Student loans...how much do you owe?

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I went to a private college for my BSN and I'm in the hole nearly $45K :eek:

Looking back, I wish I would have not been so impatient and applied at a nearby public university...but I was afraid I'd be stuck on a waiting list for ever and a day. Ah, well.

How about you?

Specializes in LTC/Behavioral/ Hospice.

I owe about $15,000 for LPN school and my prereq's for my ADN. I'm paying for my ADN as I go. I will go further into debt when I go into my MSN program. I'm not so stressed about that as I am about paying off my husband's loans. By the time he is done with his program (he's working on his second Master's degree) he will be $47,000 dollars in debt, as we haven't paid off his first degree yet. Ugh.

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

These amounts might sound shocking to some who graduated a few years ago, but we need to remember that increases in tuition have exponentially out-paced inflation.

It used to be that you could work a summer job and pay for your tuition for the year, or at least a semester; those days are loooong gone. And with state budget crises, many states are de-investing in higher education, so tuition is sky-rocketing. It was on NBC news tonight that higher education funding is at a 27-year low. To put it simply, current students are shouldering more of the cost of their education than their parents did.

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I agree with you 1000%...waitlists for 5 years? lets say even that guy with 160k in loans didnt work 5 years and went to comm college with zero loans. Project a nurses salary conservatively with overtime and modest raises for the private school nurse with a BSN:

Year 1) 55k

Year 2) 60k

Year 3) 65k

Year 4) 70k

Year 5) 75k

Theres $325,000 in income vs. ZERO or the salary of the previous McJob lol...this is why people who say private school is crazy really crack me up! lol 325k vs. 65k? no brainer...get it done STAT and work was the plan for me. Now for people with family commitments I can totally understand. For those that can't stomach being in debt, I assure you money your losing in the long run on lost income supercedes the modest tuition and interest savings.

I am not against student loans, but I do tell people they should be cautious. Student loans are "good debt" to have, but it comes with a high amount of responsibility in return. You will always have to pay it back, there are programs to help, but for the most part the responsibility to pay it back falls on the borrower. To maintain that "good debt" you have to pay it back on time every month. And it is more than reasonable, but sometimes things go south in life and large student loans can complicate it.

What if you can't get a job like many new grads currently? You can only defer for so long or receive so much forebearance. What if you become disabled and cannot work? What if you have kids and want to work part-time or not at all? What if you really hate nursing or become burned out? What if something happens and you have large amounts of other debt that need to be addressed, like medical bills?

I think people should always keep the possibilities of the future mind when considering large student loans. $75k may seem like a lot before you're working, but it goes quick when you also have a mortgage, car payment and insurance, medical needs, children, and so on. You may not be able to do things you love like traveling or taking time off to medical mission work because you have to keep working to pay the bills, including student loans.

If things happen and you can't afford your house, you have options like selling it, renting it, a short sale, or even bankruptcy. If you can't afford your car, you can sell it or even have it repo'ed and rebuild your credit, and buy a cheap beater. But you can't sell your education and downgrade to get through the tough times. Again, I am not against student loans, I am just cautious.

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Try not to feel too bad if you went to a private school. You may have avoided a waiting list - and if so, you may make more in the long run because of the higher income level at an earlier time in your life. Rgds!

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Specializes in med/surg/tele/LTC/geriatrics.

I was able to get into a community college at $900 per semester the college fund my parents had for me covered that as well as my first semester of my BSN program which is $335/credit, my employer does tuition reimbursement. We live in a rural community with 30,000 people and RNs don's make as much as they do in larger cities so I can't imagine trying to pay off a debt making about 1/3 less. Best of luck to all of you in your student loans, you did what you had to and I hope you enjoy nursing.

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Ugh. I will owe about 70k for my BSN. I owe 16K for a semester of law school. My husband is in law school and will owe about 150K. When we get out in one year we will have about 236k in student loans. Neither one of us has started working and we just got married 7 months ago. We also share one old car and live in a scarey apartment. We just pray that we will be able to pay back this debt!

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There aren't 5 year waiting lists here for community college. Generally 2 semesters of pre-reqs then, at most, 2 semesters of wait list which most people spend finishing all the non-nursing classes. Most people are working full-time, often in healthcare, or stay at home parents transitioning into a new career. You could go for a bachelors, but they're either very competitive and expensive or substandard education.

