Why Are So Many Students Worried About Expensive Tuition

Nurses General Nursing

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I was reading other threads and I came across students who were accepted to private nursing schools but declined their acceptance because of the tuition.:nono: If nursing is your passion by any means necessary you should do everything to accomplish your goal. In NY, nurses start off with 70K+ a year:yeah:, so in a rough estimate its possible to pay off large loans within 5-10 yrs. The cheaper schools are much more competitive to get into. If you get accepted into NYU, PACE, LIU etc. just go for it. Is anyone with me on this?

Specializes in Acute Mental Health.

A few pages back there was a discussion regarding an open instructor spot at a CC and at a 4 yr institution. The writer went on to ask which position you would go for because of pay and whatever else. A few years ago I spoke with my A & P instructor and found out that the CC instructors made more money and had better benefits. At that time they were just beginning to push their instructors to get their Masters in their chosen teaching field.

As far an nursing instructors; I have had good and bad ones all wrapped up into one neat little CC education. I'm sure it's the same at every school out there. None will be immune to that. I attended a 4 yr private college for their adult ed program in Health Care Admin. and had some really fine instructors and also some I would refer to as turds.

I began my nursing at a school that had a 97% pass rate on the NCLEX. By the time I was 3/4 way through the pass rate was in the 50's. I didn't switch schools because of this and changes were made which made it much more difficult to pass nursing classes. No matter what or why you pick your school, I guess you should expect there may be some bumps along the way.

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I'm going to answer the question and not in anyway take it as an insult.

Why am I so worried about expensive tuition?

Reason #1: My parents are divorcing/bankrupt no help there, I'm on my own, books, tuition, everything!

Reason #2: Even with a 3.8 GPA I started school a semester late (see reason #1) which means I didn't get the scholarships because at the private institution I attended only awarded them during the Fall semester.

Reason #3: My private university cost me 8,500 for one semester (if you didn't know, my max student loan borrowing is 9,500 a year) so I only have 1,000 for next semester (hmm yeah.. that'll pay for books!). Not only that, the max awarding for a scholarship I could get at my university was 5,000 (still 2,500 off).

Reason #4: Even if I wanted to get a private loan so that I could keep attending, not gonna happen, I have ZERO credit.

Reason #5: My whole life I was held to the belief I would have my college paid for by my parents who make 140,000 a year.. yet that was lie, a little too late to do something about it.

Reason #6: It's simply not an option as I cannot afford it, not in anyway (well ofcourse if I won the lottery :wink2: ).

It's not worth it to go to to private university if I can't afford it. Should I go for a year, get the max amount of loans for a year in one semester and then be unable to get any money next semester? or from that point on(bc of the credit requirement)? (there's my dream of nursing downnnnnnnnn the drain).

Yet, in my home island of PR there is a private institution that will cost me 5,000 for 36+ credits+books+other fees. That's around 80 for credit hour (not exact I know it is in the 80's)... now that's as much as community colleges cost in the states!! DEFINETLY going there. I'll work my butt off and fulfill my dream.

Conclusion to your question: If it wasn't for my families situation, my inability to get more loans, and my inability to have gotten a scholarship I WOULD'VE ATTENED A PRIVATE COLLEGE IN A HEARTBEAT!!(in the states). I could've easily afforded it through loans, my parents helping and a scholarship. Yet, I am attending a private institution but it's one of those one in a million that is very cheap!

There's my answer. Complicated, yes, but that's how it is!

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Nowadays, with so many people out of work or on unemployment, financial aid is available to ALOT of people. I am one of them. I am going to University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne and I get complete financial aid. Aside from being basically broke, I have a 4.0 and an exceptional SAT score so I also get scholarships. If it wasn't for FAFSA and my good grades, I wouldn't be able to afford the 23,000 a year plus book tuition of USF. So cost really does matter. My mom works in a hospital, went to Ivy Tech for her degree, and it took her 10 years to pay off her loans. The way you calculated that, it seems like you took the salary and applied it only to student loans. What about house payment, utilites, insurance, food, etc..? So yes, nurses make good money, but the student loans they incur (if they use them) could be pushing 100,000 dollars if they attend anything other than a community college. AND that is only IF they have good enough credit to take out 30,000 a year. Virtually unheard of nowadays.

