What about financial aid?

PedsNursing16 · Oct 7, 2015

Good Morning,

When your done with your prerequisites, add the nursing school you applied for onto your Fasfa. Once accepted into the program, they will give you a detail report on how much aid you will receive for there particular program. Also, once accepted to a program you will be eligible for a lot of nursing scholarships, be sure to apply!

I hope this helped!

nalie2, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN, NP · Oct 7, 2015

I think it may depend on what type of loan you got, but I believe the standard grace period is 6 months. If you enroll back in school within 6 months then it will be deferred again. If possible, try applying for a nursing program ahead of time so you don't have any down time like I currently have (one semester off).

samanthakayemapes, ASN, RN · Oct 7, 2015

It will be federal loans. How soon after prerequisites should i apply? And do you take teas v right after prerequisites as well? I'm so confused as to the timeline of what to do and when.

samanthakayemapes, ASN, RN · Oct 7, 2015

I have previous student loans in consolidation, so if it takes longer than 6 months to get into nursing school, i will add the loan from prerequisites to my consolidation. My dilemma is if it takes longer to get into nursing school and i need to start paying on the loan for my prerequisites, i wont be able to afford that. Only my husband works, ive been at home with 5 kids.

nalie2, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN, NP · Oct 7, 2015

The timeline really depends on the schools you are applying to. I created a spreadsheet with schools I would be interested in attending. I included information such as their application deadline (for the college itself and then the School of Nursing, if applicable), application cycles (Fall/Spring), TEAS score submission deadline, how many prerequisites I could have in progress at time of application, transcripts deadline, etc. Plan out how many prerequisites you're going to have left and compare that to the schools you will be applying to. You don't have to have all prereqs done to apply for some schools and others do require it.

It may take some time to gather the information and make your action plan, but if you can't afford to payback the loans then I would get started ASAP. Good luck!

samanthakayemapes, ASN, RN · Oct 7, 2015

Thanks

203bravo, MSN, APRN · Oct 8, 2015

If they are federal loans and if it takes you longer than 6 months to get into a program and the loans officially enter the repayment period, you could then apply for a financial hardship forbearance on the loans...that would postpone the payments and allow you extra time for acceptance.

Best of luck.

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Oct 10, 2015

I am enrolling in pre-nursing in the spring. Pretty much all of it is taken care of with financial aid and loans. After my prereqs, what happens to financial aid while waiting to get into nursing school? You have to be enrolled at least halftime to receive aid and not have to start paying it back yet, so how does that work if you are waiting for an acceptance letter or if you dont make it in the first try? I have been scouring the internet and cannot find any info on this.

You will not be eligible for a deferment unless you are enrolled in school.

One of my friends used the waiting period between finishing prereqs to applying and getting accepted to complete her remaining BSN prereqs.

As for me, I decided to work for a year while waiting to apply and start my program. I had to pay on my loans, but they were affordable.,

samanthakayemapes, ASN, RN · Oct 13, 2015

If i chose to remain at least halftime in school until nursing school acceptance, would it have to be classes that go toward my degree only? Or could i use that time for electives, such as spanish?

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Oct 16, 2015

If i chose to remain at least halftime in school until nursing school acceptance, would it have to be classes that go toward my degree only? Or could i use that time for electives, such as spanish?

I think that you could probably spend your time taking classes that will help you earn your AA/AS. If you truly have no classes left to take that would count toward a degree, I'd talk to a financial aid counselor or a curriculum planning counselor to find out if you would be able to get financial aid if you took non required classes.

If it were me, I would only take classes that counted. Even if they only count toward your eventual BA/BS requirements, this is assuming your end goal is a BSN.

This is one reason I applied to the State university when I was in Lvn school, so that when I finished, I could take classes that counted. I am a career student (with a ton of credits) and had no more classes to take at the community college level.

I hope this makes sense.

Jerseygirl609 · Oct 22, 2015

You can get a forbearance. I finished pre-reqs in May. My repayment was supposed to start next month November. I applied and received a forbearance until January which is when I begin the nursing program so I won't need to make payments until I finish the program.