[Fil149]

I been accepted to Thomas Jefferson University Nursing School. The program is an accelerated 12month program and EXPENSIVE!!! My estimated loan payments with (including first degree debt) will be an outstanding $696.21 per month. This figure has made me think if I should wait a year to find cheaper schooling. Does anyone know of hospitals contributing a certain amount toward your loans? I've heard of this, but do not know if this is typical.

I feel I have the potential to be a good nurse, but I can't be 100% sure. I believe I have the qualities that can make me a potentially great nurse. However, I am very nervous because I have not worked in a healthcare setting. I do not know how I will deal with overwhelming patient ratios when a unit is understaffed. I don't know how I will handle death. I read a post here and I see that a new nurse is dealing with this now and feels guilty. From what I read it seems she did everything she could, however some people feel guilty even though they did everything they could. With my personality, I feel that I may take death of a patient pretty hard.

I guess with the money situation and the questions I still have about the profession, I am just hoping somebody would share some advice and also looking to find out if hospitals contribute to student loans.

[cassioo]

Many hospitals have tuition reimbursement for current employees (often must have been employeed for 6-12 months prior and commit to 1-3 years work after graduation). If you are already employeed at a hospital check it out. My hospital will pay for anybody from housekeeping to secretaries to security to go to school (not just nursing but IT or anything that will help the hospital) and pay current nurses for RN, BSN, MSN. Just about anything that will help them out.

[NavyJim58]

my hospital will pay your last semester....I know hospitals that will pay your last year.....

[syudent1010@aol.com]

Hello,fil149! Every hospital that I have had experiences with does some type of incentive for their employees going to school. The ones I know about usually do require some type of commitment after school though, usually between 1-3 years. Especially with the nursing shortage the way it is, most hospitals will do whatever they can to recruit new nurses. As for if you can handle nursing I would suggest either volunteering or trying to get some type of unit clerk/clerical job at a hospital. Losing the first patient is always hard because to be a good nurse you have to care about your patients, but you usually can get through it. While you might lose a patient, you also have helped countless others and possibly even saved patients that would have died if you didn't help them. Good luck!:luck:

[Fil149]

Thanks for all the replies I tried to volunteer at a local hospital here in the Philly area three years ago and they told me I had to be in clinicals to volunteer. I was pretty shocked when HR told me this. I wanted to volunteer to observe nurses. A good friend of mine is a nurse and I asked to observe at his hospital, but the nurse supervisor wouldn't let me for insurance reasons.

About the Student loans, I don't work for a hospital, but it's nice to know that some hospitals are willing to pay some part of the loan, I just don't know how much. I am willing to relocate and see which hospitals contribute the most. I just feel scared to get into the profession, and with the education being so expensive I might just have to postpone my goal for a little bit. It's just a shame because I worked hard to get into nursing school and was ready to start. Then I started to feel nervous, and now with the money it's hard for me to accept to be in such debt in a profession that I truly am not sure if it's right for me. Once again I feel that I have to potential to be a great nurse, but I just don't know how I will react to the variables of the job. :frustrated: