If you just opened your letter

Did you throw up in your mouth a little when you saw your financial aid letter?

If your letter said the federal government will lend you $20,500 and your tuition is double or triple that, you are not alone. You are not crazy. The cap is real, the gap is real, and there is a path through it.

See my real gap in 60 seconds What do I do next?
First. The reaction is correct.

Your financial aid letter just told you the country wants more nurses but won't fund the path.

The Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan caps at $20,500 per year for graduate students. That number was set in 2005 and has not moved since. Average NP program tuition is $50,000 to $150,000 over the program. Most students leave admit day looking at a $30,000 to $60,000 gap they were never warned about.

Your school's financial aid office will tell you to "look into a private loan." They will not tell you which lender is reasonable for nurses, what rate you should expect, or how to avoid signing something with a 14% APR and a cosigner requirement you do not need.

That is what this page is for.

The math you didn't do yet

Three numbers your letter did not put together for you.

Plug in your real tuition below to see your real gap. These illustrative numbers are based on the average public university FNP program cost of attendance for 2026-2027.

Total cost of attendance
$48,500
Tuition, fees, books, supplies, living expenses, clinical placement fees, board exam.
Federal cap (per year)
$20,500
Maximum Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan for graduate students. Frozen since 2005.
Annual unmet need
$28,000
Multiply by your program length. A typical 2-3 year FNP comes out to $56,000 to $84,000 of gap.
Your real gap is $28K-$84K depending on tuition and program length. Run yours below.
What you can actually do

Five ways to close the gap. Most students stack two or three.

There is no single answer. The right path depends on your school, specialty, employer, and risk tolerance. Each link below opens our honest playbook on that path.

01

Run the funding gap calculator

Plug in your school. We pull tuition, apply the federal cap, and show you the exact dollar gap. Free, no email required.

Start here · 60 seconds
02

Skip the placement agency

Placement agencies charge $3,000 to $6,500 per rotation. Our free playbook shows you how to find preceptors yourself across 10 channels.

Save $12K-$36K
03

Stack PSLF, Nurse Corps, NHSC

If you'll work at a 501(c)(3) hospital or an underserved area, you may qualify for $50,000 to full forgiveness on top of federal loans.

Up to $100K wiped
04

Match to NP-friendly lenders

One soft credit pull. Multiple lenders who actually understand NP profile. We negotiated rates as a category, not as one borrower.

2-4 pts better than direct
05

Hospital tuition reimbursement

Many hospitals will pay $5,000 to $25,000 per year toward NP tuition if you commit to working there. Most students never ask.

$5K-$25K per year
06

The story behind this site

Three operators from lending and capital who got tired of watching the system underprice nurses. Here's the call that started it.

Why we built this
Run your numbers

See your real funding gap in 60 seconds.

Plug in your basics. We send your personalized funding plan to your inbox and route you to lending options built for NPs.

No spam. We share your info only with our lending partner so they can show you real rates. You can opt out anytime.

Got it. Sending you to the next step.

Our lending partner Juno will finish your profile in about 90 seconds. They'll show you the actual rates available for your situation.

Continue to Juno
Free, no email gate
Calculator, guides, and side-by-side lender comparison. We do not sell your data.
Math built on current rates
All calculators use 2026-2027 federal rates, real poverty-line tables, and conservative borrower assumptions.
Soft credit pull only
Lender match runs a soft pull. Your credit score is unaffected unless you formally apply with a chosen partner.
No cosigner if we can help it
We prioritize lenders who underwrite working RNs without requiring a cosigner.
Common questions

What every student asks at this exact moment.

Why is the federal loan cap so low?

The $20,500 annual graduate cap was set by Congress in 2005 and has not been adjusted since. Tuition has more than doubled in that time. The cap was never indexed to inflation. There is no current legislation moving the cap, and Grad PLUS, which used to fill the gap, is being eliminated for new borrowers as of July 1, 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Did my school just give up on me?

No. Your school's financial aid office is required to disclose what federal aid you qualify for. They are generally not authorized to recommend specific private lenders. That is why their letter ends with "consider a private loan" and stops there. The recommendation work was offloaded to you. We built this site to fill that gap.

Should I just take a year off and save?

For most students, no. The opportunity cost of delaying NP licensure by one year is roughly $50,000 to $80,000 in lost NP wages, far more than the gap you would close by saving on an RN salary. Run the math on our calculator before you decide.

Will I need a cosigner?

It depends on your credit, income, and the lender. Roughly half of working RNs we route through our marketplace qualify without a cosigner. The other half typically qualify with a cosigner who is then released after 24 to 36 months of on-time payments. If you have no cosigner option at all, tell us and we will filter to lenders who can underwrite you alone.

Is this site really free?

Yes. The calculators, guides, and matching service are all free. When you complete the matching form and a partner lender funds a loan to you, we may receive a referral fee from that partner. The rate and terms you receive are the same as if you had gone to the lender directly. See our advertising disclosure for the full picture.