Please tell me it's worth the debt!

mistydave · Mar 18, 2007

ok since no one has responded yet, I am going too. I am starting nursing school in April. Doing the 1 + 1 program and will be a RN in 2 years. I will be in the same boat you are in $40,000 debt for my degree. However, this is how I am looking at it. Not a debt, but an investment. When I come out of school as a new grad, no experience at all....I can make at least $40,000 my first year (if not more). My husband and I are not used to me bringing in an income at all. So my first year of nursing will go to pay off the debt. Then for the rest of my career, it will all be profit. And many people I know are waiting on cheaper community colleges, but by the time they get in I will be done, and already earning an income. So they can weigh those odds and see if that is worth that to them. But for me, I have researched how much I can make in nursing and even as a new grad I can pay off the loan in 1 year. 1 year of debt to me doesn't seem to bad for a lifetime of a career. Just my thoughts.

Jules A, MSN · Mar 18, 2007

ok since no one has responded yet, I am going too. I am starting nursing school in April. Doing the 1 + 1 program and will be a RN in 2 years. I will be in the same boat you are in $40,000 debt for my degree. However, this is how I am looking at it. Not a debt, but an investment. When I come out of school as a new grad, no experience at all....I can make at least $40,000 my first year (if not more). My husband and I are not used to me bringing in an income at all. So my first year of nursing will go to pay off the debt. Then for the rest of my career, it will all be profit. And many people I know are waiting on cheaper community colleges, but by the time they get in I will be done, and already earning an income. So they can weigh those odds and see if that is worth that to them. But for me, I have researched how much I can make in nursing and even as a new grad I can pay off the loan in 1 year. 1 year of debt to me doesn't seem to bad for a lifetime of a career. Just my thoughts.

Mistydave, your post is possibly the only one I've ever read on this subject that actually made good sense to me. You sound like you have a great plan. I'm normally in the no debt camp. I believe if you are going into debt at the very least you should work a part time job to offset some expenses. I worked 30 hours a week during school so that I didn't have to take loans or go into debt but my CC program was pretty cheap. As I work toward my BSN I might just have to use some savings, urgh.

Anyway if you actually do stick to your resolve to pay it off in year one I applaud you! That would be a very smart plan and like I said one of the only examples where I believe school debt might be "good debt" well ok so I'm not going that far but "acceptable debt" at least, lol.

Best of luck to you both. Jules

RN BSN 2009 · Mar 18, 2007

i'm a BSN and I'll be $45 k in debt... so yeah that's about right

TowferD · Mar 19, 2007

You also might want to consider that if you go to work as an LPN for a year after graduation, most places offer tuition assistance for you to go back to school for your RN. They might not pay in full, but at least it defers some of the costs of getting your RN.

BTW...the cost is definitely worth it!

convinced · Mar 29, 2007

I don't think its worth the debt. I am in British Columbia where LPN start at $22.15/hr. To become an rn in bc, one has to have a bsn (a 4 year program). The only bridge in programs available require three years of full time school. They only give you one year credit as an LPN and you require to have minimum one year full time work experience. So this is how I do the math:

Money I would make as an LPN in three years would be ($22.15*40*52*3=$138,216!!!) This amount does not include diffrentials, overtime or holiday pay. Amount of money on expenses to the minimum would be around $2000/month for housing, insurance, gas, food, phone etc so in 3 years I would spend ($2000*12*3=$72,000) This money will be spend whether am working or a full time student. so out of the amount I would make in 3 years am left with $66,216(138,216-72000) that I could use for investment. On top of that I would be around $30,000 in tuition debt. $66,216+30,000=$96,216 Is how much it would cost me to get bsn rn.

I don't know about you am 29 years old don't own a house and at the current real estate trend it will almost cost me 30% or more to buy a house three years from now.

An RN in BC is making on average about $10 more than an lpn(remember I don't begin with such high pay as a new rn grad). $10*40hrs*52wks=$20,800 a year more keeping in mind that in canada the more you make the higher your taxes this might end up being $15,000 more money a year. so to pay off the $96,216 it would cost to become RN, it would take 96,216/15,000 =6.41years. Let say I want to buy property worth $250,000 today assuming the rates rise as they have in three years the same will cost $325,000. My mortage rates today would probably be around $1600 a month but three years from now it would be $2100 that translates to $500 dollars more going to mortgage. So even though I would make $10 more/hr as Rn =(10*40*4=$1600-400 in taxes =$1200/montj take off the extra $500 for the extra morgage payment you are only left with $700 more a month more that the LPN. So after 3years of full time school +6.41years to pay off debt I will be making ,mere $700 more a month. Looks big but if instead I remained as an LPN got my own place sooner and invested in some business on the side am sure I would make more than the $700 10years from now. So is it worth the time, the struggle the answer from me is HELL NO!!!!!

justme1972 · Mar 29, 2007

Hello! I'm 26 yrs old and attending a private lvn school in LA. Let's just say that when I graduate and then do a lvn to RN bridge, I will be about 38,000 in debt with a RN degree. I would have went to a Junior college and paid A LOT less but I was on the waitlist for a year and a half! I absolutey LOVE my program and am doing excellent in it!
I suppose it just scares the daylights out of me to think I will owe that kind of money but I assumed it was worth it! My non-nursing student friends tell me I'm crazy and it's NOT worth it. I guess I just want to hear that it's okay?! BUT please give me your thoughts on this!!! :uhoh21:

The CC that I just got accepted to, when my RN program is finished, will have cost me a total of about $7,500 for an ADN.

