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

[MsLeana]

Hello everyone!

I am a single mother of a 2 year old little boy and I am planning to go to nursing school in Fall of 2012. I already have a bachelor's degree in chemistry and when I was previously looking into going back to school for something else, the financial aid advisor told me that because I already have a bachelor's degree I wouldn't be able to get financial aid to get a 2nd bachelor's degree in something else. I already have a massive amount of student loan debt from my first degree so I'm not really looking forward to getting additional student loans but I definitely will if I have to. Right now I have a job that barely pays me enough to pay the bills so I am not able to save anything for school. I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice. Does anyone know of any special nursing school student loans/scholarships/grants?

Thanks!

[Lizzie Clayre]

Don't despair! Financial aid grants are available at the community colleges... And there are tons of scholarships! Do the research on appropriate scholarships and begin writing those essays early! Leave plenty of time to get your references from your professors too! Good luck!

[Lizzie Clayre]

Oh, by the way, TRCC paid for my whole degree... 86 credits... Thru grants and scholarships! You can do it!

[Stephalump]

I'd say start applying for scholarships. A lot of deadlines have passed for the fall already, but I'm sure there are still some out there. Check with the school to see if they offer any grants/scholarships.

If you absolutely cannot finance it, the solution would be doing a BSN program. You don't qualify at a CC because it's a lower level college, but you should qualify at a 4 year university.

[leenak]

Anyone qualifies for up to $56k in Stafford (subsidized or unsubsidized) loans for their undergrad. The limits are $12k/year I believe. If you didn't borrow much for your first degree (I think I borrowed $11k for my first degree), then you should still qualify.

[Stephalump]

Anyone qualifies for up to $56k in Stafford (subsidized or unsubsidized) loans for their undergrad. The limits are $12k/year I believe. If you didn't borrow much for your first degree (I think I borrowed $11k for my first degree), then you should still qualify.

No, there's such a thing as SAP. The applicable part of that here is "Maximum Time Frame.". You are only eligible for financial aid for up to 150% of the number of credits required for the degree you're going for. So if you get a BA and have 120 credits and then go to CC to get an ADN worth 75 credits, you're going to have to appeal. You're allowed 113, but you already have 120. Getting a second BS or BA is different because you can have closer to 200 credits before you're cut off.

Of course, some schools don't catch the error and keep giving financial aid. Some catch it halfway through a program and leave the student hanging.

[leenak]

Ahh, yeah I'm not too familiar with the ADN process. Luckily, for my pre-reqs, I didn't need financial aid. I looked into the stafford loans thing as a backup plan for my BSN in case I need financial aid.

[Stephalump]

Ahh, yeah I'm not too familiar with the ADN process. Luckily, for my pre-reqs, I didn't need financial aid. I looked into the stafford loans thing as a backup plan for my BSN in case I need financial aid.

Yeah, it's much harder going backwards! I screwed up and decided I took out enough loans for my first degree (around 13k), so I would rather find other ways to pay for NS, and an ADN was cheaper.

It didn't even occur to me that my ADN classes would put me over the limit for financial aid for the RN-BS program at a four year college, too! Totally screwed myself until grad school.