So I am a 30 year old male returning to school and I just finished all of my pre reqs for my nursing degree at my 2 year college. I was recently accepted into the nursing program a couple of weeks ago.
However, Today I found out at the nursing meeting that the class will take up almost 3 days of the week, all days of the week that I currently work on. I am single and I not have kids, but I am living paycheck to paycheck and have no money left after payday.
I got school loans but it absolutely is nowhere near enough to live off of. I have a car payment, cell phone, rent, etc and no way to rid myself of any of those bills. I will have to drop to 32 hours or less at work which would not allow me to afford my bills, or even survive essentially. I also have no family that can help financially at all and I have no way to decrease my current living expenses as they are as cheap as they can realistically get.
Does anyone have any other suggestions or options that I may not know about or have not considered? If I am unable to afford it I am going to have to pass up the opportunity of nursing school to continue to work for 12/hr for the seemingly foreseeable future. thanks in advance.
You could pick up a separate part time job somewhere to make up the lost hours from your full time position, hopefully with flexible hours which would be compatible with your class/main job schedule. perhaps an on campus job of some kind would work, since they are used to having students who juggle crazy schedules, so are usually very flexible.
What state are you in? Some states offer small grants to low income students. If you’re low income, you may qualify for the federal Pell grant too. Were you awarded one? The number of semesters of Pell a student can get is limited so if you attended college before the community college and were given a Pell grant there, it will reduce the number of semesters of aid you have left.
What college will you be attending? Some colleges offer online classes. If yours does, you may be able to get some gen ed courses done on your own schedule. It would reduce commuting costs too.
How much does your college cost? As a junior, you can take the $7500/year federal student loan. The only way to cover the rest is to reduce living expenses as much as possible and work as much as you can. I imagine you’re already buying used books (or renting). Is your phone a prepaid or a contract one? Can you use public transportation so you can get rid of your car? If not, can you get an inexpensive commuter car so you can get rid of your car loan?
Your work has to be done around your classes. If you can’t find a job, or jobs, to work around your class schedule, you’re going to have to work your classes around your job(s). That may mean taking a class at a time as you can afford it. Just be aware that if you drop to a part-time student, your grants will be reduced.
Is there public transportation? Is the car almost paid off or could you use some loan money to finish paying it off?
Do you qualify for Pell or any state grant? As an independent student you can borrow $12,500 a year, how much does the nursing school cost?
Is your current roommate your significant other? Are they working and contributing to the household? Can they shoulder most of the burden of the bills until you are done with nursing school (2 years?).
You can approach the employer with your class schedule and try and work on weekends. Or get another job that might pay better or give tuition assistance to employees.
But once you are in clinicals I have heard it’s difficult to work.
^ This. Is this nursing program at your CC? They are usually pretty reasonable. Have you taken out the full amount of loans you can take or is there room?
I dont know if its possible to talk to your FA office and see if your change in income would change your FA package.
Thanks everyone for the replys and the suggestions. The car payment isnt too bad…its about 180 a month and i owe about 5k on it…i think private value on it is around 4500 and trade in is around 3000. As far as public transportation there is some within thr city of Omaha but i live out in the outer areas that dont have public transportation available.
As far as reducing my expenses you are correct there is no way to lower any expenses at this point in my current situation as I have no one to live with for free and already habe a roommate however the roommate is financially unable to shouoder the extra cost (its more of an impossiblity finicancially rather than the question of their willingness).
I have already taken max loans and have about 500 dollars left over to live off for 3 months.
I will keep looking into research online to see if i cant find anything else. and thanks again for.thr replys
Can you get a part time job at your school or hospital? How about home health care agencies? They are usually pretty flexible on days and hours, or often need people to fill in when their employees call in sick or are on vacation. I went to school with a woman who had done this type of care and she made pretty good money filling in while we were in school.
There are some loan programs available for nursing students. Ask at your school.
Sounds like you are somewhat supporting your roommate. That is a personal choice but you really can’t afford to do that, work full time and go to school full time. Something has got to give.
Home health care agencies! Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year’s eve. When an elderly relative needed full time home care, we ended up paying a surgical nurse from the local hospital (grossly overqualifed for an LPN role) because he was one of the few people in the area willing to commit to holidays ahead of time.