scholarship? loans? advice please!

samanthajo23 · May 8, 2013

You can't get federal pell grant? Since only he works and you have 2 little ones, you should qualify!

Alisonisayoshi, LVN · May 8, 2013

Pell first and foremost. Try for scholarships of course, and then a SMALL loan. You are investing in your future. It's not the end of the world to take a SMALL loan through the federal government. Sit down in your Fin Aid office at school. There are often resources through your school you don't even know about. My school has a small scholarship just for nursing shoes. Another for the cost of the TEASV. If I hadn't asked I'd never have known.

MommaTy · May 8, 2013

A lot of scholarship deadlines at schools have passed, but look up online scholarships. Some go until June!

meg2014 · May 8, 2013

Yes, I get a pell grant. It pays for my tuition and books. And it has worked perfectly up until now. I received a long list of expenses for the nursing program and I don't know how I'm going to pay for them! I just thought there had to be something out there to help nursing students pay for the extra costs?? I called my school financial aid department and they said they don't participate in any federal student loans such as a Stafford loan and that I would have to apply for one privately. I applied for SallieMae today but got denied. I don't have a co signer and all the ones I have researched are credit based. As for scholarships I have searched the internet and there are sooo many different ones I don't know where to start! Which ones are legit or even possible. I know some deadlines have passed but some have not so I'm just desperate at this point and will take whatever I can get!! Any and all advise is very much appreciated!!

NICUmiiki, DNP, NP · May 9, 2013

If you don't have insurance, check out your local health unit for the physical and vaccines.

meg2014 · May 11, 2013

I don't have insurance so the health department was the first place I checked. There are still pretty expensive but probably the cheapest place.

Shorty11, BSN, RN · May 11, 2013

Where I live, the health dept. provides vaccinations at a seriously discounted rate for low-income persons/families. My vaccines ended up costing me less than half of what they would have. I would call your health dept and ask if they offer such a program. My drug screen was done through the local hospital and only cost me $25. I think my background check and fingerprints cost around $39. When I called around to local physicians to schedule a physical, I found out that it was going to be quite expensive (this was before I had purchased the required student health insurance). Taking the advice of someone else, I waited until closer to the start of the fall semester when the local physicians and chiropractor's offices offered "sports physicals" for high school athletes. I found a chiropractors office that offered "sports physicals" for $15. I called and made an appt. I let the chiropractor know when I arrived for my appt that it was actually a physical for nursing school. He said it was not a problem and even had the required forms to send to my nursing school after. I was still able to pay the $15 rate.

I qualified for several scholarships that paid for the majority of tuition, books, etc. I also took out a small subsidized student loan (federal). I can't say I know much about private student loans..have never had one.

I swallowed my pride and asked several family members to help me out on the cost of my drug test, background check, and physical.

Its never fun to ask anyone to help you out financially, but family might be happy to help with your education (if they can afford to anyways).

Best of luck!