Young single mom who's desparate to be a nurse but have financial concerns

[mzinri2]

I'm very interested in starting a 28 month long RN program at Radian's college in DC. However, I'm a single mom who works full time and has her own place and a son so rent, bills, and a baby and myself. Oh yeah and a cat! lol The first year seems do-able because class is only two days a week so I can still work and make money to do what I have to do. However, the second year is more intense and I'm up for the challenge and its accelerated so I know its going to be fast-paced but my concern is how am I supposed to work, pay my rent/bills, and take care of my son and still achieve my career goals??? Unfortunately, I dont have family that I can live with while I go to school. Is there anyone out there that has been or who is in my situation? How did you handle it??? Any suggestions? Thanks! :)

[mzinri2]

O wow. You guys have given me so much info and I'm going to narrow it all down to thinking everything through and exploring my other part-time options and I'll even look into community colleges and I'll make sure that nurse opportunities are abundant in my area. @ Hawkins RV....thank you so much for the links and i'll look into them all. Thanks alot to all of you guys!

[mzinri2]

Wow. I'm so sorry to hear this and I hope things get better for you. And this is actually my biggest fear....going all the way through the program and it ends up not being what i wanted.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I agree with a lot of what has already been written hear. Don't throw money away on a "for-profit" school that has a bad NCLEX rate and/or has a high drop out rate. Find a less expensive community college that is more interested in serving the public than making a quick profit.

Also, look closely at your lifestyle and eliminate any unnecessary expenses. You can start doing that now, even before you start, and start saving up money. You may think you already have no "extras" that you spend money on, but that's wrong. You do. For example: pets are not a necessity. Their food costs money, vet bills, kitty-litter, etc. I have nothing against cats ... but right now, luxuries such as pets might not be something you can afford.

Pare your budget to the bare bones to reduce the amount that you will have to borrow. Do you really want to have to borrow money and pay interest on it to buy kitty litter? Think of everything you buy that way. The more you spend on "lifestyle," the more you will have to borrow to finish school -- and you will be paying interest on those student loans. So, you should be scrutinizing everything you purchase -- and only buying those things that are worth borrowing money and paying interest for.

[DizzyLizzyNurse]

I actually posted this under the DC area but apparently the most recent RN NCLEX pass rate for Radians college was 66.67 which is pretty abysmal. On top of that, they are expensive although its hard to find details as they don't seem to tell you how much the program costs. I'm guessing they'd only do that in person.

Whoa!