Student loan taking forever to pay off...

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How many are currently paying on their student loans? Do you feel like it's taking forever to pay off?

LOL, I'm sure many of you agree with the cartoon.

Please feel free share any tips on how to pay student loans quickly.

holli- my mom did the exact same as your dad! Claimed me as dependent when I was in 4 years of college. We all lived with my grandmother, and my mom worked part-time, so really my grandmother supported everyone. It wasn't until I tried to go to grad school that my Aunt, a CPA asked me why I hadn't been filing independent because I lived at the college dorm for 9 months out of the year. Part of claiming someone as a dependent is that they live with you more than 1/2 the year.

Also, try not to borrow more than 2x the amount of money as your would earn if things didn't work out and you end up back at the mall or McDonalds or wherever. I borrowed too much...almost 80k! and my payments are almost $900 a month. My husband borrowed 30k and his payments are $400 a month (I think his repayment period is shorter than my 30 year education mortgage though).

I am not a fan of forgiving student debt, but there is a lot that can be done to minimize the impact. The student loan interest deduction could be raised. There could be more programs geared toward helping repay private and federal loans when working in the public sector (right now only federal are part of that program).

I just hope that I can get a good job after nursing school (I'm going to community college and paying cash since the tuition is so low and I don't want anymore loans) so I can afford my other payments, like my job, and get on with my life.

Its funny...when I was in 4 year college, I made B's and C's. But now that I am making conscious decisions about my future, I am making A's. I just don't agree that everyone *should* go to a 4-year school. It's sad that many jobs "prefer" it, just to make sure the pool of applicants is smaller.

Specializes in Trauma-Surgical, Case Management, Clinic.
If you file your taxes independently (that is, state on your taxes that no one can claim you as a dependent), then you may not need to put your parents finances on it. There are several factors that go into determining your financial status on FAFSA. If your parents truly don't help out with your expenses (you don't live with them except for summer, and you are taking out $$$ in loans for your dorm, food, tuition, etc) then you are probably considered independent anyway (and your over 18!). I learned all this the hard way, but hope this info helps someone make the right choices when filling out FAFSA!

Maybe there is a way around it now, but when I was in school a few years ago you were not considered independent if you were under 24. I worked, filed my own taxes and was not financially supported by parents, but was required to list their tax info on my FAFSA and of course they made too much. I think I would have been considered independent if I had a child or was married regardless of age. I think that really sucks.

Im getting my associate rn at a communityy college for about 18k, and every bit of it is a tax deduction. My hope is that I will get a job at one of the two large local hospitals that will pay for me to further my education to eventually attain my masters. I say hope with a great deal of emphasis as I havent even been accepted into the program yet. But on my pre-reqs I have gotten back every penny I have paid for books, scrubs, tuition, anything school associated. At least where I live you can also claim everything you pay in school loans.

I feel the same way

Has anyone here obtained their BSN via an accelerated program? I already completed my undergrad with $17K left in loans, and am about to start an accelerated which will be close to an additional $55K for school & living loans. I was wondering if anyone has any good financial advice ( ie scholarships/grants/loan forgiveneess programs) since I'll get nothing from the government as a 2nd bachelor degree student.

Thanks!

Specializes in Critical Care.

When I made the decision to became an RN, I was a semester away from finishing my bachelor's in liberal arts, but realized it would affect financial aid so I chose not to complete my bachelors and instead ending up getting an ADN. Still had to take out student loans, but had only started taking out loans my last year of the BA degree, in the end $25,000, still paying it off almost 20 years later though less than $5,000 to go. Put it in deferment in the beginning when the pay was low and lots of bills, then consolidated to buy my house. Now I just want it paid off, done and work on paying off the house and saving for retirement.

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

*** I have little doubt that it would stimulate the economy. However if I were a person who had just spent 15 years working hard but living poor to pay off student loans, or had decided not to pursue my dream becuase it seemed unwise to barrow $80K for a $40k/year job I would be really angry if it happend.

Kmillersocal - exactly what I do. Old car = save $ for house & pay off loan of 65,000. I am down to 23,000 since graduating 2008! I usually pay 300 a month, but when working alot I add to it as much as I can. And when I have an extra thousand from tax return or something, I send in payment towards loan with most expensive interest. We want to pay those off first if we can. Check your statements folks....they save the highest interest for last.

Sorry for the late response here. Very smart of you to use your tax returns to pay down the student loans as well :-) Every bit adds up. You have managed to pay down 42k in just 4 years. That is amazing!!!

Maybe there is a way around it now, but when I was in school a few years ago you were not considered independent if you were under 24. I worked, filed my own taxes and was not financially supported by parents, but was required to list their tax info on my FAFSA and of course they made too much. I think I would have been considered independent if I had a child or was married regardless of age. I think that really sucks.

You know this goes for being married as well. My husband is in the military. We separated two years ago, but remain legally married until he retires since he is deployed. This basically keeps my son and I with our current benefits until I am done with school and working. In the meantime, we file married but file separate. I qualified for pell grant my first year of my VN program, but it was cut because the school insisted that my husbands income be included. Even on my FAFSA, it clearly states that I am separated. For the first time ever, I now qualify for a cal grant for my RN program, but I am scared to death that the school will ask for my husbands tax returns as well. Has anyone had this happen? He has been deployed overseas during our two year separation. Any ideas?

Specializes in Trauma, ER, ICU, CCU, PACU, GI, Cardiology, OR.
how many are currently paying on their student loans? do you feel like it's taking forever to pay off?

please feel free share any tips on how to pay student loans quickly.

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Specializes in Ambulatory Surgery, Ophthalmology, Tele.
Wow. I couldn't even begin to imagine. Makes me even more thankful for the good old Diploma program days. I received a stellar education with tons of hands-on clinical time, passed "boards" with ease (like 99% of my class) and went on to work at the hospital associated with the nursing school. Thanks to their "loan forgiveness" program for every month that I worked part of my school loan was paid. After working full time for a little over three years my loan was repaid in total with no impact to my take home pay. Basically, my nursing education was completely free. I have worked at the same hospital ever since - in fact my office is now in one of the old school of nursing dorm rooms :) A couple of years ago I went through an RN to BSN program that was mostly paid for with a tuition reimbursment program. It really makes me question how the media and the public can buy the story about the "nursing shortage". My education was free because the hospital could justify the cost of educating a nurse who would fill a position - if there was such a dire shortage today how come people are having to pay such an outrageous price for their education?
The hospital I work at has a tuition reimburement program. This hospital went to the colleges and recruited us when we first started school. They had a program where we would do most of our clinicals there. When the "traditional" program had the summers off, the hospital used their staff as teachers and we could go to school in the summer and get done with school a little sooner. (I was originnaly supposed to graduate June 2009 but graduated December 2008). It made sense to me to get done quicker and thus have a paycheck sooner. ;) Of course, after all is said I am glad I did the program and in clinicals I always did my best and was hired on at the hospital. After I was hired on I applied for the loan reimbursement and was told "Oh no, YOU don't get that. You were apart of that program." Really??? I still went to scbool, got in major debt with loans just like everybody else. Whatever. We even had to sign a contract promising 3 years and if we left sooner than 3 years we had to pay them $13000. When other were getting sign on bonuses we got to graduate early. I know, this was my bonus. And I am thankful to have a job in the tough economy. It just irked me that they made these special rules after the fact to make it convenient for them. But that's business right?
Specializes in NICU, OB/GYN.
Has anyone here obtained their BSN via an accelerated program? I already completed my undergrad with $17K left in loans, and am about to start an accelerated which will be close to an additional $55K for school & living loans. I was wondering if anyone has any good financial advice ( ie scholarships/grants/loan forgiveneess programs) since I'll get nothing from the government as a 2nd bachelor degree student.

Thanks!

I did! My loan total was a bit less than yours when all was said and done, including interest: just under $60,000. I made sure that I knew the terms and conditions of all of my loans before putting pen to paper. Some of my loans from both degrees were Perkins loans, for example, which can be forgiven by the federal government. I don't even make payments on them, I just submit paperwork on them to my servicer every year. My total gradually decreases with time, and will be eliminated after five years. There are other national loan forgiveness programs, too, but they're pretty competitive; I didn't qualify for them. My loans all get auto-debited every month, so my interest rates have decreased. And I have no penalties for paying them off early, so I do things like put extra money towards them every month. My highest interest loan is going to be paid off five years early as a result :up:.

I made sure to keep my resume looking competitive in school. I did my senior practicum/externship at a hospital where I knew that new graduates were being hired, to increase my chance of getting a job (and it worked!). It was important for me (for financial reasons, in part) to get hired in certain geographical areas of the country, not only so that I could afford to pay off my loans, but also for social reasons as well. I knew that if I got a job in a place where nurses were paid less than I'm paid now, it'd be more difficult for me to make ends meet... but I'm not having any difficulty now.

There's a lot of scholarships available for nurses. I had some from the school that I attended for my second degree. My employer gave me one for my first degree. I believe I found some from here: American Association of Colleges of Nursing | Student Scholarship Programs when I did research in school. The Tylenol Scholarship was always popular as well.

Good luck!

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