There are many expenses associated with attending nursing school. Some of these include text books, uniforms, clinical supplies, meal, testing and licensing fees, transportation costs, and general living expenses. If you combine this with the fact that often times a nursing school schedule leaves little time to work and earn income, your budget can become quite stretched during your years of nursing education.
Thankfully there are many ways that you can save money while going to nursing school. Not only can you save money on the books and supplies you will need for your education, but also on other necessities and living expenses that you might not have thought of that are involved with your nursing education. Below you’ll find some useful resources to help you save money while getting your nursing education.
Nursing Text Books.
Do NOT buy your text books from your college book store!
You are going to pay full retail, and sometimes even an inflated retail. If there is some sort of special bundle that your store has, ask your instructors if you really need this package. You can easily find out the ISBN numbers of the books required for your courses and go online to purchase them and save yourself hundreds and hundreds of dollars.
Some great places to buy nursing text books are: Amazon, Ebay, and Half.com
You can even rent your textbooks from places like:
- Bookbyte.com – serving students with discounted textbooks nationwide.
- eCampusave – Save a Buck, Rent a Book – $5 off order – Use the Coupon Code: cbrlove2010
And don’t forget, if you have a tablet, or an eReader ( or perhaps a Kindle Fire) eTextbooks will really help to lighten your already heavy nursing bag and save you money!
Nursing Uniforms
Even though your school has already worked out “a deal” with the local mom and pop scrub shop down the street from the school on your uniforms, see if you can go get the styles of the uniform you need and check the prices online. Often you can save up to 50% by buying your nursing school uniforms online. This holds true for your scrubs after you get out of school as well.
Some great places to check for discount nursing school uniforms and scrubs are:
Nursing Clinical Supplies
There are several supplies you will need for your nursing clinicals. Some of these include a blood pressure cuff, a stethoscope, IV start kits, pen light, and other tools. You school may supply a kit in the book store, but be sure the check what you get for the money. Often you can piece your own kit together for much less and get much higher qualify in your items.
Some places to look online for your clinical supplies are:
Other Place To Cut Costs in Nursing School
Brown Bag your Lunch!
Eating out everyday is not only bad on your wallet it’s awful on your figure. It may take a few more minutes of planning and preparation in the morning, but your sack lunch will likely be much cheaper than the hospital or campus cafeteria, and much better on your frame too!
Car Pool!
Depending on the size of your nursing class, and the length of your commute, this could save you a ton of money over your time in nursing school. It will always likely help you make friends and study partners. With the cost of gasoline at over $3 per gallon, this is a chunk of change you’ll want to keep. No only will you save on gas, but also on automobile maintenance because you’ll be racking up less miles.
Here’s the thing about carpooling: You have to ASK your classmates! I didn’t find out until a month before nursing school was over that a classmate who sat 2 rows back from me lived 4 houses away from me! I could kick myself for all the money we both wasted by not riding together.
Don’t Buy A Million NCLEX Books
I cannot even begin to tell you how many students bought 2-4 different NCLEX study guides. As if after 2 years of nursing course work, they really thought that 100 pages and cramming were going to be the difference between working as a nurse and not. The NCLEX is one of those things that you can’t cram for. It’s about the way you think and knowledge that has taken you years to acquir.
My advice is to buy 2 NCLEX study books max. One that is overall NCLEX test taking strategies and another with practice questions.
The 2 I used, and thought were very helpful, were:
- NCLEX-RN® Questions & Answers Made Incredibly Easy! , 5e (Incredibly Easy! Series)
- Saunders Strategies for Test Success: Passing Nursing School and the NCLEX Exam (Saunders Strategies for Success for the NCLEX-RN Examination)
– This book you should actually buy before you start nursing school. Had I read it before, I strongly feel that I would have had done much better on my tests in nursing school.
A little penny-pinching and sacrifice while you’re in school will be well rewarded in the end. And while you won’t strike it rich as a nurse (well, unless you read The Millionaire Nurse), the wages are generally pretty fair and the job stability is better than many other careers.
Good luck in school and please be sure to share your tips here with other student nurses on how to save money while in nursing school.
Twitter: ParkRidgeDDS
says:
Such practical and wonderful advise Brittney…thank you!
Twitter: thenerdynurse
says:
Thank you very much! I always love to help people save money, especially during nursing school when you can be stretched pretty thin in all areas.