan 10, 2003

Five long years but the payments were manageable.

renerian

researchrabbit · Jan 10, 2003

I paid as I went. Participated in several rather yucky research studies (involving NG tubes) to get the cash to pay for tuition. Bought the books as I could, a lot of them were a previous edition to the one the school used (made it a little harder to figure out the readings).

cpgrn · Jan 10, 2003

I took a stafford loan and paid it off in five years (versus the 10 that they allow.) I went to a two year adn program. I worked full time starting 6 weeks after graduation. It's worth it to do whatever it takes to get that degree and license. The payments are very manageable and they will work with you.

nessa1982 · Jan 10, 2003

I dont have any debt..yet but I cant work right now so I dont know what is going to happen since Im in an ADn program its much cheaper than a 4 year school. But when I transfer to get my BSN and maybe MSN I am thinking I need to figure out this whole financial aid/loan thing!!

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Jan 10, 2003

a good number of hospitals will offer a loan buy-back for nurses who agree to work for them for X number of years. You should ask a facility if they offer that when you begin job hunting.

Trauma Columnist · Jan 10, 2003

LPN program in Las Vegas (1990-1991) - $1500, ADN program Indianapolis (1992-1994) - $11,000, ADN to MSN (2002-present) $15,000. I get some tuition assistance from work - $1800/per year and $5600 in loan reimbursement. Otherwise - its the stafford loan unfortunately.

seewhiterabbit · Jan 10, 2003

How can you go from a ADN to a MSN when you don't have a bachelor's degree? I thought you had to have a Bachelor's degree to enter into a Masters program..

Shannon

sphinx, BSN, RN · Jan 11, 2003

Ugh. Student Loans. Well, I went to a private college (not state), so it was on the pricier side (can't remember how much). Got grants for all tuition. BUT, since I was only working part time weekends, and my then husband who was (is) a high school drop out earning 6 bucks an hour......we didn't have money to keep the 2 kids in daycare fulltime for me to go to school. SO, I got loan money to pay for daycare. It ended up being something like 15,000???? (don't remember exactly). I had a forebearance for a long time due to financial problems going through divorce, single mom, etc. But still responsible for interest, so that piled up. Had a deferrment for a while when I was out of work on disability. Had several loans which I ended up consolidating thru sallie mae. (can't remember if any of them were perkins loans? I thought so, but really don't remember anything about having the debt cancelled if I'm working as a nurse????). Anyway, was so poor as a single mom, I got on the most stretched out plan they had so monthly payments would be low, knowing the interest would be killer, but if I had high monthly bills, I might not have had money to eat/feed my kids (cost of living here being average, base pay for nurses lower than average).......so my loan goes on forever, at over 200$ a month. When I got remarried, my husband took over the bills, cuz I was working on a horrid ulcer from it all. I mentioned retooling and getting a shorter plan, but if I recall correctly, we decided not to for now (can't for the life of me remeber why) but pay extra each month. Anyway, I'll be paying forever. When my ex-husband sued for divorce he originally asked for his share of the "value of my nursing degree", calculated all out so nicely by his lawyer. This cheesed me off, cuz although we were married most of the time I was in school, not a dime of our/his money went into my schooling....it was all grants, plus the loan. I was like, hell, are ya gonna pay my loan too? In the end it was waived permanently, but it teed me off. The other day though was funny.....I am now working in the office at the homecare agency I work at (started a week ago) due to not being able to handle the stress of the field (was a bad year, 2 surgeries, depression, etc etc)......and my first day I was amazed to learn our copy machine *staples papers together*. I had to laugh and think "I'll be paying off my student loan for years to come, and here I am learning that copiers staple things together"...hahaha!!!!:roll

szccdw · Jan 13, 2003

With the shortage being so great you CAN now go from an ADN to a Masters. UNC Chapel Hill in Raleigh, NC has such a program. They also have something were you can go from your ADN to your BSN with only doing 1 extra year instead of the two.