POLL: How far in debt will you be???

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Here's a question... how far in debt will you be when nursing school is all said and done? How many years are you spending in school? BSN or RN?

I will be $38,000 in debt after two years to earn an RN. This accounts for books and tuition and the loans I have to take to supplement my income and pay my bills while I'm working only part time. Wow, career changes are expensive...

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
about 100k. 75k for 2 previous bachelor degrees, plus about 20k for my bsn. how's that??

OK hbgwan, I think you win!? ;)

Good thing you are very young and I hope very energetic.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

If I had gone to a community college I would have had zero debt after school, as I could have paid the tuition out of pocket. But the BSN is important to me. Plus, I didn't want to wait 50 years on a waiting list! :chuckle

hbgwan- yikes! you definitely win. 100K is a killer!

I don't think anyone is a "fan of debt"...but some of us don't have a choice. Hubby and I have a mortgage to pay, so unfortunately I had to take some loans out.

As long as you have a reasonable plan to keep finances in line I don't see a problem with some debt. After all, we didn't have several hundred thousand dollars just lying around to buy our house!

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I do hate being in debt. However, I have always viewed educational debt differently. I don't mind getting into debt to fund my future career goals. The journey and destination is well worth it!

With that said, I'll be about $71,000 in debt by the time I graduate. However,

$17,000 was from my first Bachelor's Degree

$29,000 will be from my BSN

I also took out some loans for assistance with living expenses

and also studied abroad for a little bit.

By the time I graduate, I figure my future employer will be able to help me with tuition reimbursement (about $10,000) and they will also be able to completely fund my MSN.

So, all in all, I'll owe about $61,000 for 2 Bachelor Degrees, a Master's Degree and some time abroad (no cc debt and no children!!!). That's not too shabby!

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I'm lucky. I've been able to pay up until now...I am thinking I will be getting a loan from this semester on.

So, if I am adding everything in correctly, I will only have about $2500 in loans which I'll pay pretty quickly. I only have 3 nursing classes left.

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In the end approximately $40,000 in dept that includes credit cards (0%) and student loans with my hubby who is a student as well and this includes a mortgage and we do not work. Florida offers a loan forgiveness program 4,000 for every year that'll help and we are moving back with my parents once we are done just to pay off the dept haha :)

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

I am fortunate enough to be eligible for financial aid. I am still applying for loans though. So far I owe right around $2800 ( i think thats correct) after my first year of prereqs. I am applying for a loan for this coming year, but I hope to be able to send some of it right back to them when I get it. I am not sure if I will be borrowing again for the final year of my ADN. For me it is a year by year basis.

So far then I guess 6,000.

But then once I go on to get my PhD, I have no idea how much I will be in debt.

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I

I don't think anyone is a "fan of debt"...but some of us don't have a choice. Hubby and I have a mortgage to pay, so unfortunately I had to take some loans out.

As long as you have a reasonable plan to keep finances in line I don't see a problem with some debt. After all, we didn't have several hundred thousand dollars just lying around to buy our house!

We certainly didn't have thousands of dollars just lying around to purchase our home. Neither of us is in a high paying job - McD's is hiring at more than I make per hour, and DH only makes 50 cents more than they are paying, but it's work he loves and that matters too. However, we agreed right from the start that our financial priority is to live without debt, so we are frugal where ever we can be and live simply. The result for us is that we have a very nice, modest home with a few acres in a beautiful place, and we are able to manage my school expenses without loans and when I graduate we will still be without debt.

I absolutely understand that we all don't share the same financial goals, but I believe we all do have a choice. Yours is simply different than mine.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
We certainly didn't have thousands of dollars just lying around to purchase our home. Neither of us is in a high paying job - McD's is hiring at more than I make per hour, and DH only makes 50 cents more than they are paying, but it's work he loves and that matters too. However, we agreed right from the start that our financial priority is to live without debt, so we are frugal where ever we can be and live simply. The result for us is that we have a very nice, modest home with a few acres in a beautiful place, and we are able to manage my school expenses without loans and when I graduate we will still be without debt.

I absolutely understand that we all don't share the same financial goals, but I believe we all do have a choice. Yours is simply different than mine.

My post was not directed toward you particularly. I saw the phrase "not a fan of debt" several times throughout the thread and wanted to point out that I am not either....but there is no way we could have purchased a home without taking on a mortgage. My 2 cents.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
We certainly didn't have thousands of dollars just lying around to purchase our home. Neither of us is in a high paying job - McD's is hiring at more than I make per hour, and DH only makes 50 cents more than they are paying, but it's work he loves and that matters too. However, we agreed right from the start that our financial priority is to live without debt, so we are frugal where ever we can be and live simply. The result for us is that we have a very nice, modest home with a few acres in a beautiful place, and we are able to manage my school expenses without loans and when I graduate we will still be without debt.

I absolutely understand that we all don't share the same financial goals, but I believe we all do have a choice. Yours is simply different than mine.

That sounds like us also. We haven't made a lot of money in our lives but we live simply. Our houses and cars were paid off before we turned 40. Since I was willing to work during school and start at a Community College I didn't have to use our savings. I would not have gone back to school if I had to take out loans. We all make our own individual choices and like you said some are just different than others.

:)

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Specializes in Cardiology, LTC, SANE.

When it comes to my situation, I will be going for my first college degree. I don't have a full time job with a previous degree to support myself through nursing school, so I didn't have much of a choice but to take out some loans. I will be in a great BSN program at a private college and I got into it right away and thankfully don't have to be put on a waiting list for a few years. I did get scholarships and grants, but my family isn't paying for the rest of my education because they have bills to pay for. (Even if I went to a cc, I'd still have to pay for it myself.) That's how they are doing it with all three of us kids. Luckily, I will be able to have tuition reimbursement at my local hospitals, which helps a lot. :heartbeat Just wanted to give my 2 cents, and I think it just depends on where you are in life and what you have to live by.

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Specializes in None.

Im scared to even tally up how much money I will owe once I graduate. I have been in college 4 years and two more to go. I wish I knew I wanted to do Nursing when I first came into college I could have shaved off two years of college, but oh well. I am looking into government programs and hospitals that have loan forgiveness as well graduate tuition assistance!!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
Im scared to even tally up how much money I will owe once I graduate. I have been in college 4 years and two more to go. I wish I knew I wanted to do Nursing when I first came into college I could have shaved off two years of college, but oh well. I am looking into government programs and hospitals that have loan forgiveness as well graduate tuition assistance!!

I started out with a different major too. No worries....at least you know you've made the right choice now! :)

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