At the beginning of every semester I get a little nervous waiting for the tuition bill and the syllabi that tell me what $$$ books I have to buy for this round of classes. And for good reason, I think. Today, I got a cheerful e-mail telling me that I have a new bill from the University ($$$$) and purchased three textbooks from the University bookstore ($$$) that must weigh 15 pounds each. One is paperback, so maybe it is only ten pounds. Even the cashier commented on how heavy the books were as she was straining with her little arms to put them into a bag.
For as badly as nurses are needed, shouldn't nursing school be a little easier to afford?
For as badly as nurses are needed, shouldn't nursing school be a little easier to afford?
The anthem of the poor college student.
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals "Money"
And tuition! I wonder if anyone else has ever experienced this: I applied and was granted two federal student loans (one subsidized, one unsubsidized). However, the amount of the loans is not enough to cover my tuition and fees, not to mention my cost of living. As I am a full time student in an accelerated nursing program, I am currently unemployed (translate: incoming cash = 0$). How can this happen? The lovely man at the financial aid office was glad to tell me how this can happen when I called him in a panic, on the verge of tears at the beginning of last semester. This is my second bachelor's degree. I am not a true undergraduate student, nor am I a graduate student. I am in this weird doughnut hole where I do not qualify for loans awarded to the above mentioned students, but can only receive up to a certain amount each year...yadayada, etc., etc. Has this happened to you? Were you able to get a private student loan with no income?
I was also curious as to what has been your experience with ordering used textbooks online. I know that hundreds of dollars can be saved by ordering from sellers on sites like Amazon. However, twice now I have ordered books that I never received, and I end up buying them at the campus bookstore anyway because I don't have time to re-order. Do you have any favorite sites to order books from? Do you have any horror stories?
Well this has been my rant for the day. I would love to hear your stories and/or suggestions. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
There was just an article on yahoo news about this very topic...how lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers, etc., are so far in debt by the time they graduate, getting out of the hole is almost impossible. there needs to be help out there.
ReplyDeletejust wondering...have you checked into the Rutherford Scholarship? they give (or they used to...hell, it's been so long, i don't even know if they still do or not!!) 2 or 3 scholarships to Baca County kids....i know, because for the 2 1/2 years at UNC, i got the biggest one....it wasn't a huge amount, but enough to really help. you might look into that!!
good luck, sweetie!
This situation is all too familiar to me. Financial Aid is a total pain in the a**! I had to go to Wells Fargo and get a private student loan through them. They have a special loan for students in the healthcare field. I think they are pretty liberal about who they give money to, you might have to get your parents or someone to co-sign though.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I buy all my books through Amazon, haven't had any trouble with them. For OB I found someone who took the class last block to borrow from and for Peds I didn't buy the new edition, I figure that it should suffice.
Good luck and I'll see you in a week!
Oh...and did anyone else get that e-mail from the FA office that said their loans were suspended because of having too many credits??!! I almost had a heart attack since that is my tuition! They admitted it was their error....yeah, ok, so thanks for the false alarm!
ReplyDelete