I’m 35 and currently will be losing my job after 13 years in a couple months due to my company closing. I have attended college when I was 21 before but never committed 100% to one degree and kept switching majors. After a few years of attending I stopped going and had been given a promotion at work, and working for many years I wanted to go back to school. In 2011 I completed a certifcation program and got certified . But after 2 years looking for a job in that specific field, I never was able to get a job anywhere in that and my certification expired. So feeling discouraged again I continued working at my job. Flash forward to now, 2018. I’m going to be losing my job and now I have nothing to fall back on. I want to go back full time and be 100% committed but I have a car payment, a loan and a couple credit card bills. Now the program I would love to do is nursing. And everyone tells me it’s impossible to hold a full time job while doing that rigorous amount of work. I would want to work maybe just weekends but again I have a car payment that 276 a month, a loan thats 338 a month. Insurance 70 a month. Credit cards under 50 a month. I was thinking of cashing out my 401k (I know there is a penalty) but that I would be able to pay off the loan. Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do. Can financial aide help with what I need to pay or anything? I will probably be able to collect unemployment once I am let go but that still won’t be enough . Thanks in advance for any suggestions
Can you downsize the car for a lower payment or for a car that is paid off?
Does your community college offer an ASN program? Chances are the you already have the gen eds taken care of, and would only need courses specific to the nursing major. That could mean a lighter load.
Does your community college offer a nurses aid program? Those usually are short and get you a job quickly, and many employers will help pay the cost of further studies to complete an ASN, or higher degree in nursing.
Did you use any federal or state financial aid when you were in college before?
How close are you to finishing a bachelor’s degree? It might make sense to finish up in whatever is quickest, then enroll in one of the accellerated post-bac nursing programs.
Go meet with the admissions team at your CC and find out what is possible.
I met with my advisor last week and he said I’m 8 classes away from earning my associates in arts degree as one option. And also I had enough credits to get the general studies degree, I will be getting that.
They do have an ADN program which could take two years if I commit to it fully at full time and was told a full time job is not recommended.
I just got my car last year not expecting to be losing my job. Unless I get someone to take my car and payments. But I had a crappy car before for a long time soaking all my money up with repairs. Thats part of the loan I have that I need to pay. And with all the clinicals they would have at different places I need a vehicle.
I filled out the FAFSA last week so I’m waiting on that to come back.
I’m wondering if anyone on here has used student loans or financial aide to help pay for
FA & student loans are aimed at helping you cover cost of attendance (which would include tuition, but also potentially housing). Do you have free room & board? If so then you could potentially use some of your loans to pay your other expenses, but taking out loans to make payments on other loans is less than desirable. You also wouldn’t be able to just take out as much extra as you want.
You should also talk to someone at the nursing program you are interested in. Find out when deadlines are. Find out what the average stats are for their admitted students. (Most are highly competitive now. My CC has people with masters and bachelors applying to get into AAS health care programs.) Find out if you’ve actually satisfied their prerequisites. (For example, some wont accept science classes that you took more than 5 years earlier.)
Okay. Thank you, I’m just feeling like I really messed up on my education and now I’m getting old and feel like I have nothing to show for it. Everything costs money and I really want to be able to complete something
Contact your state unemployment office and find out if there are any funds for retraining displaced workers. Since your company is closing, you may be eligible for some benefits. You probably can’t go to school and get unemployment but you need to check because the rules might be different for displaced workers. Also, look for scholarships for older students. My friend’s H went back for a nursing degree in his early 50’s. He had dropped out of college 30 years earlier. He got some scholarships for returning students.
Good luck.
Agree with techmom99. Check with your local unemployment office. My BIL lost his job and the MA unemployment offered several types of training, including nurses aid. I believe it was free. Start there and see what they have to offer.
Do you have a place to live that you can pay for?
Many community colleges have nursing programs. They cost would likely be the most favorable option for you.
The other thing…you are a non-traditional student wishing to return to college. If you are a woman, contact Vassar which has a program for non-traditional women students.
If you are a male entering nursing, you may find there is some funding…but this would be a college by college search.
I would suggest you carefully look at your public instate options first…and then make an appointment with someone there to talk about what you can do.
Congratulations on your decision to pursue nursing. I know, many say that working and going to school is impossible, but you’re going to find many people who did it anyway, not full time, but if you were to say, get your CNA, a part time job on the weekends may pay you enough to make that car/car insurance payment.
