Transfer advice!

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Hi,

I'm currently a student at the University of Iowa and in pre-nursing. I am not liking the university that much and the program is very competitive. I am probably going to be transferring fall 2010. The ideas so far I have for where to transfer to are Clarkson College and Creighton University. I am really like Creighton and was wanting to go there as my first choice but turned it down and went to Iowa because I had a good scholarship. Now that I will be transferring, I will most likely go in debt depending on which school I go to. When I applied to Creighton as a high school senior, I was going to go 50-55,000 in student loans debt. Hopefully that will change this year. But advice from more experience people would be helpful. Do you have any advice about college and going into debt? Does anyone have/had that amount of debt and able to repay it successful or were there more struggles? Is that too much debt for getting a BSN? Any suggestions? Thanks!!!

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Specializes in ER.

I think 55k is too much debt for a BSN. I got mine for under 30k and I live in an area where college tuition is one of the most expensive in the country.

Are you going into debt at Iowa? If not I would just stay there. I don't know much about the schools you listed but 55k is a lot of money. I'd go where you have the least amount of debt.

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Specializes in Oncology/BMT.

First of all, do what your instincts tell you. So many people have debt from school loans these days. I went to a hospital-based diploma program and received about $20,000 in student loans. The BSN program I went through was about $30,000 in student loans.

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Yes, at Iowa I would not go in debt or would go in a little bit. But the program is so competitive, I don't know if I will get in the nursing program in the fall. At Creighton the nursing program is direct admission. I would stay at Iowa but if I don't get into the program I will leave because I do not like the school or city that much. I like Creighton a lot but that is a lot of money and I don't know if that would be hard to get out of debt with a nurse's salary. Would it be hard to get out of that much debt with a nurse's salary? I may have to keep looking at other schools if my financial aid package isn't that good at Creighton.

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Specializes in ER.

What about a community college? Once you get an RN license you can then bridge RN-BSN and work at the same time. Is that an option for you?

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I'm $40,000 in debt from my BSN. This was with scholarships and grants. But I had a baby at the beginning of nursing school, and my husband was laid off, so it was take out loans and finish my degree, or quit school. I gambled.

Fortunately, I got a job at the hospital I work prior to graduation, and it counted towards my "time in" So, right before my loans are due I'll get a raise that covers them and a little more. Ideally I'm going to pretend the raise didn't happen and use the extra $$ to pay off the loan quicker.

Basically, you have to do what you have to do. $50,000 is a lot, but if there is no other way around it, I'd say go for it.

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