Student Loan Debt

Nursing Students General Students

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Is it common nowadays for nursing students to graduate with >100K in student loan debt? I am trying to wrap my head around how this is happening so let me throw a few questions out there.

  1. Did you go to a public or private university?
  2. If you chose a private university what advantages did you expect over a public university?
  3. Did cost play any role in selecting what university you went to?
  4. What was the cost of tuition per year?
  5. Did you use the student loan money for anything other than tuition, books or school fees?
  6. When you signed for the loans, did you have any idea how much the payments per month would be?
  7. If you are a working RN, what percentage of your monthly take home pay goes to servicing your school loans?
  8. If you are a working RN, knowing what you know now what if anything would you have done differently to keep the debt to a minimum?

Specializes in Labor and Delivery.
You simply make so many assumptions based off what? You read my profile then want to knock me for getting an LVN? Then you want to keep name calling and throwing negative innuendos? Your lack there of is astonishing. Where did you get your "BSN" from?

Girl I NEVER knocked you for getting your LVN. I actually wish I would have gotten my LVN first. I likely would have been done with nursing school a year or 2 sooner and I would debt free at the age of 23. (Even this $165/month that i pay is annoying.) I read your profile and noticed that you have your LVN. That's why I edited my initial comment and said you likely did not pay $100k for your LVN because $100k LVN programs don't exist!

I also never once called you or anyone else a name or threw a "negative innuendo" as you say.

Look boo, your perception is your reality so if my comments upset you then I apologize that you are upset, but I stand by what I said. I think you are smart for getting your LVN first. You'd never have to take out $100k in students should you decide to go back to school because you can easily work as a nurse and pay your way through school. Anyone who decides to take out $100k in student loans should take a lesson out of your book because you are doing things the smart way.

BTW I got my BSN from a very affordable and accredited state school that doesn't have me in ridiculous debt.

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Specializes in 4.
Girl I NEVER knocked you for getting your LVN. I actually wish I would have gotten my LVN first. I likely would have been done with nursing school a year or 2 sooner and I would debt free at the age of 23. (Even this $165/month that i pay is annoying.) I read your profile and noticed that you have your LVN. That's why I edited my initial comment and said you likely did not pay $100k for your LVN because $100k LVN programs don't exist!

I also never once called you or anyone else a name or threw a "negative innuendo" as you say.

Look boo, your perception is your reality so if my comments upset you then I apologize that you are upset, but I stand by what I said. I think you are smart for getting your LVN first. You'd never have to take out $100k in students should you decide to go back to school because you can easily work as a nurse and pay your way through school. Anyone who decides to take out $100k in student loans should take a lesson out of your book because you are doing things the smart way.

BTW I got my BSN from a very affordable and accredited state school that doesn't have me in ridiculous debt.

I appreciate your positive comments and I do understand what you are saying but please understand that not everyone comes to this profession with a financial gift or with the ability to go in debt free. I applaud you (and everyone else) who are able to do it with little or no debt but that doesn't make the rest of us somehow stupid. A little insight....I lost everything in 2006 (I lost my mom in 2004, step mom in 2006) and I was going thru a short sale on my house. I knew at 18 years old while working as a medical asst that I was born to be a nurse but not everyone's life is drawn out in a straight line. In 2006 while going thru the short sale on my house, it was the lowest that I have ever felt but getting my LVN hit me in the head as I knew I had to somehow turn it all around in my favor. So, I got my LVN and I am almost done with my ASN & BSN pre-req's. I have student loan debt as I needed the money to get back onto my feet. I needed money to help me survive while in school and working as an LVN (making crap in California as a new LVN, where cost of living is ridiculous). I know I am lucky and I wish I didn't have to go thru what I did to get here but the point is that I got here, obstacles and all.

Again, I applaud you for doing it your way.

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.
I appreciate your positive comments and I do understand what you are saying but please understand that not everyone comes to this profession with a financial gift or with the ability to go in debt free. I applaud you (and everyone else) who are able to do it with little or no debt but that doesn't make the rest of us somehow stupid. A little insight....I lost everything in 2006 (I lost my mom in 2004, step mom in 2006) and I was going thru a short sale on my house. I knew at 18 years old while working as a medical asst that I was born to be a nurse but not everyone's life is drawn out in a straight line. In 2006 while going thru the short sale on my house, it was the lowest that I have ever felt but getting my LVN hit me in the head as I knew I had to somehow turn it all around in my favor. So, I got my LVN and I am almost done with my ASN & BSN pre-req's. I have student loan debt as I needed the money to get back onto my feet. I needed money to help me survive while in school and working as an LVN (making crap in California as a new LVN, where cost of living is ridiculous). I know I am lucky and I wish I didn't have to go thru what I did to get here but the point is that I got here, obstacles and all.

Again, I applaud you for doing it your way.

Sistah I can tell you have been through alot. But I can also tell that you are extremely resourceful and have made a way out of no way plenty of times! I think it was a great show of strength and resillience for you to continue to pursuie your Nursing degree even in the midst of life's woes. Many people would have given up and thrown themselves a pity party had they gone through a third of what you just described. For that, you are a conqueror. There is a season to harvest and a season to reap and I am proud of you for sticking with it during your tough harvest season. I also applaud you for doing things your way. 2+2=4 and so does 3+1 and so does 4+0. Just because I prefer to use one method, doesn't meant the other methods are wrong. I don't have all the answers, but I do have an opinion lol. Good luck to you in all of your future endeavors sistah.

