How to Pay for Nursing School: A Private Nursing Education at Gustavus Is Within Reach
For many aspiring nursing students, the first question isn’t “Which nursing school will I attend?” but “How will I pay for nursing school at all?” The total cost of earning a four-year nursing school degree is no joke. With tuition, fees, meals, and housing added together, the initial sticker price of your undergraduate nursing school education could be daunting. At Gustavus Adolphus, a private liberal arts college, we’re committed to helping students find a path to afford the education they deserve.
We know the prospect of paying for nursing school is often the most stressful part of planning out your nursing career, so we’ve created real financial aid solutions. That’s why in 2023 Washington Monthly wrote that Gustavus Adolphus is the #1 school in Minnesota for social mobility as well as the top “bang for your buck” college in the state.
Read on to learn how Gustavus nursing students fund their education, how the sticker price of a nursing degree differs vastly from the actual cost, and why private school tuition shouldn’t scare you off from exploring the Gustavus nursing program.
Paying for nursing school at Gustavus: an overview
The first step to planning how to pay for nursing school is to determine the overall cost of completing an undergraduate nursing education. Regardless of which nursing school you attend, you’ll be looking at not only the base tuition price, but assorted fees and housing and meal costs, whether you live on or off campus during the school year.
The scary part: nursing program sticker price
Gustavus nursing students live on campus as a part of our comprehensive residential school program, creating an immersive private school experience where you’ll form close and often lifelong relationships with your nursing cohort and other fellow Gusties.
The “sticker price” of enrollment in the Gustavus nursing school is made of up these costs:
- Tuition
- Housing
- Meal plan
- Fees
The actual amount you’ll pay for nursing school per year is the total cost minus your financial aid package.
The good news: generous financial aid programs
Total average tuition cost at Gustavus, especially for students with substantial financial need, is generally a fraction of the sticker price of a four-year degree. Total tuition and fees vary substantially among students based on a variety of factors, but here’s the good news at a glance:
- Almost all Gustavus students (97%+) receive some kind of financial aid, with about 70% getting need-based financial assistance.
- Eligible students living in Minnesota whose family income is less than $80,000 receive their first year’s tuition free, and the majority of their subsequent tuition is covered as well.
- All students receive a minimum of $100,000 in scholarships during their four-year education simply for filling out the FAFSA, so subtract that right off the total cost. Students with greater financial need are eligible for additional scholarship funds. Between need-based scholarships and merit-based scholarships, many Gustavus students have the majority of their tuition covered.
- The four-year sticker price of a state university or other private school can be misleading when considering total education costs. We work closely with our students to ensure a four-year graduation path for those who want it, with the result that typically aorund 75% of Gustavus students graduate in four years vs. around 30% of state university students. We back this up with the Gustavus four-year graduation guarantee, picking up the extra cost if nursing students require a ninth semester to complete their degree.
The other good news: nursing students pay off school faster
If you do have to take out student loans to finance a nursing school education, we still have good news for you:
- The average starting salary for Gustavus graduates fresh out of school is approximately $51,000/year, but this number is considerably higher for nursing school graduates. With a bachelor of arts in nursing and your state nursing license, you are qualified for entry-level RN work, with a median salary of $74,000 in the Minneapolis area. Historically 100% of Gustavus nursing students received RN job offers within 9 months of graduation.
- Plus, nurses with a master’s degree (MSN) typically make higher salaries, and advanced practice registered nurses often earn well into six figures. For example, 2023 nurse practitioner salaries near Gustavus ranged from $113,000-$153,000.
That’s a brief overview of financing a private undergraduate nursing degree at Gustavus. Next we’ll break down some financial assistance options to help you think in more detail about how to pay for nursing school.
How to pay for nursing school at Gustavus: the details
We believe a private liberal arts education at Gustavus offers an unparalleled academic experience, preparing graduates to truly embody the five core Gustavus values of excellence, community, justice, service, and faith. We maintain our academic integrity through employing expert professional instructors, keeping our faculty-student ratio small and average class sizes around 15 students, maintaining state-of-the-art facilities, and providing a robust network of programs to support our students’ academic, social, mental, and physical health as they chart their college journey.
