Community colleges and other types of schools offer nursing programs designed to combine classroom work with field experience. In addition to taking classes and working in practice spaces, you‘ll also do clinical rotations that require you work with real patients. You‘ll learn how to take their vital signs, what to do in emergency situations and even how to act around patients. While the nursing school can be a little on the expensive side, you can look for ways to save money while in school.
Share Resources
Sharing resources is one of the best ways to save money and allows nursing students to cut down on their personal expenses. Don’t buy any of the books that you need for your classes until you chat with other students. Your group can purchase or rent one textbook and make copies of the pages and chapters needed in that class. Nursing school students can also split transportation costs. Whether you need to drive to campus for your classes or drive to a local facility for your clinical rotations, you can carpool to save on the cost of gas and save on wear and tear on your vehicle.
Read the Syllabus
Before you buy anything you think you might need in your classes, carefully read through the syllabus for each course. These simple pages tell you exactly what you need for the coming semester and prevent you from buying things you might not need. If the syllabus says that you need a stethoscope or any other type of medical instrument, you can check into medical instrument repair too. Many companies that offer this service will also inspect your equipment and let you know if it needs any minor repairs before those repairs become more costly.
Choose Online Classes
An easy way to save money on nursing school is with online classes. Traditional classes charge a rate based on the number of credits that class covers, but you‘ll also pay some miscellaneous fees charged by the school too. Online courses often cost less and do not require that you pay as many fees either. Even taking just a few of your required classes online can help you save hundreds of dollars on the total cost of your tuition. While you can make a high salary as a working nurse, you may want to use some of these tips to save money on your schooling.