Financially, the community college is most likely the lowest cost option. You want to take to an advisor about a program for you. While you may have a lot of the gen eds done for the associates, you may still need some nursing pre-reqs (A&P I and II, Micro, etc). If you have some of those to finish, you may be part-time for a while, which would give you more time to work.
Also, given that you have been in college before, check and see if your GPA makes you competitive for the program. Some pick top students each year; others put everyone who makes the GPA cut off on a waiting list. Make sure you can get into the program before spending a dime on classes.
Thanks everyone I’ll keep you updated once I find out more with my FAFSA. The nursing program would be at a community college. Moraine valley community college, it’s one of the top accredited schools, and yea I wasnt aware if I go to school I can’t collect unemployment, I guess I’ll have to research about that.
So I got some info about once I become unemployed I can possibly go through some approved training classes through the wioa. Where I can still collect unemployment as long as it’s one of their approved training classes.
Best of luck to you.
A friend of mine decided at age 32 that she wanted to go to medical school. She already had an MBA and was working. She quit her job and got a job waitressing to support herself while she took the pre-med requirements. In med school she supported herself with her med-school loans, just like everyone else. So, for six years her only money for living came from waitressing and student loans. Of course, your path won’t take that long. If you downsize your home, get a cheaper car lease, and earn money as a server, do you think you can make it?
i know a guy who was a personal trainer (my personal trainer 
and he was 32-years-old and he decided to go to medical school and he’s now (15 years later) a successful orthopediac surgeon! I keep telling him that somebody should make a movie about his life.
I just wanted to second what @ordinarylives said. Make sure it is even possible with your GPA. I am 50 and have been doing my pre-requisites for Occupational Therapy Assistant. There is a good chance I won’t get into the program -partly because of a B I made in 1984. Seriously. It is super-competitive.
They have many more applicants than slots for many of these inexpensive community college allied health programs. They can afford to be picky.
I had a neighbor who lost her ofice job in a “displaced worker” situation. Her boss let her keep getting unemployment when she really wasn’t eligible (had a baby during this time period and so wasn’t even going to be working anyway). Then she signed up for a program through our local unemployment office where you keep getting checks $$$, and they keep testing you to see how smart you are and if you have the aptitude for the free education they are trying to give you (she kept failing the math part and still got paid (unemployment check) to remediate it week after week). She finally passed the math test and got to go to school (college) for free and get an associates degree in early childhood education. I think she received unemployment the whole time. It was like four years! So you really never know what kind of program you may qualify for in your situation, so go ask and see what you can get! Good luck!
I went to CC to get my associates in nursing and it was very competitive. You needed a very high GPA and HESI score to get in. I was starting with no college courses under my belt at about the same age you are, I took my pre-reqs one at a time so I could get an A in all of them. So that may or may not be a good idea for you, depending on what your former grades were.
^^ i agree
How many credits do you have and what is your current GPA?
You should have immediately received your EFC. What was it?
Did you send it to the CC? Is that who you are waiting to hear from? CCs often only have Loans and Pell grants to award.
What is your home state?
Did you indicate on FAFSA that you’re unemployed? @kelsmom it appears that this person isn’t yet unemployed and already filed FAFSA. Does s/he need to contact the school once job ends to have status changed to indicate displaced worker.
Did you receive any Pell grants when you went to college before? Any student loans outstanding?
Just FYI if do gain acceptance into a nursing program and are able to pursue your goal, many student nurses work as nurse techs while in school, you can do this after you complete the first semester of nursing classes, the pay is good and what is helpful is you are able to work off shifts or a double shift on weekends, allowing you to make some money and still attend classes and clinicals. Granted is not ideal, would not be a full time income, but depending on your expenses may make going to nursing school doable. I had to do this myself to afford college and found I learned a lot, it helped me find an RN job upon graduation and prepared me to work as a nurse far more than my clinical hours. I was able to earn enough for rent, food, books, and pretty much all my living expenses. Yes you miss out on a lot of the social/party aspect of college because you are working most friday and saturday evening or nights, but knowing you are not 18-22, i imagine you have your priorities straight. I made over 10/hour doing this back in the late 80’s, I don’t know the current going hourly rate because all of the postings at my hospital do not list pay rates, but I would imagine it is substantially more and if you work hours on evenings/nights/weekend you get a added hourly pay difference for the off shift.