Our core values themselves compel us to seek creative ways to address the substantial costs of all this programming and make a private school education accessible to a wider pool of students. So we continue to refine our financial aid programs in order to reach qualified students for whom a private school education would otherwise not be feasible. The following list isn’t exhaustive, but here are some of the reasons you’ll find paying for nursing school at Gustavus easier than you might have expected:
First Year Free Tuition Program
If your family lives in Minnesota and has a household income under $80,000, you’re eligible for our First Year Free Tuition Program. This is exactly what it sounds like: as a first-time, full-time college student attending Gustavus starting fall 2024, your entire $55,445 in tuition is covered through a “gift aid” package composed of grants and scholarships from state and federal governments and Gustavus’ private financial aid fund. All you have to do to prove you’re eligible for this program is complete the FAFSA; we’ll do the rest.
Getting your first year’s tuition free isn’t even the best part, though: the name really undersells the program. Students who remain eligible (based on family income) receive the tuition scholarship not only for their first year of school, but all three remaining years as well. Students covered by this program are only responsible to pay for meals and housing, fees, and any tuition increase during their subsequent three years in school. Tuition increases are typically around 3.5% per year.
With education, food, housing, and all base program costs included, eligible Minnesota students are looking at a first-year private residential school cost of less than $14,000. Put another way, spread over nine months of school, this is like having a rent and grocery bill of about $1500/month, except you also receive a premium liberal arts education, live on a beautiful campus with fellow students, enjoy free health services – and your grocery bill actually translates to delicious meals prepared and waiting for you in the dining hall three times a day! And at the end of four years, you have a bachelor of science degree in nursing and you’re ready to begin life as an RN or nursing graduate student.
As it already covers almost all your nursing school tuition, the First Year Free Tuition Program does exclude you from a handful of additional merit-based scholarship opportunities. But you remain eligible for other scholarships, grants, loans, and student employment programs, which you can put towards the remaining costs of your nursing degree.
Gustie Guarantee
What if you don’t qualify for the First Year Free Tuition Program, but you’ll still have significant difficulty paying tuition and fees for a private nursing school education? Perhaps you don’t live in Minnesota, or your household income just misses the $80,000 cutoff. Don’t worry – you still qualify for extensive financial aid under the Gustie Guarantee.
The Gustie Guarantee is simple: as long as you are enrolled in school full time and fill out the FAFSA each year, you’ll receive a $25,000 tuition scholarship annually, for a total of $100,000 towards your four-year nursing school education. This scholarship minimum applies to all full-time students, but larger aid amounts are available for students who demonstrate substantial financial need.
Curious how much you may be eligible to receive in nursing school tuition subsidies? Use our Net Price Calculator to get the estimated amount of your total nursing school expenses based on your financial situation and other relevant factors.
Merit-based scholarships
Gustavus offers a range of merit-based scholarships. For instance, high standardized test scores and an impressive college application will put you in the running for the President’s Scholarship, with a total financial aid award between $34,500 and $36,500 per year. President’s Scholarship recipients undergo an interview process, and incoming students are typically considered for this scholarship if they have an ACT score of at least 30 or an SAT score of at least 1400. Maintain a 3.25 GPA to continue receiving the President’s Scholarship throughout your Gustavus nursing school career.
Student employment programs
One way to reduce your nursing school tuition payments and/or the amount of student loans you take out is to work on campus during the school semester. Student employment programs at Gustavus provide up to $3500 towards tuition each year, with students working up to 10 hours per week. All Gustavus students can apply to work on campus to put money toward their education, but priority in filling job openings will be given to students we’ve determined demonstrate the most financial need.
Student loan forgiveness and payment programs
We encourage you as a prospective nursing school student to explore all options for grants, scholarships, and work opportunities, then use student loans only to pick up the remaining cost of your nursing school education. Students who submit a FAFSA each school year can receive up to $31,000 total in subsidized (interest-free) and unsubsidized Federal Direct Loans for their undergraduate education. We always advise accessing federal student loans first, versus private sector loans, as the interest and repayment schedules for federal loans are far less of a financial burden.
