Fellow nurses may see this headline and shake their heads. Is it really possible to earn an advanced degree inexpensively? Sure, it is!

The dream of earning an advanced degree has lingered in my mind for the longest time. However, I made up a lot of excuses that effectively kept me from pursuing it. Truth be told, it was the anticipated financial burden that made me decide to set that dream aside. I rationalized that I was happy where I was at that time. I really couldn’t ask for anything more, professionally that is. But who was I kidding really?

The Motivation

In 2018, I was working as a permanent night shift charge nurse in our Pediatric unit. When a potential for promotion was mentioned, I felt that my credentials were inadequate to step up to a leadership role. Sure, I already have my Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I am also a Certified Pediatric Nurse. However, I felt that it was the opportune time to embark on a graduate degree journey. I sincerely believed that earning that degree will be beneficial to both myself and my colleagues should I end up with that coveted position.

The Initial Steps

First things first! I had to make sure that my husband was on board with my decision. It was a fact that earning an advanced degree requires time dedicated to schoolwork. Being a full-time bedside nurse and full-time student, I barely had any time left for my domestic chores.    

Once I got that out of the way, I reached out to my alma mater. I needed to obtain my academic records and have them evaluated. That was necessary to check if my bachelor’s was comparative to the degree here in the States. Thankfully, that process was completed in a period of one month.

While waiting for the evaluation results, I contacted my academic adviser to discuss my lingering questions. I came prepared during that phone call. To ensure that I won’t leave out anything, I listed the relevant questions I needed to ask.

12 Questions to Ask

A. Your Workplace

1. What is the maximum reimbursement I can avail myself of?

In most organizations, this is dependent on your employment status. Full-time employees get more tuition reimbursement dollars compared to their part-time team counterparts. Most employers offer tuition benefits in the amount of $5,000/annually or more.

I asked if my workplace has a partnership with academic institutions. There may be other benefits (e.g. discounts, increased amount of tuition reimbursement, etc.) if such partnership exists. By going to a partner school, my reimbursed amount was significantly higher than that of my colleagues who went to non-partner institutions.

Discount

2. Does the school offer any professional discount because I work in my organization/health system?

Since my school has a partnership with my work, I was able to enjoy a 30% discount. That discount and the extra reimbursement saved me additional out-of-pocket costs.

Academic Advising

3. Does the vendor providing tuition reimbursement offer academic advising sessions? Do I have to pay any fee if I avail of such a service?

I was very fortunate that the vendor working with my organization offered free advising sessions. The agent who helped me was very efficient. She listed potential schools I can go to based on my specific requests. Obviously, one of the most important requests was for me to pay the least out-of-pocket amount.

Pre-Enrolment Expenses

4. Will my pre-educational expenses be covered by tuition reimbursement too?

As I stated earlier, I requested my records from my college in the Philippines. For foreign graduates like me, we need to have our records translated into English (some subjects were taught in Filipino). Furthermore, they have to be validated by credentialing services such as the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS). Those incur costs. Chances are you have to pay them on your own. I did!

 

5. Are books and other expenses also covered by tuition reimbursement?

I reviewed our organization’s educational benefits and clarified this during my academic advising session. I didn’t want to presume that my laptop, Microsoft office, etc. will be covered as well. One less stress to deal with.

Work Commitment

6. In exchange for my tuition reimbursement, what is the required work commitment?

Workplaces have mandatory requirements when it comes to tuition reimbursement. It may be a year or a couple of years. I checked mine out before enrolling. I didn’t want to repay the whole cost if I couldn’t comply with what was required.

Funding Source

7. Can I use a part of my retirement fund to finance my studies?

For this part, I will suggest that you consult a financial adviser. An expert will be able to guide if an early withdrawal or a loan from the retirement account is a viable option for you.

 

B. Your Prospective School

Scholarships

8. Can I apply for scholarships and/or grants? How does that affect my tuition reimbursement?

Upon meeting the requirements for the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) scholarship, I did just that. After all, what would I lose? While I didn’t end up receiving the grant, the application process affirmed my progress in school. To me, that was a great morale booster!

