Nurses have been working hard and seeking additional income for decades to make ends meet. Unfortunately, this harsh reality is accelerating as the cost of higher education and student loan debt levels increase. More and more nurses are turning to the gig economy, overtime, and second jobs as they struggle to deal with financial challenges, particularly student loan debt.

The median amount of student loan debt anticipated by graduate nursing students is between $40,000 and $54,999. Those nurses that participated in a recent survey shared their plans for student loan repayment.

As busy professionals, many nurses understandably don’t have time to investigate and assess the different federal student loan repayment programs that may be available to them. As a result, many nurses end up in repayment programs that cost much more than need be or they remain in programs which are not eligible for loan forgiveness from the US Department of Education. It is important that nurses, and all recent graduates, review their student debt, confirm their repayment plan is prudent and leverages all the repayment options available.