Fortunately, while loans are never preferable compared to grants and scholarships, starting in 2007 the federal government began creating programs designed to cap the cost of monthly federal loan payments based on the payer’s income. Improved federal loan repayment programs have made higher education loan repayment far more financially manageable, and these programs even forgive any remaining loan balances after a predetermined number of years of regular payments.
As you determine how you will pay for nursing school, these federal loan payment programs allow you to calculate quite accurately what your future monthly loan payment will look like based on your projected income as an RN. Here are three federal loan payment programs to become acquainted with as you plan how you will pay back any Federal Direct Loans:
Saving on a Valuable Education loan payment program
You will not be required to start paying back your student loans while you are still enrolled in school full time. Students who take out Federal Direct Loans (subsidized and unsubsidized) are eligible for the federal SAVE program after graduation. This program, recently replacing the similar REPAYE loan payment program, uses your income each year to determine your minimum monthly loan payment amount.
As of summer 2024, the SAVE program only requires graduates to put 5% of their adjusted gross income towards paying their student loans – and that’s only “discretionary income,” or income above the first $32,800 you make each year. These payment minimums are even less if your household size is larger than just yourself. So for instance, let’s say you graduate nursing school with $30,000 in outstanding federal student loans and your first-year adjusted gross income (total income minus certain deductions) as a registered nurse comes to $55,000. Your discretionary income is $55,000 - $32,800 = $22,200. 5% of that is $1,100, so your minimum monthly federal student loan payment would be around $100/month.
While you might want to pay your student loans off much faster than this, the income-based minimum payment guarantees you will not be financially overwhelmed by student loans. If you become unemployed for a time for any reason, or your income drops below $32,800, you will not have to make payments at all. It’s also good to know that while a career as a registered nurse should allow you to pay back your loans much sooner, after 20-25 years of payments any remaining loan balance will be forgiven entirely.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Plan
Nursing school graduates who go on to work as public health nurses, or who are employed in other government or non-profit nursing positions, may be eligible to have the balance of their loans forgiven after ten total years of public service work. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Plan requires that you sign up for the SAVE program and make your minimum monthly payments. If you work in an eligible nursing field for ten years, and make all your payments on time, any remaining loan balance will be forgiven.
Your Gustavus nursing degree qualifies you to work as a public health nurse in the state of Minnesota, once you get your general state nursing license. If a nursing career in the public health sector is of interest to you, check out the federal government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness page for more details, or discuss this option with one of our financial aid officers.
Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program
Nursing students who are graduating with a large amount of student loans and are interested in public service might consider the Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program for a faster loan repayment option. The federal government’s Health Resources and Services Administration runs this program to address the shortage of qualified nurses in underserved areas of the country. The program requires nurses to sign a two-year contract to work full time (at least 32 hours/week) in an approved public or nonprofit setting.
Each year you fulfill your Nurse Corps contract, the program pays off 30% of whatever your total student loan balance was going into the program, for a total of 60% of your loans paid off in two years. When funding is available, nurses can apply for a third year in the program, and another 25% of their total loans will be paid. So if your nursing school student loans are substantial, this program can be a great opportunity to potentially knock out 85% of all these loans in just three years while earning a full-time nursing salary.
Next steps: your nursing school financial aid package
If you’re ready to explore a nursing education at Gustavus, here are the next steps to charting your financial assistance path. You can do steps 1 and 2 in either order:
- Fill out your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online. The application opens each year in December for the next school year. The FAFSA will determine your eligibility for federal grants and loans, giving Gustavus a baseline for mapping out additional assistance. Remember to check Gustavus as a college of interest on the online form to have your FAFSA application results sent directly to us.
- Apply to Gustavus. It’s free to apply, and the application season opens in August for the following year. Once we receive your completed school application and FAFSA, we’ll calculate your financial aid options and send you a determination.
- Review your Gustavus financial aid package and submit your deposit. You’re all set to start an exciting nursing college career!
If you want some numbers faster, use our Net Price Calculator to get a rough idea what a private nursing education at Gustavus will cost you over four years. If you have further questions about scholarships, grants, loans, payment plans, or any of our financial assistance programs, reach out so we can connect you with a personal Admission Counselor today. We’re excited to work with you to see how we can make a private nursing education accessible for you.
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