Paying for college?

Nurse2b7337 · Jan 12, 2012

Unfortunately I don't have a Bachelors just yet so my schooling is paid for. What you can do is seek out advising and counseling and ask them about any grants that are available in your field. Financial Aid can help with this as well. Good Luck!! BTW, my girlfriend has her Bachelors degree and she took out loans to fund her schooling. They are available don't let nothing get in your way. :-)

Shinnichi, ADN, RN · Jan 12, 2012

Are you a woman? A minority? A mother? Willing to trade financial support for time working in a less-than-spectacular area?

There are many, many, many different scholarships out there. You just need to be willing to desperately look. Right now I have to use student loans, which isn't good considering I've got $30k piled up already from a previous degree. But guess what I found out? I work at Costco, and they have a scholarship for $1,500 that is done every March. I've looked crazily for things to help out, and if I can only get $500 in scholarships, then that's $500 less that I'll have to pay later! :w00t:

leenak · Jan 12, 2012

Have you talked to the financial aid office? There are scholarships, grants, etc out there. When I first went to college, I funded it through working, grants and loans. For my BSN, I've saved up for it but I'm also going to look into other options as well.

UVA Grad Nursing · Jan 12, 2012

Because you have one Bachelors degree already, you will not be able to get federal financial aid for a second bachelors degree. As Cedeno indicated, use this opportunity to look for additional private scholarships that are out there. I recommend my students to check out the scholarship database at discovernursing.com (managed by Johnson & Johnson). One cautionary note -- do not send money to firms that promise to get you scholarships. You should not need to pay anything to apply for assistance.

Check with your School's financial aid office to ask about non-federal student loans. But 3.5 years of schooling for a second bachelor's degree does seem like an awfully long time. There are a number of second degree programs (ABSN) for people with undergraduate degrees already that are 12-20 months in duration. Taking one of these at a public university will be a lot cheaper. One ABSN program in my state is 12 months long and costs about $16,000 for the full program for instate students.

CDEWannaBe · Jan 12, 2012

Wow! That's really pricey. Have you applied to other schools that offer BSNs or those that offer accelerated programs? Like UVA Grad mentioned, the fast track programs usually take about 1 year and cost about $16,000 total, including books and fees.

There are grants for rural or inner city nurses where they pay your tuition in exhange for you working for them after graduation for several years.

The rules on financial aid have really tightened up in the last few years. You might visit your school's financial aid office and ask if there are any waivers to continue receiving help. But know that you are going to owe a ton of money when you get out of school. My husband acquired almost $100,000 in debt going to law school. Now he's paying more than $500/month for the next 20 years. It was worth it to him because it's his dream job. But it's a lot of money every month. Do you want to be a nurse bad enough to pay for it?