How I Graduated Nursing School Debt-Free

I used to work as a certified surgical technologist. A career I have grown to enjoy and find unsettling peace on. Two year ago, I decided to go to nursing school to acquire additional skills which could make me contribute more wherever I find myself. So, I went back to college and graduated nursing school debt-free.

Prior to starting nursing school, I shared the nursing school dream with a few coworkers. I was met with the usual reluctancy by many to start nursing school. This is due to the hefty school debt associated with it. Imagine- many young working class adults dream being deterred by such a thing as student debt.

That was not going to happen to me. So what did yours truly do, my dear reader?

Your man had to figure out a way to beat the system and graduate college completely debt-free. But, it did not come without its consequences. I was burnt out, by the time nursing school was done.

How I Did It?

Firstly, I had to figure out the most affordable nursing program in my city with the same quality as the most expensive school. What do I mean by this?

Usually, some young working class adults like to go to colleges with brand name. This is regardless of the cost. What I have learnt over the years living in this beautiful country, is affordable colleges can offer the same quality training as top universities. The only difference is how the student work to acquire the skills.

With respect to nursing school, I had to go with San Antonio College. It is known to have one of the best affordable and top quality nursing training in San Antonio. The best part of it is, its school of nursing rivals University of Texas Health Center, which costs three times as much.

It literally costs me less than $16,000 to finish the program. It was not easy, but I paid out of pocket and my American express credit card. I had to max it out to help me through school. Now before you start talking about how I was able to do it because I already had a good job, hear me out first.

I was working less than 20 hours a week in nursing school. As you will soon find out, you have work around whatever time a nursing program leaves for you. Simply put, they set the schedule and time. Most times, you will be lucky if you had three days off in a week to work.

Cutting My Living Expenses

Prior to nursing school, I had to take into account my current living expenses. There were some I had to forgo to free up money for me to use. You have to decrease your living expenses, because your work hours will definitely be cut due to full time nursing school.

Here is what I mean.

I had to move to a cheaper apartment. I left an apartment I was paying for $1150 rent to one where I paid $500 per month. Actually, a friend of mine who is a traveling nurse on a one year contract out of state offered his flat with two bedrooms to another student and me.

One of the bad decisions I ever made out of the necessity of saving money. I only last three months, because my flat mate was annoying. Mostly, I missed having a place of my own.

By the fourth month, I was already moving out to a one bedroom apartment where I pay $927 per month. I briefly mentioned this on Episode #5 of my podcast, when exploring the idea of living alone versus getting a roommate.

Next, I had to remove all my media subscriptions. This includes Netflix, Amazon and others. Well, I went with the student membership with Amazon. I had the same service, just affordable.

Finally, I created a budget and started saving for my first semester tuition. Oh yes, you have to or else nursing school will swallow you whole. Having that a budget for the first semester, helped graduated nursing school debt-free. I did not have to be thrown off by the first semester shock. Everyone I knew in class got the shock!

Budgeting For Nursing School

After I picked the school I wanted go, I got their estimated tuition per semester. I encourage you to always get this, because it will help you budget for nursing school. It helped me plan the $4000 I saved for the first semester of nursing school.

Secondly, it lets you know whether you are ready financially to start nursing school. You would be amazed at the level of surprises which will pop up during nursing school. A few students in my cohort dropped out as a result of financial issues.

Here is a list of surprises I met.

• Unqualified for student loans.
• My aging parents got sick in one of the semesters and I had to send money home for medical treatment.
• Unqualified for all financial organization and programs geared towards helping nursing students.
• Nursing school expenses like textbooks and tools.

Without the $4000 I saved, I probably would have been crushed by the nursing program. This is because I was a young Batchelor with no one to support me. Most of my peers had their parents, wives and husbands. I had nobody.

What did the $4000 do for me, my good reader?

It paid the first semester of nursing school. Then, the savings handled other expenses which my part-time certified surgical technologist job could not carry. This is until I was able to figure a way to balance full time nursing school with two part-time jobs later in the program.

The $4000 was my fortress, when my plan to get my employer to reimburse my tuition did not work. I encourage you to take time to save a few thousand dollars, prior to starting nursing school. It will not save all your problems, but it will buffer some in the beginning.

This advice is for single and stubborn young working class adults like me, who moved to another country or state without no one to financially rely on. You set a foundation to graduate nursing school debt free, when you budget for it. If you are hoping on employer’s tuition programs, excuse my language when I say employer’s tuition reimbursement is trash.

Employer’s Tuition Reimbursement

On How Your Employer Tuition Reimbursement Could Smash Your Debts, I talked about using employer’s tuition reimbursement to your benefit. Let us say I wrote that article too soon. This is because when I finally started nursing school, I learned it is not as much as young working class adults think.

You know what is worse?

It comes with strings attached. Although in serious need for nurse graduates, my job offered $2000 a year with a two contract after graduation attached to it. Personally, I thought that was ridiculous since I was paying close to $8000 a year in tuition.

So much for employer tuition reimbursement programs.

Trust me, when I say it is not worth if you had plans of seeking greener pastures after graduation. I could not take it, due to the two year contract which came with the money. What I did next, nearly exhausted my ability to work.

