so im in a ton of student loan debt about $110k to be exact. Found out last week debt of edu disqualified me from the loan forgiveness program TWO years ago despite turning in all my paperwork. I never got any letter/email stating they were disqualifying me either. I just happened to stumble upon some small print after I logged in to my account last week to make a payment. Needless to say I've been extremely stressed and feel like I'm drowning. I almost made a couple mistakes while at work because I think subconsciously I'm so stressed and distracted about my loans...then that made me even more stressed thinking about how I could've potentially harmed a patient (looking at the wrong patients lab results and almost replacing potassium when it was
already elevated). Thankfully I caught myself before giving it but I feel stuck. Plus I'm a travel nurse so I feel like my license is even more on the line at times. Always wanted to move out of the country or do a mission trip overseas for 6 months, but feel like I can't even do what I've always dreamed about because of my loans.
On top of it my car broke down and my travel agency won't help me out. They said they would take the cost out of my paycheck. So I went and rented a car myself and ended up denting it on a short pole that I couldnt see when backing out of a driveway. 🤯
Any advice on loans, how you deal with stress, etc would be helpful!
First I would go use your story to warn other students about this same mistake. Any people get on this board asking if they should borrow large amounts of student loans. Next I would follow Dave Ramsey. It's doable but you will have to live dirt poor and work tons of OT until you get this down. There is no easy way out but it is possible.
I went to a private nursing program and graduated with almost $50K in debt to repay.
Here is what I did to pay off my loans-
After my year of experience as a nw grad, I moved to a new state and took 2 per diem positions. As you may know, per diem positions usually (not always) pay more than a regular hourly RN wage in lieu of forfeiting benefits. I worked 4-5 nights per week for over a year (and bought private, affordable insurance). I made over 100K last year and paid off my ENTIRE $50,000 loan.
I lived extremely frugally, made all my own food and cooked, lived right next to the hospital so I could walk and not have to use the expense of a car, and minimized all my costs. When the time came that I saw my loan status switch to, " Congratulations! Your loans have been paid off in full.", I was so happy I cried. The night I took myself out to a nice, expensive dinner lol.
Anyway, my point to you is that there are options. You won't be stuck in debt forever if you modify your lifestyle. It's not the most fun to live frugally, but it broke the chains of debt for me by doing so.
Very very good advice, I'm thinking about taking the same route Although I do not have 100k in student loan debt, I have would like to pay off some small personal debt, build my personal savings and save for going back to school for higher education. I think this route should be take by a lot of registered nurse especially if they want to go back to school and do not want to burden themselves with too much debt. I think the OP story can be a cautionary take to pre nursing students out there. Her story is not the worst tough because unlike many in her predicament , she has the means to pay it back within a timely manner if she puts her mind to it.
so im in a ton of student loan debt about $110k to be exact. Found out last week debt of edu disqualified me from the loan forgiveness program TWO years ago despite turning in all my paperwork. I never got any letter/email stating they were disqualifying me either. I just happened to stumble upon some small print after I logged in to my account last week to make a payment. Needless to say I've been extremely stressed and feel like I'm drowning. I almost made a couple mistakes while at work because I think subconsciously I'm so stressed and distracted about my loans...then that made me even more stressed thinking about how I could've potentially harmed a patient (looking at the wrong patients lab results and almost replacing potassium when it was
already elevated). Thankfully I caught myself before giving it but I feel stuck. Plus I'm a travel nurse so I feel like my license is even more on the line at times. Always wanted to move out of the country or do a mission trip overseas for 6 months, but feel like I can't even do what I've always dreamed about because of my loans.
On top of it my car broke down and my travel agency won't help me out. They said they would take the cost out of my paycheck. So I went and rented a car myself and ended up denting it on a short pole that I couldnt see when backing out of a driveway. 🤯
Any advice on loans, how you deal with stress, etc would be helpful!
thanks all
This is a warning to all those who are counting on federal student loan forgiveness. From what I've read it's common to be disqualified and few get the loan forgiveness in the end, resulting in even more debt to be paid back due to negative amortization where the interest capitalizes increasing the loan when you make income based payments that are less than the monthly accumulated interest.
I'm surprised you would think you would qualify for loan forgiveness if you are working as a traveler because my understanding is you must work for a non-profit and I don't think travel agencies are non profit.
Is it working for the travel agency that disqualified you? I suggest you look for further advice from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to see if it is possible to restart the loan forgiveness option if you get a nursing job working for a non-profit hospital. Unfortunately even if this is possible, the years you've already paid in most likely won't count; also Trump and the republicans want to get rid of loan forgiveness altogether.
I was there, and I thankfully got out. My debt was the result of a combination of various adverse circumstances beyond my control, student loans, and my own foolishness.
I am here to tell you it took time. After 5 years, there was some breathing room, and the debt was finally paid off in 8 years.
I was fortunate that when I understood my situation, I immediately developed a horror of buying anything I didn't absolutely need, and could not afford. The horror remains, thankfully.
