student loans

Hi everybody, I am having a difficult time making a decision. I have a previous Bachelor's Degree with student loan debt balance about 65K after all the interest. I am set on going back for nursing...but I am very uneasy about accruing more debt. I want to do this accelerated 12 month BSN in my area...but it would probably put me up to close to 90K in debt! The good thing about that is it is quick, I would have the BSN, and I could get to working and making income. Then I would want to have my employer pay for my NP (which is probably my ultimate goal). I am also trying to get into one of the local community college ADN programs because it would be sooooooo much cheaper and I could later get the BSN online through a bridge program maybe paid by my employer. The problem is community colleges have long wait lists and they would take 2 years once in. So I do not know if I would benefit more just going for that ABSN and working sooner or do MORE waiting as usual and try for the ADN eventually. How are all you RNs doing paying student loans? Am I crazy for getting into this much debt? HELP!
Here is some food for thought. . .1. If you reach a student loan debt level of $90,000 combined, your monthly repayment will be a whopping $1,035.72 (financed over 10 years at a rate of 6.8 percent). Would you feel comfortable repaying more than $1,000 every single month for many years to come?2. What will happen when you enter the real world of nursing? Nobody knows at this time. You might be one of the many people who loves nursing school, but dislikes the real world of bedside nursing (rude patients, condescending doctors, verbally abusive family members, clueless managers, etc.). What will happen if you dislike nursing to the point that you wish to retrain for some other career?3. The national economy is horrid at the present time. Back in '08, people were saying that the economic situation would improve by 2011 or 2012, but things are still in a slump. What if you cannot find a nursing job after accruing all of that student loan debt? There are masses of new grad nurses who have not yet found their first nursing jobs, even after more than a year of looking.

Do you have a job now? I would try to get a job in the health care field, especially at a hospital. Then you could take some nursing classes and see if your employer will help you out with tuition. If you can't get employer help then I would wait for the community college option. 90K is a staggering amount of debt, even with a good job. In my view, it's just not worth it. Plus, that is the kind of debt that you can't get rid of, even if you file for bankruptcy. Also, it's not a bad idea to volunteer in a hospital or look for a job as a tech or aide to see if you even like nursing. I read horrid advice from some "career services" person trying to help a student on another forum. The student said she was looking for a degree but didn't like "gross" things. So, naturally, this career services person recommended nursing because it's "in demand". Don't fall victim to that nonsense, especially not to the tune of 90K. Make sure you will like what you choose to do.

What you choose is your decision, of course.There is the possibility of putting yourself on the community college waiting list and using that time to save up money from your current job to pay the much lower tuition and maybe even pay down some of your big college debt.What kind of job are you in now, and how does it pay compared to nursing?

I actually just interviewed for a position as a PCT in one of the local hospitals affiliated with the University. They do offer tuition benefits, which is nice, so I hope I get it! I know pay for nurse techs is not very high, but I think it would be worth it to get the benefits. The funny thing is that accelerated 12 month BSN is 60,000!! So with tuition benefits it would be down to like 20-30,000. UGH tuition is insane.

Quote from ginaw623I actually just interviewed for a position as a PCT in one of the local hospitals affiliated with the University. They do offer tuition benefits, which is nice, so I hope I get it! I know pay for nurse techs is not very high, but I think it would be worth it to get the benefits. The funny thing is that accelerated 12 month BSN is 60,000!! So with tuition benefits it would be down to like 20-30,000. UGH tuition is insane.

Quote from MikeyBSNUnfortunately, the same programs that were designed to help people pay for tuition has made tuition unmanageable.

The standard recommendation given by financial advisors is that you should not take out loans higher than the amount you expect to earn in the year following your graduation. (Though with some really high paying careers such as medicine, it is OK.) You have already exceeded that limit -- and it would be very dangerous to take on more debt until you have paid off some of what you already owe.Being overly optimistic about how much debt they can handle, is what puts people in the horrible situations we sometimes read about -- living in poverty, interest building on their debt load causing their debts to grow instead of shrink, etc. They dig themselves into a hole too deep to dig themselves out of.Be careful you don't make the same mistake twice. You've already given yourself a big debt for one educational program you don't want now.

I don't know what you should do, but I'll share my own feelings about college debt. I just hate debt. I've never been in huge debt, but like a few other lucky old people I got into troublesome debt once, as a young person, struggled with it, as I deserved to, and swore, once it was paid off: Never. Again.I believe in the BSN. I believe we need oodles of NPs. But if I already owed 60K for one of the ONLY debts that is non-dischargable through bankruptcy? I'd put myself on the waiting list and use the two years to pay that debt down as aggressively as possible. Go find the crazy pay-it-down websites, and if you're energized by the vision of a debt-free future, work for two years to make it happen. Work for a year and do a state-funded RN to BSN at the same time. A bit slower, but you'd get there. One other thought: I didn't go for the accelerated BSN because it was more expensive than the plain-vanilla BSN offered by my state school. I'm due to graduate with a BSN debt-free in August, one semester longer than an ADN would have taken, so perhaps looking at a state option might be helpful for you, too.Benedina

TheCommuter, RN wrote:"If you reach a student loan debt level of $90,000 combined, your monthly repayment will be a whopping $1,035.72 (financed over 10 years at a rate of 6.8 percent). Would you feel comfortable repaying more than $1,000 every single month for many years to come?"I believe this calculation should be required at the beginning of each semester, just as med calcs are.Benedina

I would echo everything that llg said. And The Commuter's simple calculation (easily obtainable information from any lender and any of the many governmental websites covering student loan programs) needs to get printed on t-shirts and bumper stickers.Make sure you know exactly what "tuition benefits" means. Annual tuition benefits at organizations that offer them typically range from $2,000 - $4,000 per year, and are reimbursement repaid to you after you a complete a class. Do the math -- how much is the per credit cost at BSN and/or NP programs that you are considering? If you are unable/unwilling to contribute out of pocket for your education beyond what your employer reimburses you for, how long will it take to complete the degree? And therefore how long until you can expect the jump in income which will make the debt you have accumulated already more financially comfortable?These are important things to consider.

If I were you I would try and become a nursing assistant at a hospital that has tuition reimbursement. Usually they require 6 months of employment then you qualify for tuition reimbursement and during that time you can apply to community college and wait to get in the program. Maybe with your previous history of a BSN you might get in the program a little easier because they know you have the perseverence to graduate.

The most recent issue of Consumer Reports deals with student loan debt. I encourage anyone considering going to school, parents of children wanting to go to school to get it and read it thoughtfully. There's some good information in there.You're not going to like what I have to say, but you need to pay down some, if not all of that debt before you consider going back to school. You may not get a job for a while after you graduate, and there sit all those loans, just compounding interest away. How do you plan on paying back those loans if you can't get a nursing job right away? What if you don't like nursing...then what? Then you are sitting on a huge stack of debt, working in a job you hate.Some of the posts I read about the debt people have and they still want to get a nursing degree just frighten me.