Student Loan help!!!

[misssarab.5]

I should be starting my first semester of nursing school in Jan 2014. As many may know, the first semester is the most expensive. Right now I have a grant and a Stafford loan that will cover tuition and books. There are many start up costs that I have to have by Jan 7th such as scrubs, polos, correct shoes, stethoscope, extra books, CPR class, health screenings, 4 mths of health insurance up front and the list goes on. Also I am having to move from Houston to North Tx for school. I'm needing and extra loan for about $1,500. the ones I have looked into so far (Wells Fargo & Sallie Mae) go directly to the school and the school disburses it to you, usually 3 wks after school starts which does me no good! Also my credit isn't so good but I have a willing co-signer....anyone know of any good and easy loan places that will give money directly to me in a relatively short amount of time? Help!

[misssarab.5]

My school's first semester is 3xs the amount plus all of the start up cost...believe it or not, the next 3 are only $1,059-$1,528 for the whole semester, including testing fees, graduation fees and NCLEX costs. And my financial aid will easily pay for those and probably wont even need a Stafford loan. I thought all nursing programs would be that way, guess not.

[Stephie82]

Don't go to Sallie Mae dealing with them now, they are a pain. A lot of my friends are having problems with them as well. I'd try private loan with willing co-signer as well.

[PhillippaX50]

My school's first semester is 3xs the amount plus all of the start up cost...believe it or not, the next 3 are only $1,059-$1,528 for the whole semester, including testing fees, graduation fees and NCLEX costs. And my financial aid will easily pay for those and probably wont even need a Stafford loan. I thought all nursing programs would be that way, guess not.

Is that your tuition? Wow, you're lucky. My program is around $25-30k at a private 4-year. At least you won't be in debt for the rest of your life, lol! There's some good news in all of this after all. :)

[PhillippaX50]

Don't go to Sallie Mae dealing with them now, they are a pain. A lot of my friends are having problems with them as well. I'd try private loan with willing co-signer as well.

Forgive my ignorance...but isn't Sallie Mae a private loan? I was under the impression that I couldn't go through them because of my credit not being so good.

[misssarab.5]

My program is pretty cheap in all, around $7,000 for 2 years, but half of that is for the first semester and then all the cost before hand, once I get through this first semester I will be fine money wise :) and once I graduate I should only have $4,500-$6,000 to pay back.

[203bravo, MSN, APRN]

Sallie Mae holds both federal and private student loans.

[pomm]

Will your school defer your tuition and fees while you await the money? If I remember correctly from the last time I was in school this happened. Mind you this was back in the 90s. I know where I will be going next month they offer this. If I remember correctly, I used to get a voucher every semester for the bookstore and this was taken out of the financial aid later. This time around I am getting the runaround with financial aid, but that is another subject, lol.

[PhillippaX50]

My program is pretty cheap in all, around $7,000 for 2 years, but half of that is for the first semester and then all the cost before hand, once I get through this first semester I will be fine money wise :) and once I graduate I should only have $4,500-$6,000 to pay back.

That's awesome! I hope you'll be able to figure something out. If I find anything, I'll let you know!

[misssarab.5]

amcleod72...Even if they did it wouldn't help because you can only use those loans towards tuition and whatever you can buy in their bookstore. And what im needing is a loan for is all the extra stuff I have to have before classes start. I also talked to my financial aid office and they understand my situation and others because it is seriously a TON of stuff you have to pay for, but unfortunately there is no way to use the loans on any of it.

[SageFemmeReveur]

If you really are out of options a credit card may be the only way, capital one (from what I have heard) will give one to almost anyone, though the interest rate is outrageous, you'd just have to do your best to pay it off as quick as possible.

[mrsboots87]

This is something I wish was more commonly explained to pre nursing students. Im sure some school mention up front costs in pre nursing orientation, or during the application process, but I mostly see students stressing about how to pay the up front costs. My school lists the cost of attendance, but does not list the $2000 in cost for health crap, books, and scrubs/supplies. If I had not come on here and read about that, I wouldn't have known to save. I don't work while in school and Hubs cant fork that all out within a few months so I took my entire offered loan amount last semester and this semester and saved as much of my refund as possible in anticipation of being accepted. I am only short a few hundred, and my book advance will cover that for the remaining books I need. Sorry to rant on your thread. But my advisor and the nursing advisor I turned my app into said nothing about this cost, and the school site does not as well. It just gets sprung on the student in the acceptance packet.

A few people mentioned using your cosigner to take out a personal loan, and then pay it off in full when you get your refund. Or at least as much as possible so your payment will be low. That seems like the best option so far.

[Suey816]

If your school has a fb group, you can buy uniforms and books cheap from graduating students. That's what I'm doing and buying my uniform for $15 from graduating student. Can your parents cover you on their health insurance? They should be able to unless they don't have it, or you have kids, and if you have kids, maybe you can get some kind of state health ins.? Not sure how it works in TX, but that would work in IL. Good luck, you can find a way.