Student loans through school

AZBlueBell · Dec 20, 2015

I'm a stay at home mom, so we have been living on (and will continue to live on) my husbands salary while in school. I'm taking out loans to cover my tuition, books, and a little for childcare. We are having family help cover a lot of childcare for us as well to keep our loan cost down. I'm going to stay under 25k for my whole BSN education and when I get a job we will continue to live on my husbands salary and use my checks to pay off the student loans as quickly as possible.

Make sure you fill out the FAFSA and see if you qualify for any pell grants (FREE money) to help you cover costs!

alissaarlene · Dec 30, 2015

I am 21 year old gal in a long term relationship who is fully independent and up until block one have worked my way through school. I did receive pell grants to cover my tuition fully at the community colleges thankfully, but in block one I am attending SCC and NAU respectively and the costs are greater than the grant I will receive. Also, since it is the start of the blocks I want to be more focused and have cut down to working one day a week and thus have taken out about a 5k loan (my first loan ever) that is unsubsidized. Before I accepted any loan I set up a budget so that I will be six months ahead on all but one of my bills (rent). That way I can put all my efforts toward school and come summer I will pick back up at work. I haven't decided if I will repeat this plan every block but so far it is working out well. I hope my story helps!

rac1, ASN, BSN, RN · Jan 7, 2016

I am applying for Nursing school in January which has left me wondering.. How do you current students handle finances/loans while going to school (especially with children)?

This is a tough one for most people I think. We are a military family, and I quit college and working years (and YEARS) ago to raise our children. Our youngest is now school-aged, and I am ready to get back into the swing of things. Since we have lived off of one income solely for the past 12 years, we are used to finagling expenses. My husband is actually going to school full time through the Army, and working towards a PhD at ASU right now. Since he is teaching as part of his PhD, he receives an extra income. This will help with my schooling somewhat - I also qualify for grants. Other than that, we are scrimping and saving where we can and do not plan to take out any loans at all for my schooling. I have taken many pre-req's over the years one and two at a time so that it has been affordable.