I made a "game" of it, and it was also a very spiritual process of being grateful. Dave Ramsey has been mentioned in other posts. I didn't know about him then, but I followed a similar philosophy.
Clothes from the Salvation Army are nicer than you think. No one will even know. Homemade meals only.
Staycations for many years, because I could not afford to travel.
It was surprising how many free, or extremely low cost hobby options there are.
You should cancel most cable options, but never the Internet, it is essential.
I worked an extra shift whenever possible and put it toward the problem. I took any extra work I could find.
I had a reliable, used car.
The approach that worked for me overall was spiritual. Thankfully, I never experienced any true privation. We always had food, the heat was on (at 60), and our used cars were never possessed.
I also took inspiration from a woman who wrote some books in the 80's called The Tightwad Gazette. She wanted to stay home with her kids, living on one income. She was willing to do what it took.
It can be done. Like anything worthwhile, it will take time.
Someone previously mentioned Dave Ramsey. This is SO WORTH GETTING INTO!!!!! I broke my back, was in bed 18months, over 300k medical, lost health ins....husband then got laid off, all 5weeks after purchasing a home. Medical ate our savings and "safety net". My middle name is Unexpected.
Dave Ramsey has some really great guidelines for how to #1 Get Crap Under Control. This will lessen ulcer growth rates LOL and let you get some sleep at night.
We dumped all credit cards (I mean, didn't have many and they were for emergencies only and were used as such). We got sued by one, and made payment arrangements. The rest will settle later. I am scared of student loans, but will figure it out. We sold our nice truck, and bought a beater with cash for 3500$ to get out from under the debt. Changed insurance companies. No TV. Dropped phone data plan. Changed internet plan. Used firewood instead of propane this winter. Cut down our own trees for next year. I have an Ebay store where I sell anything too nice to sell at a yard sale. Sold all textbooks. Cleaned out closet and sold all Victoria Secret sweatshirts, Coach bags, Puma shoes, Gucci heels... cried a bit. And I am cash-flowing my BSN (RN bridge) and got a job at a spot that does tuition reimbursement. I pay cash for EVERYTHING. If you use a card AT ALL (even bank card) you will impulse buy....cash keeps you honest. TRIM ALL FAT and when there's no more to trim, sell more stuff. DVDs, CDs, books, compression socks, tennis rackets, mountain bike (Gary Fisher if anyone's interested LOL).... SELL SELL SELL, and cry cry cry. But do it. And believe, you'll be fine if you put in the work.
Yes the first poster isn't who I was referring to. Also I was at the same hospital for three years and for the first year the loan forgiveness was approved I was working at an underprivileged hospital. That's why I was confused when they disqualified me. In my contract it states they would help with rental car expenses if needed, but when I brought it up they said it would just come out of my paycheck.
Were you working as a traveler when it was first approved? All I know about the forgiveness program is you have to work for a qualified non-profit and have to renew every year.
I would suggest you learn about personal finance, some good books are Deal with your debt by Liz Weston and Personal Finace for Dummies by Eric Tyson. A useful budget is 50% needs, 20% savings & debt repayment and 30% wants, but in your case I would reverse it and do 30% for debt repayment instead.
I imagine you have private as well as public loans. Look at the interest rates and pay the higher interest rate loans first which I assume would be private loans. Have you consolidated your govt public loans? Doing so you could stretch out the repayment period beyond the standard 10 years. Granted the downside is paying more interest. Your student loans must be your first priority, pay at least the minimum. Public student loans have options of deferment or forbearance but these will only postpone the inevitable repayment and increase your debt from the capitalized interest so do this as only a last resort. Bankrate.com has calculators that can show you how much interest each loan is accruing monthly and how much your payment will reduce the principal (student loan itself).
Also if you have any co-signers it is essential that you make the payments and you may have to take out a life insurance policy with your co-signer as the beneficiary for the private loans because if something happened to you, they would still be expected to pay off the loan.
Be aware that there are no bankruptcy options for student loans. If you stop making payments you will default within 9 months and then the fees and penalties are around 25% of the loan which can double or triple the loan, plus your pay can be garnished and tax refunds taken and even your social security garnished to repay the loan. Worse some states will take away your license to work as a nurse if you default! Frankly, it is the worst debt out there and it makes me sick that everyone pushes young inexperienced teens to go to college without even a personal finance class and the knowledge of how dangerous this debt can be.
On the brighter side, at least you chose a useful degree and nursing pays well compared to most jobs that college grads get. Plus you have the option for overtime.
You might want to check out Dave Ramsey too and his advice could help jumpstart your way of out of student loan debt sooner than later, but take him with a grain of salt and compare Liz Weston's advice and see which suits you best!
I was there, and I thankfully got out. My debt was the result of a combination of various adverse circumstances beyond my control, student loans, and my own foolishness.
I am here to tell you it took time. After 5 years, there was some breathing room, and the debt was finally paid off in 8 years.
I was fortunate that when I understood my situation, I immediately developed a horror of buying anything I didn't absolutely need, and could not afford. The horror remains, thankfully.
