Of the many benefits to being a travel nurse, having the opportunity to pay off nursing student loans is a major one. Sure, seeing new places, gaining skills, and making connections is great, but too many travel nurses feel the pressure of loans to enjoy the experience. Still, by keeping to an appropriate budget and utilizing your extra income efficiently, it may be possible to eliminate student loan debt faster than expected! Here we’ll discuss some of the ways travel nurses are working to pay of nursing student loan debts while on the job:
Nursing students know the struggle of making ends meet while studying what they love. TravelNurseSource has a scholarship available each year to help new students finish their degrees. Still, the average nursing student has around $31,000 in debt by the time they graduate. Just the time to go travel the country, right? Actually, yes it is! While many recent graduates would be finding a permanent position to chip away at this debt, travel nurses have the opportunity to really start flourishing in their careers right away.
In order to thrive and pay off nursing student loans at the same time, we’ve got a few recommendations…
Ways to Pay off Nursing Student Loans:
1. Taking Non-Taxed Housing Stipends
Working as a travel nurse provides great opportunities to live in unique and exciting locations. Most times, staffing agencies will provide housing options, however finding your own place to stay means you’ll have access to non-taxed housing stipends. So if you have the opportunity to stay with friends or have located somewhere to stay for cheap, you can pocket the rest of the stipend. Although this option isn’t conducive to every travel nurse’s situation, for those who can take the extra cash non-taxed housing stipends are one solid way to help pay off nursing student loans.
2. Utilizing Meal and Incidental Stipends
Just like housing stipends, travel nurses can also receive non-taxed stipends for meals and other incidentals while on an assignment. In some of the best cases, this can amount to an additional few hundred dollars in addition to your weekly paycheck. Traveling from one assignment to the next inevitably incurs costs here and there, so most agencies use these stipends to account for this. In many cases, anywhere from $500 to $1,000 of travel expenses could be covered per assignment. If you don’t end up needing that much to cover your costs, keeping the extra cash and using it to pay off nursing student loans is the way to go!
3. Higher Pay Opportunities
One of the most attractive qualities in travel nursing is the possibility of higher pay in many states across the country. In states like California, travel nursing jobs can find amazing wages — sometimes even double the typical pay in other places. Keep in mind that the cost of living and working in certain states can be a bit more expensive as well. Nonetheless, working as a travel nurse means you can pick the top assignments that will really allow your career to take off without too much weight from student debt!
4. Finding Opportunities for Overtime
In many cases, nursing shifts amount to three 12-hour shifts on average. During your days off it’s easy to spend money you don’t need to. Sure, traveling to new places is about enjoying yourself and exploring, but putting that extra time into overtime can make a huge difference. Working additional hours to pay off nursing student loans isn’t always the easiest, but it really helps when trying to get your career off the ground. Just be sure you can find a good balance between working additional hours and getting the rest you need to avoid burnout!
How do you pay off nursing student loans as a travel nurse? Let us know in the comments below!
