How did you pay for your RN / NP / PA?

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FireCloud9

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In another thread I saw someone mention that they paid for their training with scholarships. I was wondering how those of you that are RNs / PAs / NPs paid for your respective training.

-College loans
-Scholarship
-Employer reimbursement
-Moonlighting / P/T work
-Other?
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I came into this thread thinking it was gonna be about purchasing your own RN/PA/NP :eek:


.....I'm gonna walk away now
 
family assistance + worked nights/weekends as a paramedic(slow station=paid to study).
 
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Cash.
 
Post 9-11 GI bill in combination with PELL grants and subsidized loans.
 
Took out a loan for nursing school and I believe it was called the GI bill back then. Ended up getting about $200.00/month. Worked as an EMT and CNA to pay for bills, gas and food. Also, shared rent with a room mate.

Paid cash when I went to respiratory school.
 
The post 9-11 GI Bill is really sweet! They give me BAH ($1800/month) and they pay my full tuition plus they give me $1000 per year for books. In return, all I had to do was watch my friends explode in front of me :thumbup:
 
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The GI Bill was how I went to college the first time around. All used up.

Loans and p/t work... hmm...

Haven't heard anyone say scholarship yet....
 
I received academic scholarships as well as Pell and Cal grants. And I worked part time. (As an undergrad).

If you work in a hospital, they might offer scholarships for nursing programs. Something to look into. Also call the programs you are interested in to see what scholarships they offer and what the qualifications are and if they are renewable yearly.

You should already have filled out your FAFSA.
 
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The right Path said:
I received academic scholarships as well as Pell and Cal grants. And I worked part time. (As an undergrad).

If you work in a hospital, they might offer scholarships for nursing programs. Something to look into. Also call the programs you are interested in to see what scholarships they offer and what the qualifications are and if they are renewable yearly.

You should already have filled out your FAFSA.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip.

I don't work in a hospital, but I will ask around about those scholarships. My wife volunteers at a hospital, but only heard about those scholarships for those without an undergrad, not 2nd or 3rd degree candidates going into the profession.

It'll be quite some time before I fill out a FAFSA. I'm still completing pre-reqs. :)
 
my hospital is paying for all my expenses related to my nursing degree (and did so for my prerequisites) through tuition reimbursement. then they will give me a job in whatever department i want to be in upon my graduation. they move my work schedule to accomodate my classes. it so happens that the ADN program im in does their clinicals at my hospital as well, so i will be able to have a firsthand view of the conditions i will be working in in any department i choose from among. they also will pay for my bachelors bridge program. and since my facility has satelite clinics, i can work on my FNP, and upon getting that, i would be a good candidate to get picked up as a provider. all the while, working as a benefitted employee. doesnt get much better than that. i have to work for them for a set period of years from the time of finishing my last class that they pay for, but that just means that i have a low risk of being laid off if they ever end up having to do that. if they do, then i dont have to pay them back, and they lose all the money they invested. however, ive been an employee there for several years so i have seniority in the department im in, so that protects my employment. my pay scale also will reflect my level of seniority once i get on as a nurse. after looking at that, i changed from looking at PA school, to the NP route. if by chance i found a job i wanted to take after i become an RN, my tuition at the CC is so cheap i could pay it back to the facility no sweat. however, i absolutely love my facility, so thats certainly not on my mind. i like it so much that i make a little less than the other places in the region, but i've never bothered to shop around. i didn clinicals at other places and saw how they work, and am not interested in a jump.

so thats the best deal out there if you can swing it. a housekeeper at my facility could do the same thing as me if they were so inclined. the hardest part of the deal would probably be getting into the nursing program... often thats what throws folks. im not even going to look for scholorships or bother with grants. apparently part of the tuition reimbursement deal is that you have to subtract any grants or scholorship funds from what the hospital would offer to even it out, so it wouldnt be worth the trouble of pursuing it because the facility will pay it all. i feel very fortunate.
 
pamac,

That is a good deal. I would know. I did it twice before for my undergrad and graduate degrees. In my case, they didn't subtract grants, etc. so I had every incentive to pursue all scholarships, grants, etc. Additionally, I was being paid by the GI Bill - so I had work income, GI Bill, scholarship, grant and tuition reimbursement.