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Specializes in Acute Mental Health.

Why worry about expensive tuition? I'm paying back student loans already and haven't found a RN job. Eventually, you have to pay them back and with the state of the economy, you may not find a job right off the bat. I owe $13,000 and pay just about $100/month. If I had to dole out more, I'd be hurting worse than I am now.

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If you can "pay as you go" for your education, and not wind up owing any or much money, you'll be better off. If your parents set aside $75,000 for your education and you can get that education for $4000 to $7000 per year and be out in 2 years, why squander all that money? You'll probably want more degrees down the road, you might not get a job at the pay rate you expected, and paying back loans is not fun, unless it's some paltry amount compared to what you make.

Some people are using TAA (Trade Act) retraining money, and it has a dollar cap that varies by state ($20k to maybe $28k, depending on the state) and any retraining program, to be approved, has to have a TOTAL cost (books, uniforms, tuition, all school expenses) of that dollar amount or less, plus have a duration of 24 months or less. Plus some other rules. So, that limits the programs that some people can select if using that type of retraining money.

Someone mentioned tuition at a private school is $23k per year. Penn State costs that much for out-of-state, and over $13k in-state. Some private schools are competitive with some state schools, so don't be afraid to look at private schools that might be out of your immediate geographic region.

When I last checked (2005 - 2006), undergraduate tuition at West Virginia state schools WVU, WVU Tech, WVSU, and Marshall, ranged $4000 to $6500 PER YEAR. So it might behoove you to try to get into a program in one of those states, and be financially emancipated or whatever they call that now. After the 1st year, I believe you'd be a resident and eligible for the lower tuition rate.

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When I last checked (2005 - 2006), undergraduate tuition at West Virginia state schools WVU, WVU Tech, WVSU, and Marshall, ranged $4000 to $6500 PER YEAR. So it might behoove you to try to get into a program in one of those states, and be financially emancipated or whatever they call that now. After the 1st year, I believe you'd be a resident and eligible for the lower tuition rate.

Be sure to investigate this carefully before trying to do it though- some colleges require you to be able to prove you moved for reasons other than to attend school. I opted to wait to start classes at the local community college until I had been a state resident for a year in order to not be locked in to the out of state rate.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

I don't think anyone should jump into a huge financial debt without having concerns or thinking everything through. Why would I spend 70 thousand on an education when I can get the SAME DEGREE for 8 thousand. It just seems like common sense to go whichever route you can afford if something were to happen. There are way to many what if's to jump blindly into a situation because you are counting your chickens before they are hatched.

I have seen some students post that they have over 100,000 dollars of school debt for after all is said and done for their RN. That just seems insane to me.

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Schools never used to lock it in for more than the first year. I'd imagine that you could contest that if you an adult dislocated worker over age 22. If you are unemployed, and you move for training, you should be considered a resident at least after the first year.

I'm looking at one out-of-state college that is a state-funded school. That's a good question to ask.

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I have seen some students post that they have over 100,000 dollars of school debt for after all is said and done for their RN. That just seems insane to me.
Insane to me, too. I'd rather have $100k in my bank account that owe someone $100k, lol! So, you like being a nurse, then decide to go on to med school. I'd wager that $100k debt load could be a stumbling block.
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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
Insane to me, too. I'd rather have $100k in my bank account that owe someone $100k, lol! So, you like being a nurse, then decide to go on to med school. I'd wager that $100k debt load could be a stumbling block.

Yeah, if I have 100K or more debt, the payment I am making better be going to a house payment.

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