Paying for Nursing School

mamacashew · Jun 14, 2010

I'm taking out loans for school and working full time. And my husband works as well.

happy2learn · Jun 14, 2010

I go to a community college and so does my husband. He works full time.

We both get about $1500 extra every quarter(5 times per year) from our Stafford loan money after tuition is paid.

TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP · Jun 15, 2010

Am in a grad-entry program, and I have a buttload of federal loans - GradPLUS on top of the Stafford loans.

Fannie'sMom, BSN, RN · Jun 15, 2010

what i'm doing is borrowing money for school & living expenses. i borrow the authorizied fasfa amount and then take out a private education loan for the remaining amount i need. a couple of things to keep in mind when attempting to get a private education loan:

1. you & your co-signer must have good credit; the lower your credit score, the higher the interest rate you will pay, if you get a loan at all. co-signer? yes. assuming your fico is over 720, your still going to need a co-signer unless you're working full-time and have a salary that the lender believes is sufficient to repay the loan. at the time i applied for my first loan i had a salary of 20k and a fico of 750 and still needed a co-signer. thank god my husband has great credit, a long work history and a good income. that's how i'm able to borrow $ to live on.

2. all private education loans must be certified by the school you are attending. prior to our economy falling into the abyss, students were able to get private education loans without involving the school. now, you have to contact financial aid at your school, explain what you are trying to do... federal loan (stafford) and private loan and ask them what their coa-cost of attendance is. they should ask for your status: a) a dependent student living on/off campus, b) adult/independent student off/on campus. their coa figure will vary depending on your status; one amount if your living on campus/dependent and another amount for off campus/adult.

my example is from my local community college, where (keep in mind) tuition and books for a full-time student would max out at 4k. (i'm rounding numbers to make addition easy) the community college i am attending had a maxium coa per semester of $8000 for an independent/adult student. i qualified for $3500 in federal loans, which ment that i could apply for private education loans in the amount of $4500 each semester. [i actually applied once, prior to the beginning of the school year and the loan company broke it up into two payouts, one each semester]

3. don't expect financial aid to know what i am talking about. hard to believe, i know. my faid counselor at the cc had it down cold and i had no problems. this coming semester i am transfering to a local university for my last two years-nursing school, and their financial aid people are having trouble understanding what i am talking about; they told me private education loans no longer exist ( keep in mind their telling me this on the heals of my wells fargo student loan being approved for the summer semester at cc) which required me to explain that private education loans do still exist. i then go on to explain that the only difference now (post abyss) is that the school/university must be involved by certifying the coa and receiving the funds, which can then be refunded to the student (or left on you school account). this change with certification is to prevent students from borrowing more money than they need, or for that matter, taking out an education loan with absolutley no proof that your a student to begin with.

believe it or not, the 4 year universities coa is actually lower than my community college, when they factor in the two scholarships i was awarded. so in order to be able to borrow a sufficient amount of money, i have to file an appeal requesting they "increase the coa figure they will certify to my private lender". when submitting this appeal, i am submitting my education budget w/supporting paperwork to verify/prove the amount i need is ligit.

important note: i keep bolding education loans because education loans can only be used for certain and specific education & living expenses. i don't have it all memorizied, but i know it includes tuition, books, fees, housing, transportation(if necessary) and food. additionally, if you end up joining the military or getting hired by an organization who will pay (some or all) of your student loans, they have to be education loans and most likely they can't have been consolidated into one single loan.

to wrap this up, this is one way to pay for school (if your circumstances allow) that enables you not to work while in nursing school (or for that matter any bachelors program, law school, medical school, graduate school). repayment begins six months after you graduate or if you quit school or drop below full-time status. you can also request deferrment (postponement of repayment) under certain circumstances. i know most people on an will say i'm crazy to rack up all this debt and not to do it, but without going into the particulars, i'm on my game, i know what i'm doing, and the bonus is i get to solely focus on school.

hope this info helps. if you have any questions that come to mind feel free to ask, because there is great satisfaction in sharing the information i spent weeks learning :nurse: !!!

kim

guiltysins · Jun 15, 2010

My financial aid package includes the two direct student loans, sub and unsubsidized. That covers my insanely high tuition pretty well. However there are one or two semester where I might have to pay out of pocket, about 1500, the school suggests I try to pay them out of pocket before I take out a private lender/bank loan because they don't have control over it and the interest can be ridiculous sometimes.

Fannie'sMom, BSN, RN · Jun 15, 2010

Wow, that's great that your federal loans will cover most of it and that part of it is subsidized. Here's what I know about the interest rates on Federal and Private loans. My portion of unsubsidized federal loans have a fixed rate of over 6 % on one and 7% on another. My interest rates on my private loans were the lowest possible (due to my and my husbands FICO score); the first one was at 4.25% and the second one was a bit higher. The private loans are at a variable rate which are tied to the prime rate.

I guess my advice would be to weigh your options.

The amount your looking to borrow is quite low, so as long as you qualify for a good rate, I don't think the interest would kill you. There are very few lenders who have these loans and some have minimum loan amounts of 5k+. Wells Fargo is where I got my summer loan for 3k, so I know they do smaller amounts.

I also agree w/financial aid. If the amount is small, consider paying out of pocket. It just depends on how much stress it is going to cause. You could always try to work on campus? one day a week(end), as long as that time is subtracted from your social time and not your study time.

Good Luck to you. Enjoy this time in your life :jester: !!!

Kim

Saysfaa · Jun 15, 2010

No loans for me. I worked my way through - by saving up from earnings before starting nursing school.

GaLara · Jun 16, 2010

Thanks everyone! Especially Kim! I do work 2 pt time jobs now but with 2 kids plus 2 step kids it would make life easier to get a loan to help!

allnurses Guide · Jun 16, 2010

Federal grants, loans, scholarships, part time work and savings.

MrsJessica · Jun 16, 2010

Well to start off I have 2 children and a husband. To help with bills My husband works full time and then I work part time. Depending on my course load will determine to how much I actually work while in school.

To pay for school I have applied for FASFA, Unsub loans, Sub loans, and then the school is giving me 500.00 each semester for there "school scholarship". Although most of my schooling is going to be paid on loans. Many schools you can also get help off of your school bill by doing "federal work study" where you can work on campus.