At first, I was at risk for not getting admitted until Fall of 2008, and had considered moving my family out of state to a BSN program that I could start in June of 2008...but at an out-of-state tuition rate, so the degree would cost me about $24,000.

I was dead and determined if I hadn't got accepted THIS Fall, we were moving...there was NO WAY I was going to wait another year.

However, My husband asked me a question that I had not considered:

How many years will it take to pay off the debt vs waiting a year?

It would have taken us, in the BEST of circumstances, four years to pay off the student debt AFTER I started working.

That was when we decided, even if I didn't get in this Fall, we were going to wait the year and avoid the debt entirely.

It's just another way to look at it.

sweetface · Mar 29, 2007

This is the exact reason I just registered on this forum. I'm in the same shoes and I was thinking due to the nursing shortage, there would be REAL help out there for nursing students, but instead I see these vocational colleges ripping people off. CNI is 28K, CC is 3K and ROP is 2K.

I spent time in telecom for 16 years and it's not the industry it used to be. Due to a merger, I was laid off. I am now looking into the vocational route and I'm not stranger to debt, but 28K is ALOT.

I am NOT MARRIED..(would like to be though - it makes going to school easier.) I have some debt already and I pay for my own roof over my head. I have a car payment that's not too bad, but here's the kicker. This is where I'm trying hard to find out "Where's the real help during a nursing shortage?"

Once an LVN, I will have to enter a bridge LVN-RN program for 18 months. This is a full time course. I called the Community College here in Orange County and they said LVN's who come from Vocational Colleges don't do well at CC Bridging programs because it's harder than they are used to. So in order for me to start paying on the student loan for the LVN program, I MUSt work to pay that back. Either I will have to wait to enter the bridging program for 4 years while I pay the Vocational college their loan back (this vocational college has their own loan program) or I will have to work full time in the LVN-RN program AND work full time as an LVN.

My question is, where is the real help? Many adults are not married like myself. There is no second income. I can't live with my parents, already asked. Literally, for the adult who is single, there isn't much help for this 'nursing shortage' they talk about.

Is it possible to pass a bridging program working full time as well?

Also, ROP, that's a great way to go if you are not relying on EDD. They have a really weird point system though. I only get 1 year of EDD/unemployment benefits for rehabilitation and career transition, so ROP won't be approved by them.

Any ideas? Anyone else out there living on their own doing this with no cusion?

Trophywife81 · Mar 29, 2007

Don't feel bad about your debt...it could be worse! I have a Bachelor of Arts in English/History from a private, sectarian university in Texas. What was I thinking, you ask? I ask myself the same thing every day. That degree was paid for with student loans...I don't even want to think about how much $$$$ it adds up to!

The only option for me with that degree was teaching, which I HATED with a passion. So now I'm going to school to get my LVN....which will also be paid for by a loan. :uhoh3:

One of the main reasons why I don't (and you shouldn't either) feel too bad about this, is that as nurses, we will always have a job; and if we get burned out, or stuck in a rut in one arena of nursing, there's always other areas of nursing to turn to. And as long as you have a job, those student loans will be paid for many times over. It's really an investment for the future, and a small one when you think about how short a length of time it takes to earn the same amount of money you spent in attaining your education. And after the loans are paid off, you have years of earning potential ahead.

But still, debt sucks. Hang in there.

soragamii · Apr 1, 2007

Hey thanks everyone for the info! Of course I would have loved to get straight into a RN program at a city college for much cheaper but I did not have that opportunity. I live in central california and there are only 3 rn schools in the area and the wait lists are ridiculous!

lacedmm1 · Apr 1, 2007

I don't know where these CC's are that have such huge waitlist and charge a lot of money. I think my CC definitely has one on the best programs I've seen so far. After prereq's are completed, you apply to the ASN program and as long as your GPA is good and NET scores are good you get accepted (no waitlist). Along with that they have a program with the university in the area to allow students to work on the bachelor's degree at the same time as their ASN. That means that by the time I graduate from the nursing program at the CC, I will only have one semester left to have my BSN. All that and it will only cost me are $10,000 - $13,000.

mstigerlily · Apr 1, 2007

I wouldn't pay that much for an LVN program, here in Southern California there is an ROP program with not too much of a wait that is free. LVNs have limited job prospects compared to RNs so it wouldn't seem worth that kind of money to me.

However, if you're talking a four year degree at a university, certainly there are many people who spend that kind of money to get their bachelor's in all sorts of things and don't have the job security and opportunities that an RN has. If you have a BA/BS in another field, you're not going to have job offers and sign on bonuses waiting for you like a BSN-RN will, so in that case I think the $38k seems worth it. Even still, I did have to wait a year but my ADN cost me nothing at a community college so it's nice to not have that kind of debt.

Hello! I'm 26 yrs old and attending a private lvn school in LA. Let's just say that when I graduate and then do a lvn to RN bridge, I will be about 38,000 in debt with a RN degree. I would have went to a Junior college and paid A LOT less but I was on the waitlist for a year and a half! I absolutey LOVE my program and am doing excellent in it!
I suppose it just scares the daylights out of me to think I will owe that kind of money but I assumed it was worth it! My non-nursing student friends tell me I'm crazy and it's NOT worth it. I guess I just want to hear that it's okay?! BUT please give me your thoughts on this!!! :uhoh21: