Student loans for off campus housing?

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Has anyone used student loans to help move out of ones parents house or live off campus? I am currently turning 25 years old and looking for ways to move out of my parents house while still being able to go to nursing school. I do not want to be 28-29 years old before I am finally able to move out of my parents house. Too me that is just plain pathetic and every day I wake up depressed and upset with this thought. It has gotten pretty bad to the point that it has been hard to concentrate at times due to this depression thought. I know my school offers 10,500 in student loans and was trying to figure out if I should use that to help pay for a small studio apartment. Just wondering if anyone else have done something similar to this or has done this. Thank you

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

1. If you did what you would like to do ... how much would your total loans be when you graduate? That's a big part of the equation here. Putting yourself into a long-term financial crisis (with the long term stress that would cause) might not be worth the short-term happiness that you get from having your own place. Financially, it makes no sense to get your own place unless your current situation is unsafe or harmful to you in some way. But if this would be your only debt, then it might not be so bad.

2. If your problems with depression are as bad as you describe, then you should probably focus on getting some help with your depression as school will be stressful and I doubt that your depression will magically go away once you get an apartment. It would probably be a lot cheaper to get some help for your depression than it would be to get your own place.

3. Also, keep reminding yourself that the cost of having your own place is more than just the cost of the rent. There are utilities that will need paid ... and renters' insurance ... and furnishings ... kitchen supplies, dishes, bedding, towels, toilet paper, laundry costs, microwave, etc. and probably a lot of other things you may not have calculated into your budget. Do you already have your own TV, computer printer, etc.? You'll need those kinds of things in your new place.

4. Are there any other alternatives? ... such as moving in with another family member or friend who would charge you very little to let you live with them for even part of the time.

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Wow not sure if this is a serious post but will answer. so living at home with your parents is depressing? which is why you want to take out over 10k per year to pay for a place? Not judging but I think it is a very bad idea. Debt isn't good and can hold you behind and give you depression. If anything, you should live there until you can afford your own place, not take loans to pay it. Also watch a few video of Dave Ramsey on student loans on YouTube. You will understand how people are struggling. My two cents.

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Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.

Debt is depressing.

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I think you're setting yourself up for more stress by having living by yourself as an expectation instead of a goal right now. I mean, really--if you could afford to live decently on your own right now, there would be little point to going back to school and increasing your earning potential. Believe me, you would not be alone if you stayed at your parents' or had a roommate or two while going to college. Literally everyone I know in college lives with someone else to cut expenses. If you do end up taking large loans to live by yourself, you may find yourself living with your parents after graduation in order to afford living expenses and paying back your debt. That would not be uncommon either. And it would suck much harder.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I don't judge anyone for not wanting to live with their parents. My mother was an emotionally abusive hoarder. Living with her was not an option. Money isn't everything.

Student loans can be used for living expenses. That said, student loan debt is the only debt that can literally follow you to the grave. If you have a cosigner, it can follow you beyond the grave. Could you afford to live in a rented room without student loans? Are there any organizations that set up people who need housing with home owners (usually elderly) who need help at home?

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Specializes in retired LTC.

I'm not sure how my response will fit in here, but DON'T DO IT. Not for housing!

Depending on which type of loans you could obtain, your future with future education could be impaired. Your ability to take out further loans could be denied and then POOF! There goes your chance for future education.

JMHO

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Not sure why you think living at home while in school is pathetic. But be that as it may, let's say you borrow $10K/year for your own apartment. You'll end up with a payment of at least $300/month after you graduate. Whether you pass your boards and get a job right away or not, that payment will be due every month for ten years in many programs. Assuming you get a job as a nurse, you'll be working one shift a month just to pay for the loans that let you live on your own during school.

You don't say how it is living at home but I imagine you aren't the one dealing with all of the yard work and cleaning etc. while you are in school. And I imagine there's typically a snack in the fridge when you take a break while studying, and somebody around to help you out if your car won't start the morning of clinical, or you lose your phone. There's probably also some decent "stuff" - TV, laundry, linens, kitchen ware, etc. Those and others are some of the "soft' perks of living at home.

Now, if for some reason you're in a really bad home situation, it might be worth the cost. But if you are becoming so depressed over living at home you can't concentrate on studying, I'd think about getting some help with that, talk to your advisor or a couselor at school. That's an unusual thing to cause a serious depression - there might be other issues coming up you aren't as aware of.

My loan payment was only $100/month. I had no choice but to take out some loans even though I worked while in school. Livingh at home wasn't an option. I REALLY didn't like making those payments. Think long and hard about this one.

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Living with my parents during school let me pay my way through and graduate debt free. I was in my mid-20s and managed to work, go to school and have a social life.

What I would find depressing is having to work overtime every week to repay loans.

I once asked some a group of coworkers who regularly work 4, sometimes 5 12 hour shifts a week, and the answer from all of them was that they were repaying student debt. Nursing is exhausting sometimes, and I can't imagine working those kinds of hours and not feeling much benefit from the money.

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You know what's really pathetic? Being 40 or 50 years old and having your life controlled and restricted by heavy student debt payments. Don't do it. When a boyfriend of mine was in law school many years ago, the dean of the law school used to caution the students about excessive debt with a saying that has stayed with me over the years -- "If you live like a lawyer while you're a student, you'll be living like a student once you're a lawyer." Don't take out any more in student loans than absolutely necessary, and cut whatever corners you need to cut to keep your living expenses as low as possible. Embrace the "staving student" lifestyle. :) I would have been delighted to have had the option of living with my parents while I was in nursing school or graduate school to save money. As it was, I lived as cheaply as possible, squeezed every nickel 'til it screamed, cut every expense I could possibly cut, worked as much as possible (without hurting my studies), and kept my loans to the bare minimum. Every penny you borrow now is money you will be paying back for years with interest.

Best wishes for your journey!

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Stay living at home. It may be a bummer now but excess loans are NOT fun! I worked full time while in school but pay for my apartment and support my kids. I would overborrow just so I had extra money at Christmas time. I graduated a few months ago and am currently looking for an RN job. Even after I get the job, I'll be paying back my loans (around $320 a month) and I'll have to get myself health insurance which I haven't had for a few years due to the cost. As an adult, I wish I could move back with my parents just so I can catch up on bills but my son would have to switch schools and go to a not so great district so I will stay where I am.

The school you go to will probably have a lounge or quiet rooms you can hang out in if you don't want to be home. Once you start classes and spend a lot of time on school work, you wont even notice your parents.

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Think of it in terms of years. How many years left to school? Multiply that by the $10,500 and then you need to pay that for 10 years or more. Think about needing a car to get to work and you can't afford one because you're paying the cost of the car in loans to live someplace other than home. You're in school in the first place so you can earn a comfortable living and be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Getting further into debt is not going to allow that to happen. FYI, I lived with my folks until I got married at 27. Had cousins that lived with their folks way longer. A few years of living home is nothing in comparison to how the debt will affect your future. Staying home is a lot less depressing than having a ton of debt because you didn't.

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