Student loans killing me!! stressed!

3peas · May 22, 2018

Do exactly what chacha82, ADN, RN said. Prioritize paying your loan over everything else! Like one finance guru said "the latte factor" people will drop $4-5 on a latte a day (or whatever you are spending money on), well that $4-5 dollars adds up to big money. I have paid off big student loan debt, big credit card debt doing exactly what I'm suggesting. You have to cut expenses to the bare bones, work you butt off, and you will see the debt come down. You won't pay off this kind of debt in a year, but if you're smart and work hard you can pay it off in a very short period of time. I would not begrudge your debt either. If you are the first college grad in your family (like I am) it's your ticket to making a better life. Make those payments with pride!

TriciaJ, RN · May 22, 2018

I just started traveling a couple months ago but before that I was at a non-profit hospital for three years. At my last job we also had travelers come and work with us. I think you just have to make sure with the travel agency that the hospital is non profit. I called the dept of edu today and they told me I was re-enrolled. What happened was I was paying a company to help me do the paperwork before I understood it all... turns out they weren't reliable and apparently putting my loan in forebearance more than just the couple months they told me about. Therefore, I'm going to talk to a family friend of my that's a contract lawyer to see if she can do anything. I cancelled their service. It's a long story but basically it was a huge scam it turns out. Now that I'm doing my own paperwork (the company I was paying told me I wouldn't be able to get into the loan forgiveness program without paying for their service) it shouldn't happen. Only up from here I suppose!

I think this is as big a lesson as not racking up the student loan debt in the first place. Any time you hire a third party to manage your affairs, they pay themselves first and there is minimal consequence to them for mismanaging. I think this is also true for people who get in trouble with their income taxes and then hire a firm to "negotiate" with the IRS. They pay the firm and then still owe all their taxes.

There are other resources out there. There is a great book called How to Get Out of Debt, Stay out of Debt and Live Prosperously by Jerrold Mundis. Suze Orman's books are a wealth of good advice, too.

Another thing: there was mention of taking a higher-paying job and foregoing benefits in favour of buying reasonable private insurance. Don't make this move unless you have ascertained that there is low-cost private insurance still available. A lot of that changed with Obamacare; don't risk being unprotected in case of illness. Good luck.

elle565 · May 22, 2018

Hi Nurselyfe92,

I feel your pain and don't pay attention to the negative and rude comments that'll just bring you down even more. I myself have a lot of student and credit card debts combined plus have mouths to feed that are in college, so I do get overwhelmed as well. But I do have 2 jobs, working full time in the hospital and doing homehealth on the side. I like the combination of the 2 because homehealth private duty nursing (PDN) has a lot of downtime and is not as crazy busy as the hospital so even if I work 5 days a week (3 in the hosp and 2 in homehealth), it's not as exhausting as working 2 hospital jobs.

Hope this info helps... goodluck!

monkey205 · May 22, 2018

Look into government employers - there are a lot of loan forgiveness programs if you agree to work in rural areas for certain amount of time.

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · May 22, 2018

You could hire a lawyer to help you. I knew someone who paid for his education using credit cards. He had 2 credit cards with a debt of $20,000 each for a total of $40,000. He hired a lawyer who threatened the credit card companies with bankruptcy; therefore, they should each take a final $2,000 payment or get nothing if he declares bankruptcy. One of the credit card companies accepted and the other took a final payment of $5,000. This savvy man eventually became a VP of a major hospital system. I know someone else who tried this without using a lawyer and it did not work for him.
I am working on my fourth degree and I never had student loans. My first degree cost less than $10,000 from a state school in the early 1990's. My family was too poor to co-sign a loan and I was too stupid to know how to obtain the right loan. I was fortunate to marry the right woman who paid for my other degrees without needing student loans.
So my different options are to threaten bankruptcy or marry someone with money.

Wow....

How immoral. This is the exact reason why I am okay with student related debt not being eligible for bankruptcy.

LittleMiraclesRN · May 22, 2018

I'm sorry to hear you are so stressed about this. I also find myself stressed out about my loans sometimes and they're only $30k. Lesson learned though, nobody cares where you went to school so it's not worth it to go into massive debt for a nursing degree. What is helping me find peace is having a solid plan for repayment, working OT as I am able and budgeting like a mad woman. I'm following Dave Ramsey's baby steps and it's helping me tremendously! Highly recommend the book Total Money Makeover to help you set a plan for repayment of your debt.

Good luck!

GidgetRN, RN · May 22, 2018

Hi Nurselylyfe92,

I am in a similar boat. Don't fret. They have different options for you to do. Just call your loan company (Navient, Salle Mae etc) My payment is up to $633 a month. I called and they helped me. They can defer some forbare some and even make lower payments that you can afford. They want to help. In the mean time like the one person said if you are super stretched maybe get a per diem or work some OT to help yourself feel better. Trust me you're ok. Hope that helps.

Thought, BSN, RN · May 22, 2018

Along with most people, I have student loan debt. Not to your extreme, however.

Cut out the unnecessary or extras in your life- take out foods, mall trips, vacations, etc. Wifi can always be cut and in place, go to the local library.

Pick up extra shifts. I've done this for over a year and the extra money really helps. One thing though, the extra money can be tempting to spend elsewhere. Create a budget for your bills and find out the average you make (without OT). From there, use the OT money to go straight to your loan.

In addition, one other thing I do is target each loan individually. After making my monthly payment on my loans, I personally use extra money each month to target 1 loan until it is paid in full. The loans I target first have the highest interest rates. By doing this, I've been paying off my loans faster, and my monthly payment has been decreased. It'll take a little time before they decrease your monthly payment, but it has been a HUGE stress relief.

I hope this helps; good luck!

DannyBoy8, RN · May 23, 2018

Hey guys,
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. ðŸ¤¯
Any advice on loans, how you deal with stress, etc would be helpful!
thanks all

The PSLF is pretty explicit about travel nursing not counting towards repayment.

beekee · May 23, 2018

Do not put your loans into forebearance unless you have absolutely no other option. Back when I had loans (and interest rates were much higher), I put my loans into forebearance for about 6 months. I had, by this time, made about 3 years of on time payments. At the end of the forebearance, the interest you didn't pay gets capitalized and added to your loan. So, I ended up owing MORE than when I started! And, because it's capitalized, my monthly minimum now went up too.

terrymarine · May 23, 2018

Perhaps you should speak with a military recruiter (except USMC) who specializes in recruiting nurses. Depending on need, they may be able to provide loan repayment assistance. I attended nursing school after I retired from the Marine Corps and during my time, met several Navy Nurses who either received a scholarship or received loan repayment assistance. However, if you're a druggy or malcontent, please don't apply. Also, there may be some federal programs out there that provide loan repayment assistance if you serve in a low income/underserved area. Best of luck to you.

AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P · May 23, 2018

So very thankful I went the cheaper route, community college over several years and then RN-BSN when I made enough cash to pay cash for it!!!!

Max student debt was around 12K I think!