Loans

9. Who should I talk to in case I need to inquire about federal or private loans? What are my options if I go this route? What are the payment terms?

The goal, of course, is not to go into debt. However, I asked about this just in case this becomes a necessity. I figured that I needed to know my options as financial difficulties may potentially happen.

Tuition Deferment

10. Is tuition deferment an option?

Most schools will require an enrollee to pay upon enrolment for a class. In turn, most employees will require a receipt of payment and a passing grade before they reimburse the expenses.

However, in a handful of schools, mine being one, they offer tuition deferment because of the partnership. To understand this better, refer to this article on tuition deferment by Harrison.

In a short, I didn’t need to shell out money out-of-pocket during enrolment. I didn’t even use my credit card to prepay for a class. That was such a heavy load lifted off my shoulder.

Full-Time or Part-Time Student

11. What is the maximum length of time that I can take to finish my degree?

This was important knowledge for me because it helped me figure out how many classes to take per term. If I wanted my tuition reimbursement to cover all of my classes, I would have been able to extend it to three years for part-time schooling. However, I continued as a full-time student.

Pay per Class?

12. If I won’t be able to finish my degree, am I only to pay for the classes I attended? Or am I expected to pay for the cost of the whole course?

This was one of the questions my colleague recommended that I ask. Her friend enrolled but wasn’t able to finish the degree due to some personal reasons. The school informed her that she had to pay for the entire course cost. 

I think of this as reading the fine print. Fortunately, my school only charged per class.

 

Finally Taking The Plunge

After I did my due diligence, I was confident enough to know what I was getting myself into. I enrolled during the Summer 2018 term. My Master of Science in Nursing, Informatics specialty track was completed in Spring of 2020. Maybe, it was because I didn’t have to worry about the financial aspect that I was able to graduate with High Distinction.

It might be worth reiterating that some of my other expenses are not included in the spreadsheet below. For example, my application fee was waived because of the partnership between my work and my school. I cannot recall how much I paid when I requested for my records to be evaluated. Finally, upon inquiry, I found out that my school was offering Microsoft applications installation for free. I took advantage of that, too.

Here is a sample spreadsheet of my tuition and fees:

Tuition per Class	Miscellaneous Fees	Books	No. of Classes	Total Expenses	Discount	Tuition Reimbursement	Out of Pocket Costs
$1,950	$220	$50	12	$26,400	$7,020	$16,740	$2,640

To answer your unspoken question: “Yes, I already did the Math before I decided to enroll!”

Some of these figures were average costs. For example, I didn’t buy books for all of my classes. If I had to, I only used the e-books because they were way less expensive. Realistically, I didn’t spend $600 for books, if I remember it correctly.

Not My Experience but Worth Mentioning

Flex-Pay Options

There are schools that offer flex pay options. Some will offer divided payments that are interest-free. Also, there are others that will allow you to take as many classes as you can within a specific period of time for a fixed rate. Research and know as much as you can about them before committing. Weigh your options carefully, and then decide. If you know someone who has completed those programs, ask for their input.

Working Two Jobs

If you are working for two different healthcare systems, ask your human resources if you also have an educational benefit in your second job. Depending on your status (full-time or part-time), you may also have some tuition reimbursement that can augment your out-of-pocket costs. Since I was only working per diem in my other job, I didn’t have such a benefit.

In Conclusion

Well, you may wonder if I ended up landing that job prospect. The short answer is NO!

During my studies, I realized that I wasn’t cut out to manage a unit. Sometimes, fate has a funny way of leading us to where we are meant to be rather than where we envision ourselves to be, I guess.

Earning an advanced degree is no easy feat for sure. The thing is you should be prepared to do the rigorous prep work to complete the process. One day soon you will realize that your advanced degree is well within your grasp. The question is are you ready to take that leap of faith now?