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Specializes in 4.
Sistah I can tell you have been through alot. But I can also tell that you are extremely resourceful and have made a way out of no way plenty of times! I think it was a great show of strength and resillience for you to continue to pursuie your Nursing degree even in the midst of life's woes. Many people would have given up and thrown themselves a pity party had they gone through a third of what you just described. For that, you are a conqueror. There is a season to harvest and a season to reap and I am proud of you for sticking with it during your tough harvest season. I also applaud you for doing things your way. 2+2=4 and so does 3+1 and so does 4+0. Just because I prefer to use one method, doesn't meant the other methods are wrong. I don't have all the answers, but I do have an opinion lol. Good luck to you in all of your future endeavors sistah.

Thank you...we all have a story to tell and life is about learning. I am glad we came to an understanding and I do see your point wholeheartedly. Everyone is just not so lucky but it is what it is. Obstacles are placed in front of us to jump over and that is what I did. I choose to live, so living is what I do and school just happens to be my priority now. I 100% agree with you on methods. What works for one is cool but doesn't mean it works the same for others. I too am very opinionated (can you tell? LOL) but I have come to a place of understanding and tolerance (at times, not so much....LOL). Seriously, amazing that you did it your way debt free and if I could, I would too. :yes:

I am getting my MSN, debt & all...cause at the end of the day, it is mine and no one can take that away without my permission.

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.
Thank you...we all have a story to tell and life is about learning. I am glad we came to an understanding and I do see your point wholeheartedly. Everyone is just not so lucky but it is what it is. Obstacles are placed in front of us to jump over and that is what I did. I choose to live, so living is what I do and school just happens to be my priority now. I 100% agree with you on methods. What works for one is cool but doesn't mean it works the same for others. I too am very opinionated (can you tell? LOL) but I have come to a place of understanding and tolerance (at times, not so much....LOL). Seriously, amazing that you did it your way debt free and if I could, I would too. :yes:

I am getting my MSN, debt & all...cause at the end of the day, it is mine and no one can take that away without my permission.

Word up.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
What online rn-bsn program did you do?
I completed the online RN-to-BSN program offered through .
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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

This discussion would be incomplete without mention of West Coast University, the investor-owned school that charges $136,000 for a traditional BSN degree.

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Okay wait.

Are we talking about the cost of actual education, ie tuition, books etc? Or the actual cost of education plus more borrowed to live off of?

If people are borrowing money to live off of, then sky's the limit on that.

When I think of the cost, I'm thinking what a kid living at home or some starving student would pay, which would just be tuition and books, while they lived with several roommates and lived off of top ramen, like I and my friends did. (My daughter doesn't live off of top ramen because she's got some help from me and can use her her part time income to buy food/gas etc).

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

Graduated with a BSN debt free. Now I am working on saving for my master's. I REFUSE to go into major debt for college. My goal is to graduate with my MSN with less than 20k in FEDERAL student loans. I plan on working a couple of years prior to starting school then go to school PT while working FT.

Student debt is the worst kind of debt one can have as it is the only one that cannot, under the vast majority of circumstances, be discharged in bankruptcy. It is with you FOR LIFE.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
Graduated with a BSN debt free. Now I am working on saving for my master's. I REFUSE to go into major debt for college. My goal is to graduate with my MSN with less than 20k in FEDERAL student loans. I plan on working a couple of years prior to starting school then go to school PT while working FT.

Student debt is the worst kind of debt one can have as it is the only one that cannot, under the vast majority of circumstances, be discharged in bankruptcy. It is with you FOR LIFE.

Scratch that. I hope to graduate debt free with my MSN. The MOST I would borrow for it would be 20k in federal loans.

Private ones are the devil!

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Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

I took out about 28K in debt for my first Bachelor's degree and have been casually paying it off since. This year my New Years Resolution is to work like crazy and pay off the remaining 10K. I picked up a cush PRN job to finish off the debt.

I paid as I went for my BSN program, so I have no debt in that regard. I've already identified an affordable Masters program for teaching, and will get tuition reimbursement from my employer for that.

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I could understand 100K in debt for both the BSN and MSN, but for either piece, 100K is a joke.

OP, care to explain how you think someone could end up 100K in the hole like that?

There are many private universities where the low end of the scale is 34-38K a year. Some as much as 48k a year. Even one my kid was accepted to that was 68K a year.

Tuition is a very, very small part of college. Therefore, if one is living at home (or an adult) and is going to classes, that is very different than a full time student who is living at the school. Besides fees and books, there's the dorms for anywhere from 4-8 thousand a year (and I dare say some a semester) the mandatory food program (6-8 thousand a year) and so on.

It is all fine well and good to say that a kid is going to pay parents back or take over payments for plus loans. But the obligation is with the parents and not the kid.

And in some states, it is a requirement that parents keep their adult children on their health insurance plans until either 24 or 26 if they are unmarried and a full time student.

Bottom line is that there is a significant difference between an 18 year old going to college and an adult. Even if your adult child is under the age of 24 and not married the parents still provide information to FASFA with an "obligation" or "responsibility".

It is rare for a dependent kid to get a student loan on their own besides a very small amount. That has changed from the days that anyone and everyone (dependent kid or not) could get a student loan.

And rarely does a kid defer college to work to pay off tuition as they go. I am not suggesting all kids, but a number of them. Universities are learned in finding a way to make it work for them, with little impact on how they will pay the loans off once they are done with school.

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