I made a "game" of it, and it was also a very spiritual process of being grateful. Dave Ramsey has been mentioned in other posts. I didn't know about him then, but I followed a similar philosophy.
Clothes from the Salvation Army are nicer than you think. No one will even know. Homemade meals only.
Staycations for many years, because I could not afford to travel.
It was surprising how many free, or extremely low cost hobby options there are.
You should cancel most cable options, but never the Internet, it is essential.
I worked an extra shift whenever possible and put it toward the problem. I took any extra work I could find.
I had a reliable, used car.
The approach that worked for me overall was spiritual. Thankfully, I never experienced any true privation. We always had food, the heat was on (at 60), and our used cars were never possessed.
I also took inspiration from a woman who wrote some books in the 80's called The Tightwad Gazette. She wanted to stay home with her kids, living on one income. She was willing to do what it took.
It can be done. Like anything worthwhile, it will take time.
OMG the tightwad gazette. You better believe I rinse my plastic bags and reuse them! Love her so much.
Dave Ramsey's snowball idea really helped me get a handle on my debt. I work 2 jobs and sometimes get discouraged at how much goes to my debts, but it gets better every year. I graduated 3 years ago and have whittled away my credit card and private student loan debt. It will take me a long time to pay down my federal student loans. I have 100% legal and physical custody of my 2 kids, and my daughter has significant medical needs that are shockingly expensive even with insurance. and their dad only contributes 200 a month, which is insulting.
When we lived in mass, I was allowed to buy in to medicaid for her with an income based premium, since she is disabled. It was a lifesaver- the premium was higher than what I pay for private insurance, but there were no surprise costs. It was either covered, or not. Black and white. No deductibles or co-insurance or inexplicable denials of coverage for what is obviously necessary care. And the coverage was much more comprehensive. Almost makes me want to move back!
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Just graduating out of highschool I had no idea what I was getting myself in to and now looking back regret not going to a school in my state or even a community college. Learning my lesson now so really don't need to be to be lectured on that. No I did not ask them to pay to fix my car I'm a traveling nurse and most travel agencies will help you with a rental car since you are traveling for your assignments. That being said my company is not one of those. In regards to the "what sort of privileged life have you lived" comment makes me laugh because my family grew up with nothing and lived off of food stamps for the first part of my childhood.
I went to school at the university of Arkansas. Most of my family are not college graduates so I didn't have a lot of guidance with what to do with my fianances and college.
Would appreciate some constructive criticism instead of the rude comments from some you. Everyone is brought up differently and everyone makes mistakes. All we can do is learn from them.
OK so here's some truely constructive criticism. Like you said what's done is done and now you have a huge hole to dig yourself out of. I personally don't believe in loan forgiveness programs. When on takes out a loan they are signing a contract to pay back all that money in full with interest. One can easily look up the starting salary of a working RN and figure out what is reasonable.
One thing I can suggest is that you look into goining to work in a very rural area like Alaska, Montana, Whyoming. Quit traveling set down some roots and start commit half of your pay to your loans. In some cases nurses can work for the department of Indian Affairs on a reservation and the govt will repay part of your loans if you commit to working for two or more years. This may also satisfy your itch to work with underserved populations. You loan is not going to go away and gets bigger all the time so start paying now. GO home live with family and put all or most of your salary towards your loans, No new cars, vacations, or indulgences until you can knock down a significant postion of your loan.
I had about 63k in debt to start and ended up paying close to 68k in total. A little was from my first degree, but I did a 2nd degree BSN, and of course I didn't want to go to community college, so there you have it. I lived with my boyfriend and shared costs, didn't have a car payment, so I was able to put all my extra money into my loans and pay them off completely in three years.
It didn't make sense for me to consolidate my loans. I paid them off based on interest rate, paying minimums on all the loans and then throwing the extra money at whatever loan I targeted that month. It also gives you small victories when you see an individual loan paid off. I was constantly on the website, and although I usually paid once a month, if I miscalculated and had more money after I got paid than I thought, I'd throw another payment in.
I don't like debt, and it was so freeing to pay everything off. I had no concept of how much money I really made because I didn't let myself see it. I could have paid it off sooner if I'd been even more frugal but any vacation I took was something I worked for too.
In terms of the rental car thing, with travel contracts, the money you company pays you is from the sum they get paid by the hospital. Your company can break that up however you and they decide; if you have some new cost incurred after you already signed a contract (a contract which dictates how much money you are getting and how it's broken down), they aren't likely to give you any more, as it comes out of their cut now. The contracts I've seen that offer rental cars tend to be for ones in areas that you wouldn't drive to, like Alaska and Hawaii. But even then, the money for the rental car comes from the same pot, they just advertise it as a perk they know we will want.
headofcurls, BSN, RN
136 Posts
First I would go use your story to warn other students about this same mistake. Any people get on this board asking if they should borrow large amounts of student loans. Next I would follow Dave Ramsey. It's doable but you will have to live dirt poor and work tons of OT until you get this down. There is no easy way out but it is possible.