The best part of your deal is that you're an insider. ;)

You said, "i changed from looking at PA school, to the NP route."

They wouldn't reimburse if you went PA route?
 
no they wouldnt reimburse you for the PA route. there are requirements that you work so many hourse per pay period for them to pay for your school (basically you have to be at least a part time employee). PA school requires a full time commitment to the program. they wont pay for pharmacy school, or medical school.
 
I became a nurse 18 years ago. There was a huge shortage at the time, and the state I was living in paid me to go to nsg school (ADN). Tuition, uniforms, stethoscope, books, etc were all free, plus they gave me a stipend of about $300 a month. All I had to do was work in that state for 2 years after graduation. My employer paid 100% of costs for me to complete the BSN a few years later.

I got a big merit scholarship for the MSN program, and my husband paid the difference.
I have a merit scholarship for my DNP program as well, and am paying the rest (which includes books and 6X a year travel expenses to the school for a week at a time) out of pocket. All told, when I finish the DNP I will have paid about 20K. I am considering a PhD after I finish the DNP, but I won't do it unless I get a fully funded PhD. 20K is not a lot of money, but it is all I care to owe! We have never had debt before (other than mortgages) and it isn't a good feeling. :(

I really feel sick to my stomach for the medical students getting out of school owing better than six figures. That's abominable! The new family medicine physician hired here is barely making over 100K/year, but owes 3X that! How are they ever going to afford a family, a home, retirement? I already had all of that when I went back to school. I'll make 80% of what he makes and owe 90% less, plus I'll never take call and I'm less likely to be sued, and my insurance is much lower. I honestly don't blame med students for being upset. That's a hellaofa lot of money to owe after all that hard work. I'll be honest, even if I were 25 again, I would never make that choice. My hat is off to you that sacrifice so much! I think you really have to be committed and have a strong love for helping people to take that on. In this climate, I suspect that we are going to end up with far better physician that we had 30 years ago. The new physicians will have been motivated by a love for science/medicine and human kind that ironically, used to be attributed mostly to nurses. Seems to me that economics and politics have turned the tables 180*. Sorry, end tangent, lol.
 
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pamac said:
no they wouldnt reimburse you for the PA route. there are requirements that you work so many hourse per pay period for them to pay for your school (basically you have to be at least a part time employee). PA school requires a full time commitment to the program. they wont pay for pharmacy school, or medical school.
Click to expand...

Are you saying they won't pay for the PA or that you wouldn't commit to FT work and FT school? (There's a difference)

For my undergrad I worked a FT job (8-5) and went to school FT (5-11pm), so it can be done. It's not much fun, but doable.

I would be willing to work FT in a clinical environment and go to school FT for the PA. After all, it's just 2.5yrs vs. having to do it for 4yrs. :)
 
no, they wont pay for PA school because its incredibly expensive.....probably what thier take would be. and good luck working full time while in PA school. most programs i know require students not work during their clinical rotations as well. you can say you think you can pull it off, but its just words.

but its no matter to me because i have all the nonnursing classses done, so my end of the bargain is basically school part time, and work full time. and, im not required to work full time to qualify for tuition reimbursement. i just have to work at least part time.
 
Croooz said:
The question is would you be able to and graduate from the program?
Click to expand...

I'm sure that I wouldn't be the first person in America to go to a PA program and work while doing it. :)

I graduated from two others while working, this would just make it a hat trick! :p
 
For MSN/FNP:GI Bill (Gulf War Vet) plus working crazy hours in the ER! Worked about 25-30 hours per week as a prn RN. Also worked as agency nurse which pays about $35 hour.

For my BSN, I was an RN (Associate Degree) and worked as an agency nurse in Phoenix, so I actually paid cash. It was pricey (private university-Grand Canyon U.)

For my ADN, I was already an LPN, I lived at home ( I was 19-20 years old), worked part time, ate at home. I had BEOG (now they are PELL ) grants. Cheap tuition, around ?$450 back in the late 70's)

Glad to say that I have never had any student loans and neither did my 3 sibs. They all earned bachelors at local state university.
Tuition there is about $2,700 per semester. The community college also local tuition is about $675 per semester and you can get your ADN there.:luck:
 
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