Nursing School

Just a quick question. My wife will be going to nursing school starting in August, and the total cost will be $30,000. Both of our credit scores are above 800. What is the best way to get financing? Student loans or keep revolving 0% credit card offers? What is the cheapest 5 year payoff you would suggest?

You're not going to be able to keep 30k revolving at 0%. Do you own a home? a heloc might work.

Your schools financial aid office?

Federal student loans won't cover this? You're sure that you will be able to pay this off in 5 years?

I took two classes required for nurses in college. 98% of the students in the class were female and 95% of them were hawt.

anthonyu said:   Are student loan payments and/or interest deferred until after you graduate? If the interest is deferred, then that's the equivalent of your 0% AOR with no fee. this is true. I'll have to check into this.mthanks!

Is this a public school or for profits?

qcumber98 said:   I took two classes required for nurses in college. 98% of the students in the class were female and 95% of them were hawt.
How come I only see less than 10% of nurses who are hawt.

Why 30k?

Why not go to community college?
At ~1000-1500 per semester, it'd be far cheaper.
Job prospects are also generally better than with the for profits.

JasonTell7 said:   Just a quick question. My wife will be going to nursing school starting in August, and the total cost will be $30,000. Both of our credit scores are above 800. What is the best way to get financing? Student loans or keep revolving 0% credit card offers? What is the cheapest 5 year payoff you would suggest?

I do have to again question the wisdom of paying 30k for a nursing degree.

What kind of degree is it?
A.S.? B.S.N.? (god forbid) L.P.N.?

The job market isn't great for nurses right now.
There are cheaper ways to go. Even if CC has a waiting list, put your name on it, take your prerequisites at CC, and volunteer (kiss butt) at a local hospital.

In the same boat. We didn't qualify for anything. Wife's school, thought local hospital, has a program if you qualify for loan forgiveness if you work for X years but they only forgive Fed loans through theFinAid office.

So, betting she'd qualify, we took the unsubsidised loans from school and filled in gaps with private loans from Discover. Payments are deferred until 6 months after graduation and it gives payment flexibility if we need. We currently pay extra but always at least the interest.

Went with Discover for their healthcare loans, interest tied to Prime, not LIBOR, and we're paying 4.25%. Sallie and the others wanted 6.75

Repayment is 15 years but we have scheduled to pay in 4-5

sensia said:   qcumber98 said:   I took two classes required for nurses in college. 98% of the students in the class were female and 95% of them were hawt.
How come I only see less than 10% of nurses who are hawt.Have you tried beer goggles?

The lowest interest rate may not be the primary concern here. Is she planning to work at a non-profit hospital after graduating? If so, the best thing to do might be to get a Stafford loan, do income based repayments for 10 years, and then get the balance of the loan waived. You'd want to see what nursing salaries are like in your area to see if this makes sense in your situation.

JacksonX said:   SUCKISSTAPLES said:   Really ? I thought nurses were a high demand field

It was... And likely will be again.

Right now, there are tons of grads coming out with no jobs.
This is true on the east coast, and I believe it is largely nationwide except some undeserved areas.

The shortage/surplus is all geographic. Some areas are heavily recruiting for fresh grads nationwide, other areas have way to many available. The bad economy has kept a lot of retirement-eligible nurses at work vs what was originally expected in the early 2000s, when they finally retire it will be a very large/quick vacuum.

Nusring Shortage Map

My wife did an ABSN (really hectic expect no family life) and is now doing her MSN, so I have a decent idea. If you are a citizen/permanent resident there are hospitals that would pay for your school provided that you work for them (sign a contract), this depends on where you are. Also if she's planning on getting an MSN a BSN would be way more helpful than a RN associate. Also an Accelerated BSN is faster than an associate degree however she would need to have a previous bachelors and get all the prerequisites in order for that. My 2 cents.

Depending on your area the local hospitals might have an affiliated nursing school, in exchange for 5 years of work there they will cover some of the costs. My wife did that, however, she was locked into a hospital that paid less per hour than the 2 others in the area for 5 years, she ended up on 3rd shift and working weekends alot. She went back and got her master's and is no a FNP working in a private office. Looking back, we probably would have been better paying for the school ourselves so she could have gone and worked wherever she wanted when she was done.

In answer to some of your questions, it is a private university, and that is one of the reasons the cost is so expensive. Alot of the Universities/Colleges around here have a waiting period if you have less than a 4.0. My wife has a 3.2. She HATES her job right now, and she will not really make much more as a nurse, but she will be much happier, so that is why we are doing it. I will keep everyone updated on what we decide to do. We are going to call Sallie Mae later this week to see what they have to offer.

alchemist said:   My wife just finished her ADN (Associates Degree in Nursing) and passed the boards in Feb. As you already know the ADN vs BSN won't matter as long as she passes boards to be an RN.

They are not the same. Many hospitals already are not hiring those with 2 year degrees, and more are sure to follow soon. Many hospitals are also making 2 year nurses get their 4 year by X date or they will be terminated.

kwest said:   SUCKISSTAPLES said:   Beauty school and medical assisting students (the ones going to a school advertised on tv) are hotter than nursing students ...used to ride the train to law school and they'd get off one stop before me.

Just wanted to give you props for getting them off before your stop. If they weren't getting off until after, that sounds like it would have been a missed opportunity.
You have a sick and twisted mind.

Who taught you such things ? this is a finance forum , not a place to try out filthy jokes

KatoKrazy said:   alchemist said:   My wife just finished her ADN (Associates Degree in Nursing) and passed the boards in Feb. As you already know the ADN vs BSN won't matter as long as she passes boards to be an RN.


They are not the same. Many hospitals already are not hiring those with 2 year degrees, and more are sure to follow soon. Many hospitals are also making 2 year nurses get their 4 year by X date or they will be terminated.

*some* hospitals will only hire RN's with a bsn, but that does not mean that an RN won't be employable at all. In my area, there are some hospitals that require bsn-RN's, and other hospitals where Lpn's still work the floor. The difference in pay in my area is only about a buck an hour, and for licensing purposes an RN is an RN.

Fwiw, an associates in nursing isn't a "2 year degree" in the real world. If you can get one in 3 years, you're doing good.

Also, you have to compare nursing with other professions. There are 3 million RN's in the US. In a so-so labor market there's a lot more spots to shoot for.