To all nursing student with loans:

[mzjones6]

What do you do with your refund check, if you get one?

I took out of my first big loan for nursing school this fall and now I have this refund check from the school. I was extremely blessed to go to college on a full scholarship, so I never had to worry about loans before. Now that I have this one loan to use for my nursing school (9 month AASN, so it wasn't huge, but a nice chunk) I'm not sure what to do with it.

I know this sounds silly but I'm torn between sending it back and using it for myself. By sending it back, it'll be 1/5 less that I have to pay back, which is good. But at the same time I've been in a school a month and have spent $150+ on nursing book supplements (Incredibly Easy, Fundamental Success, etc). I've seen people take their refund checks and go shopping at the mall, but also use it for groceries.

I'm just curious as to what other nursing students do with refund checks after financial aid has taken their share. Do you spend it on supplies, do you get yourself something nice, groceries?

[karenrnstudent]

I opened an ING account which earns GREAT interest so then I will have extra money when I'm finished school to help pay off my student loans. Plus, if an unexpected expense comes up I can just transfer the money into my checking account.

Hope this helps!

[melsman1904]

I also put mine in an ING Orange account. The interest rate there almost makes up for the interest that I'll pay when my repayment period begins.

[amber32123]

What is an ING account?

[melsman1904]

Basically, it is an internet based savings account. They have pretty high interest rates for all of their different types of accounts.

http://home.ingdirect.com/products/products.asp?s=OrangeSavingsAccount

[RNDreamer]

I love ING Direct and I have a savings account with them...with the extra money I had from my loan, I used it for any school based expenses I had, and the rest is just sitting there for next semester's tuition