Student Loan... how much?

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hello! this is my first time posting, but have been looking around this site for a few weeks. i had worked at a mrdd group home for a few years as a aide, before having my children, and since then wanted to go into the nursing field. this has been the best time to go back, and i'm so excited!

i will start my pre-reqs for the lpn program, starting in june and would like to know how much i should take out for a student loan. i will be getting a pell grant of $5,500. i thought that would cover most of everything, but from the sounds of it, it won't. lol.

i will be a full time student, with 2 kids plus my stepson for the summer quarter. kids ages are 1,4, and 8. my amazing husband will be working mostly to support us, so i don't have anyone to watch them to study. we qualify for child care assistance, but it will only cover for the time i'm in class. i would like to use some of the loan to pay for child care while i'm in tutoring sessions. i'm thinking 2 or 3 hours a day, 2 days out of the week. i hope this is possible. plus everything else i will need to use the loan for, books, classes, supplies... you get it. lol.

how much should i take for a student loan? while we are at it... anyone have tips on balancing everything?

i hope to hear from some of you! thank you :)

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Since you are doing prereq's I would probably try to hold off on taking a lot out for student loans. Depending on what your work plans are during the actual nursing program you may need to take out more during those years for living expenses if you plan on cutting down.

I quit my job and just plan on working part time in the fall so most of my money will be coming from school loans unfortunately!

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I'm in the same boat as K girl. I will be pretty much living off of my student loans come fall. That being said, I did all of my pre-req's part-time to avoid having to take out loans before I started the program. It took longer but I'm only going to have four semesters worth of student loan debt, rather than 8 or 9. Thanking my lucky stars for that.

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I am married with 3 kids and I didn't take out any student loans for my pre-reqs, I took night and online classes at a CC. I start (RN) Nursing school at a 4 year University next week and I'm taking out loans for nursing school because I will not be able to work full-time if I'm able to work at all. You may want to look up a student loan repayment calculator so you will get an ideal of what your payments will be depending on the amount of money you borrow. That's what I did, I don't want to finish nursing school with a huge student loan payment each month.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

I agree with that Witty said. Prior to taking out loans, please consider the total length of your program. I think there's a difference between taking out loans for a short term get you in and out all inclusive program like a vocational school and taking out loans for a program like the ones through the public colleges in my area, which can take F.O.R.E.V.E.R.it can take a student years to complete prereqs.

That being said, if you must have loans to get through school,and without loas you'll never be able to go, then you need to do what you need to do, even if it means taking out loans, But, please consider what your total debt will be plus your total payments.

As far as needing loans to pay for childcare, here are some tips:

1. Search on here fpr tips on how other moms study with kids

2. If your daycare program is being paid their full time rate, then discuss with the childcareprogram whether you can use additional hours to study. Also, try to set up your schedule so that you are allowed full time. For example, iin my area, 1 childcare subsidiy program considers 30 hrs/wk full time. Plus you are allowed 45 min to 1 hour of travel time and I think gaps between classes, as long as they're les than travel time.

Good luck!

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Thank you for all your replys! I will hold off on getting a loan for right now. The thought of having all three kids for the summer is overwhelming me right now. It will be much easier in the fall when my son will be going to preschool, and my stepson goes home to his mom. I will have to be much more stricter with my time management. Kudos to you, WITTY3. That is awesome! I know alot of moms out there are going back to school, but wasn't sure how they did it.

Thanks again all of you :)

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