Nursing school student loans/scholarships/grants for those with a bachelor's degree.

maccheese · Jul 31, 2011

Does your job offer tuition reimbursement. If not, you may want to try to get a job with hospital that would cover tuition for pursuing a BSN. Also, most outside nursing scholarships require you to be accepted into a BSN program.

MsLeana · Jul 31, 2011

Thanks maccheese! My current job does not offer tuition reimbursement. I work for the state government and they barely want to pay us! LOL. I think I'm going to start looking at local hospitals to see what kind of jobs I may be eligible for with my Bachelor's degree in chemistry.

chicagoing, ADN, RN · Aug 1, 2011

I have a bachelor's degree in biology and received federal student loans for 3.5 years of tuition. I paid off my loans and applied early this year for student loans for the ADN program I will be starting in 3 weeks.

I was originally denied aid (loans) and had to meet with a school advisor and file an appeal. Once the appeal was approved, I was awarded $10K in loans for this upcoming year (2 semesters); the loan money can only be used for the courses outlined in my appeal letter.

Demi68 · Aug 1, 2011

Hi, Chocagoing:

Can you tell me more about the student loan? Did you apply through your school or yourself. I am also trying to get into a BSN program and the tuition is about 11,000. I ask my husband to talk to our bank to see if I can have student loan from them. My husband is a professor and make good money. Would this limit me to apply loan?

xiongav · Aug 2, 2011

Hi, Chocagoing:
Can you tell me more about the student loan? Did you apply through your school or yourself. I am also trying to get into a BSN program and the tuition is about 11,000. I ask my husband to talk to our bank to see if I can have student loan from them. My husband is a professor and make good money. Would this limit me to apply loan?

Have you tried looking at MSN programs? If you have a BS degree in Chemistry I'm assuming some of the prereq courses required for a MSN program would already be knocked out, in your case.

I've already obtained a BS degree in '06 so I'm also wondering about my eligibility for loans this upcoming semester for taking the MSN prereqs, :confused: .

chicagoing, ADN, RN · Aug 2, 2011

Hi, Chocagoing:
Can you tell me more about the student loan? Did you apply through your school or yourself. I am also trying to get into a BSN program and the tuition is about 11,000. I ask my husband to talk to our bank to see if I can have student loan from them. My husband is a professor and make good money. Would this limit me to apply loan?

First of all, I filed my tax return as soon as I could. I then filled out the online FAFSA, which my college requires for any considering for financial aid.

I am not sure what the rules are for BSN programs...do you already have a bachelor's degree? That is what made the difference for many of us (and whether or not we had to file an appeal).

I'm sorry I can't really answer your other question, but I would definitely recommend making an appointment to see someone in the financial aid office at the college/university where you will be pursuing your BSN.

BeachsideNic · Aug 3, 2011

Go to Studentloans.gov and you will get all the information you need regarding Federal Direct Loans as well as Graduate Plus loans. Some of the loans will be subsidized by the government, but be sure that you do it soon, because the deal that Congress made today will eliminate the Graduate Plus loan and make it so you can't defer your loan payments until 6 months after you graduate. You can thank the Republicans for that little gem. I would also suggest looking into Master's Entry programs which will allow you to get a MSN, and in some programs a BSN as well in about three years. All you need is a Bachelor's degree in another field and all the pre-requisites completed. THe programs are very competetive so you really need to have a high GPA and TEAS score.

Be certain to fill out financial aid forms at FAFSA.gov as well...

hope this helps! :jester:

Cherry02 · Aug 3, 2011

I have a B.A. degree and I was told that I could receive financial aid for up to 90 credit hours towards another degree. However, the person I talked to made it sound like the other degree had to be a B.S. (and obviously nursing is) since I already have a B.A. Not sure if that is really the case, and if it is, I am not sure why. But, I have to pay for the prereqs out-of-pocket since I am not actually IN the nursing program yet.

MsLeana · Aug 3, 2011

Thank you everyone for your responses! I think maybe I have too many credit hours because all together I have around 150 credit hours. I was very indecisive when I started college and I ended up changing my major twice and eventually I had to change schools because the private school I was going to at first was VERY expensive.

ducki00802 · May 20, 2012

I am in the same boat with the exception that I am an older student and want to go back to school as well. I am getting the same run around but I have heard there are programs out there so I guess we just keep looking.

xInspiredx · May 21, 2012

In my opinion, I think that you should go the ADN route. I say this due to the fact that you already have so many loans taken out. Going to a community college is much cheaper, and some states offer a fee waiver program. Contact the community colleges near your area to ask about a fee waiver. Also, this is different than financial aid, so any loans taken out previously are unrelated. A BSN program is costly, and there aren't that many scholarships available. The scholarships that I have seen are highly selective, such as a near-perfect GPA, or fitting in some sort of "category". I also want to mention that nurses with BSN's don't get paid that much more compared to those with ADN's (I've read this on the board, but you can make a thread --or use the search button -- in order to find out more about the differences in pay scale.) I just see a lot of loan debt at the end of your education if you choose the BSN route. Anyway, just my two cents.

Good luck! :)