Worth it to use student loans to help pay for childcare?

[plantnerd]

Hi ladies,

I am planning on beginning prerequisites this May to begin working towards a nursing associates degree/rn.  I would love to be a surgical nurse.

I am planning to take as many of my prereq's online as possible, but I know that at some point it will be necessary to put my son in childcare (he is now 13 months old).  Our budget has no wiggle room at this point, and my goal is to graduate school and begin working around the same time he begins school.  I will be applying for financial aid to pay for school itself, and am considering taking out more loans to pay for his childcare as well.

Has anyone done this, and what are your thoughts? 

I do have a degree in horticulture which just does not have enough earning power to ever hope to send the boy to college or for us to retire on, so re-education and a better paying job on my part is not optional, and I am trying to take advantage of my unemployment/sahm years.

[cakemama579]

Hi Plantnerd.  I am a second-semester nursing student, and my student loans have been paying for my son's preschool since the beginning of the school year.  Because you want to get into nursing, I suggest that when you actually start your program you seek out as many scholarships as possible, as there are a lot out there.  My entire tuition/books, etc, is covered by scholarships, and my loans are strictly to cover extra living expenses and childcare.  By the end of it we'll be racking up about $20,000 (his school is expensive!!), but hopefully it will pay off when I receive the paycheck of an RN!  Of course, that's in addition to my DH's student loans, and my already HUGE student loans from my first degree (English--also not a great money maker like yours ;)

Good luck to you on getting those prereqs done, and remember, SCHOLARSHIPS are the name of the game to keep those loans down!

[plantnerd]

What did you find were good resources for scholarship info?

[cakemama579]

The financial aid department was very helpful at my school.  All I had to do was fill out a general "scholarship" application, plus talk to a financial aid advisor.  I was given a scholarship just for going into nursing, and the others came from private companies that choose students to reward based on the general application we've filled out.  I could have done a lot more, but found the ones I received adequate.  you can do your own searches online as well.

[fnpmama]

RN is a great way to go when looking of career with upward mobility, flexibilty, and compensation is good.  I had a complete scholarship to nursing school fro my bachelors and Masters through the National Health Service Corp.  They also offer loan repayment.  I am not certain but I think most of their scholarships are for Master's degrees and nurse pracitioner programs.

[plantnerd]

Originally Posted by fnpmama 

RN is a great way to go when looking of career with upward mobility, flexibilty, and compensation is good.  I had a complete scholarship to nursing school fro my bachelors and Masters through the National Health Service Corp.  They also offer loan repayment.  I am not certain but I think most of their scholarships are for Master's degrees and nurse pracitioner programs.

Continuing to a bach or masters program is an option I have for later.  For now I will be quite happy with the technical degree and a well paying job!  If only I could go back in time and have gone into a medical field when I was a much younger woman with a much simpler life....  Once the baby boy is firmly entrenched in school I will have a lot more flexibility.  I mean, wth, I only have to find a way to fill the next 50 years or so ;)

[beebalmmama]

Bump:

I'm interested in this too. I'm going back for a Masters in OT but have a year of pre-reqs to do. Currently we are paycheck to paycheck on dh's income while I've been home with ds (also 13 months). I was planning on loans as well for tuition but am concerned about the cost of childcare.

What is the chance of scholarships for pre-reqs before your admitted to a program? I realize the OP was talking about nursing and so we'll stick with that.

[springbride]

We have taken a small student loan to pay for child care and anticipate taking another one after this next baby comes and I'm back to work.  I looked into switching child care and cutting the costs a little bit, and then a friend verbally hit me upside the head (gotta love friends like that :)) and reminded me that these are my children, and they deserve the best that we can give them, and in todays twisted world, i don't really want to compromise on who will be spending many hours day/week with them.  So we have opted for some student loans, a little higher expense, but a nanny we can trust.  I hope that it will be worth it in the long run.