Problems Before Nursing School

NurseBlaq · Jul 2, 2019

Are you in the US? Is there a way to apply for Medicaid? Do you already work and haven't picked up insurance at your job? Since you don't have a car, is other transportation available in your area like city buses, trains?

Medical insurance is a must. I'm thinking car/car insurance are subject to waiver if you live in a city with viable means of transportation like trains/buses.

What I suggest is reach out to your nursing admissions recruiter and explain the situation for a more solid idea on how to move forward. They can help you decide other options, extend the deadlines to correspond to clinicals (which is usually why insurance and transportation are mandatory), or extend your start date until next semester/fall to give you a chance to meet the requirements.

Good luck!

203bravo, MSN, APRN · Jul 2, 2019

I agree with NurseBlaq about the requirements for a car and auto insurance. Programs want to make sure that you have some sort of reliable transportation that will allow you to arrive at class and clinical sites on time. Most programs have very strict requirements regarding how many classes or clinicals that can be missed prior to an automatic failure of the course. If you can prove you have some other form of reliable transportation - such as a family member, friend, public transportation, class mate, etc - you should be fine.

Another possibility for your health insurance, many colleges and universities offer student policies... usually these policies are very reasonably priced.. you may want to check with the program to see if such a policy is offered.

Best of luck.

Tacocat, ASN, RN · Jul 2, 2019

Do you know anybody in your class that you can carpool with?

NurseBlaq · Jul 2, 2019

2 hours ago, 203bravo said:
Another possibility for your health insurance, many colleges and universities offer student policies... usually these policies are very reasonably priced.. you may want to check with the program to see if such a policy is offered.

Forgot all about schools offering students health insurance. Good info!

HotSauce77 · Jul 2, 2019

Definitely check with your school to see if they offer healthcare for students. Most of them do. Also, a lot of the time "stable transportation" just means you can show that you have a reliable way to get back and forth to campus. If you don't own a car you won't need auto insurance...so, you may just need to Uber or take public transport to school daily, if you aren't too far away.

Remia · Jul 3, 2019

Thanks everyone! I will definitely contact the nursing department tomorrow to explain my situation (unfortunately, the office already closed when I came back from work...)

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Jul 3, 2019

Once you start classes, find someone that lives either near you or drives past your neighborhood on the way to class and negotiate gas money to take you to class. No college student is going to turn down gas money if picking you up on their way to class is not an inconvenience.

TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN · Jul 3, 2019

No job or school can force health insurance on you. Think about it, what if you're a millionaire and you'd rather just write a check for all your medical costs? Suddenly doesn't make sense to be required to have health insurance now, does it? Typically there's a waiver, talk to your school. Nobody can force you to pay for your medical costs any particular way.

Auto insurance is up to your state. Lots of states let you "self-insure" yourself for liability if you can prove that you have the money to cover what would be charged to an insurance company if you caused damage.

As for having a car, no, you just need to be on time for clinicals and classes.

Tacocat, ASN, RN · Jul 3, 2019

1 hour ago, tonyl1234 said:
No job or school can force health insurance on you. Think about it, what if you're a millionaire and you'd rather just write a check for all your medical costs? Suddenly doesn't make sense to be required to have health insurance now, does it? Typically there's a waiver, talk to your school. Nobody can force you to pay for your medical costs any particular way.

In Massachusetts you're required to file proof of health insurance when you file your taxes or else you're charged a penalty. Taken from my own student handbook: "Chapter 23 of the Massachusetts Acts of 1988 requires that all students registered for nine or more credit hours must participate in a comprehensive health insurance plan unless they certify that they are participating in a health insurance plan with comparable coverage."

ThatChickOmi, ADN, RN · Jul 3, 2019

If you end up carpooling with people, please show them you appreciate them and give them a respectable amount of cash for gas money. I had one girl I picked up and dropped off before/after every clinical in first semester and she would "forget" the money half the time and our clinical site had valet parking too. It got old. Very fast.. I know it's sad I'm typing this, but some people just have no courtesy. I wasn't mean or rude to her at any point I just silently vowed never to carpool again.

Editorial Team / Admin · Jul 3, 2019

2 hours ago, tonyl1234 said:
No job or school can force health insurance on you.

Actually, that is indeed a stated requirement of many, if not most or all, nursing programs.