Two Part-Time Jobs Averaging 40 Hours

I will not recommend this trying to graduate nursing school debt-free. This is because it is not for the faint at heart. I was so burnt out at the end of nursing school, I ended up giving myself one full year break to start working as a nurse. Currently, I am traveling as a certified surgical tech which pays me about $8000 a month.

But while I was in nursing school full time, I did two part-time jobs.

On the first semester, I was only able to do two 12-hour shifts on my days off nursing school. Even with that, nursing school still kicked my butt. This is due to the intensity of face-to-face classes, studying requirements, homework and on-site clinical.

Dude, there were nights I nearly cried. Listen- nearly is the keyword here because my ego would not let the tears drop. Also, I could not cry since there was no one to console me anyways. I had to put on my Texan cowboy hat and heaved onwards.

Yes- I am a strong black man. But, I realize quickly how bad of a time manager I was when my social life dropped to zero. It was work, study and school some more.

What Did My Part-Time Covered?

The part time job was averaging just enough to pay the following bills below:

• Rent- $927
• Car note- $208 then.
• Insurance – $150
• Light bill- $100
• Gas- $50 a week
• Phone bill – $65 on cricket then.
• Maybe $100 for weekly food.

After that, I had less than $500 per month left. This is especially on days I had to skip work due to the program asking me for more than I could deliver. As a result, my part-time paycheck would decrease.

I had an old coworker who called after my first semester with an offer paying $7 more per hour than my job was offering. When I brought the offer to my boss, he said I had already been given the usual $0.45 annual raise. That was when I knew I had to go PRN with my job and work part-time for the higher paying job.

Always choose yourself, guys.

On the whole, the new job supplemented my income in a way which helped me. That $7 more per hour worked wonders. Both jobs averaged 40 hours per week for me. Monthly expenses got taken care and all I had to worry about was passing my nursing classes.

How Nursing School Scholarships Helped

Remember when I mentioned not being able to qualify for federal student loans?

Well, I did not qualify for any other financial assistance programs like ReadyToWork program. This is due to the fact I made more than the minimum $30,000 requirement the year before. I kind of have an issue with this, since programs like this one do not consider changes in circumstances.

Anyways, I was fortunate to qualify for my college’s scholarship geared towards nursing student. This is a result of one great professor- Miss Elizabeth, who saw I was drowning under the stress of work and nursing to make ends meet. She had to make moves to help me out. God bless that woman for me!

Through the Alamo college scholarships, I was able to get up to $2300 in total during my nursing school program. I am not going to lie, it went a long way. When I know I would be getting a scholarship, I usually reduce my work hours so I could breathe.

I highly recommend seeking for scholarships in your college. There are nursing school scholarships meant to help a nursing student. Do not neglect to apply for them, even if it looks like you do not qualify. They will save you from drowning in wanton stress.

There is a downside to getting a nursing school scholarship. I feel like I have to mention that it is not free money. At the end of the year, it will be deducted from your tax return. At least, mine got deducted and I ended up owing back taxes. It is best you bear that on mind, when accepting scholarships.

Should You Use A Credit Card For Nursing School Expenses?

I made the mistakes of using a credit card to pay some of my nursing school tuition and expenses. What a bad idea that was, my good reader. I will not recommend this idea to my worst enemy.

Do you know why?

A credit card debt is not like a student loan debt. While student loan debt is structured to help students pay back slowly at a reasonable interest rate, credit card interest rates do not care. During nursing school, I acquired up to $3000 debt in my American Express credit card.

Somehow, it feels like I have paid about $1400 in interest and expenses since 2024. I kid you not! When I had $2999 debt, I was being charged interest rate of $77.40 monthly. Also, I paid $40 whenever I were late for payment. This was during the times I was struggling to balance full time nursing school with part-time work.

Now, this is a debt I have been slowly paying since the second semester of college. I paid the minimum payment per month, which gets about 45% swallowed by the monthly interest rate. Hence, why the payment impact on the overall debt takes a while. I mean my credit score is good as a result, but I would not recommend using credit card during nursing school.

I am on track to paying everything off at the end of this month though. If I had known, I would have listened to the advice I gave about How Credit Card Companies Target College Students As Money Cows. This is because I was American Express money cow during my nursing school program!

If I Did It, Could You Do It Too?

Of course you could do it. The reason being, it is all about financial planning. Do not get wrong, nursing school is a challenge on itself. Sometimes, it is hard graduating without any student debt.

But, it is possible.

I had to do it, because I was stubborn. I nearly got burnt out. You just have to consider what you are willing to sacrifice. In case you decide to use student loans, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

There are student loan forgiveness programs for nursing graduates. I talked about it on Who Qualifies For Student Loan Debts. I mentioned about three programs on the article, which could help bring down your nursing school debt to $0.

Having said that, the above is my story on how I graduated nursing school debt free. By debt free here, I mean graduating with zero student debt. As you can see, I still ran into other expenses which required me to use my credit card. I do not recommend using a credit card, since you may still be paying the credit card debt after nursing school. I feel like that is the only thing I wish I did differently.