Awesome...but in major metro areas waiting lists are extremely long. I knew one that was 4 yrs long...and it was in a major city. So wait four yrs, then 2 yrs? 6 yrs for an ADN? Going into outlying areas is the best way to cut that number down though. Private school for me was 14 months....as I already have a BA. Theres just no comparison. 6 yrs ADN, or 15 months BSN (preferred by hospitals in major cities). Those that do the LPN-->ADN-->BSN-->MSN etc also a good way to keep working, but I'm not that patient.

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Pediatric Home Health.
160k? That doesn't make sense. The max an undergrad can get in subsidized and unsubsidized in 57k I thought.

Private loans... you can take out a ton of private loans. I have $60K myself (half private and half federal loans).

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Pediatric Home Health.
Ugh. I will owe about 70k for my BSN. I owe 16K for a semester of law school. My husband is in law school and will owe about 150K. When we get out in one year we will have about 236k in student loans. Neither one of us has started working and we just got married 7 months ago. We also share one old car and live in a scarey apartment. We just pray that we will be able to pay back this debt!

Out of curiosity.. why did you leave law school after 1 semester?

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I do live in a major metro area, not major major like New York City or Washington DC, but concentrated enough.

And ADN's do very well here because the BSN programs are fewer and do not have the same resources as the community colleges that have close ties to major medical institutions. I know it's not the same everywhere, I am not insinuating ADN is better than BSN or anything, it's just what holds in this particular area.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, L&D.
I am not against student loans, but I do tell people they should be cautious. Student loans are "good debt" to have, but it comes with a high amount of responsibility in return. You will always have to pay it back, there are programs to help, but for the most part the responsibility to pay it back falls on the borrower. To maintain that "good debt" you have to pay it back on time every month. And it is more than reasonable, but sometimes things go south in life and large student loans can complicate it.

What if you can't get a job like many new grads currently? You can only defer for so long or receive so much forebearance. What if you become disabled and cannot work? What if you have kids and want to work part-time or not at all? What if you really hate nursing or become burned out? What if something happens and you have large amounts of other debt that need to be addressed, like medical bills?

I think people should always keep the possibilities of the future mind when considering large student loans. $75k may seem like a lot before you're working, but it goes quick when you also have a mortgage, car payment and insurance, medical needs, children, and so on. You may not be able to do things you love like traveling or taking time off to medical mission work because you have to keep working to pay the bills, including student loans.

If things happen and you can't afford your house, you have options like selling it, renting it, a short sale, or even bankruptcy. If you can't afford your car, you can sell it or even have it repo'ed and rebuild your credit, and buy a cheap beater. But you can't sell your education and downgrade to get through the tough times. Again, I am not against student loans, I am just cautious.

Fair points all. I may not get a job, I may become disabled, I may get burned out. I had an opportunity to go to the best and most competitive BSN program in my state, and I took it even though I had to take out those loans.

$75K will go quick, but not as quick as the $17K I supported my family of three on before this program. Because I did a BSN and not an ADN, I do have more loans. I will be an RN 5 1/2 years sooner than I would have been if I had done an ADN. I also have an opportunity to work at 5 of the facilities in the area that only hire BSN nurses or move on to a graduate degree as my next step.

Believe me I kept all the possibilities of the future in mind. And this made the most sense in my situation, in the area I live in and with the resources I had at the time.

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Here where I live, California, most hospitals are now preferring BSN over ADN. I actually have friends who just graduated with their ADN who are back in school to get their BSN because they were unable to find a place that will hire a new grad ADN. I am not insinuating that BSN are better either. What I am trying to say is that many of you who don't live in an area like me are lucky to go to community colleges, owe much less student loans, and find a job!

In addition, I come from a family where my parents were unable to save for my education (my father got sick very early) and he no longer works. So you can see that only one parent works for a family of 5. Experiencing this, I wanted to make a better life for myself. I knew that I couldn't afford to go to a private school out of pocket, but figured this is an investment in my future, and I don't want to end up like my parents, and be on food stamps.

So essentially what I am trying to say is that don't judge those who owe soo much student loans. everyone's situation is different and many choose to go to private school because of fewer waitlists. (here where I'm from, the waitlists even for state schools is ridiculous).

To those with lots of student loans, look at it as an investment in your future. Even though you will be paying for it for a looong time, you are an educated individual who is going to or is loving what you doing as a nurse! :)

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