As some of you know, Im a nursing student. All thru my pre-nursing courses at my HS (we had a 2-year PCA course at my highschool, we had clinicals at a hospital and stuff, to make sure nursing was what we wanted) I saw that nurses generally loved their job, and never complained about their pay. But now that im acually hearing more, and talking to more and more nurses, im started to hear "the pay isent that good" more and more.

My parents are telling me its good pay, but that it probally wont be enough for me to live off on and are urging me to change my major. My grandmother is a radiologist and says that RN pay is NICE but that I should go for better.

Average pay in my area (memphis,TN) from what I looked up was anywhere from 40k-50k/year. That seemed nice to me.. am I missing something? Are YOU happy with your paycheck?

Yes, I suppose. I left bedside nursing to do tele-triage. I took a cut in pay but I am MUCH MUCH happier with my profession.

I'm not happy with my pay. It's enough to live on, but I do feel I should be making more.

It is all relative, compared to high end college educated professions it is on the low side. often I see nurses on this board comparing their salary to when they were working before they received their education, for example waiting tables or a sales clerk, well of course 40k-50 sounds great. But you have to compare it to other college educated professionals to get a good comparsion. Also if you will be part of two good incomes it is enough, however if you are going to be the primary bread winner and you kids it really is not that great. That I why I in the process of going back to school, I want to get pass just making ends meet.

Well.. thats what Im saying.. it will just be ME.. all alone. Im sure if I ever do get a bf to move in with me.. he would have a job too. No kids.. if we do have kids, look for us on the discovery channel.

Im just not understanding... Yes I could go get a Bachelors in something else.. but nursing is pretty much a for-sure job here bc of the nursing shortage. Considering im on a full ride to nursing school at my CC.. it would end up costing me money to go anywhere else or to change majors.

i am always curious how do people judge what is good pay or more important what is a fair wage for the job. i think nurses get a fair wage for their education level and responsibilities. but a lot of people don't agree. most everyone i know says they do not get paid enough. how do you know? what about those who say i can't live on 50k per year. well maybe info. about budgeting would help. there are a lot of people who make a lot less and are happy, have their basic needs met and are happy. anyone with a philosophical answer out there?

I;m making about the same since retruning to nursing. I have a masters in human services, worked as a program director for a program that deals with at-risk youth. Had to carry a cell phone at all times, on-call 24/7, would get home after 12 hours, put up my feet, and get called back out. Worked and avg of 60-plus hours per week, loved the job, hated the stress. Carried my cell phone at my daughter's wedding (thank God for great staff - they didn't call, but I did call them before walking down the aisle....

Back to nursing - do my shift, and go home - Occasional overtime, could be much worse.

It's not about the money - I loved the other job, but get similar satisfaction where I am now.

Find what you love and don't do it for the money!!!!

Good Luck!

Salaries here in FL are going up slowly but not keeping pace with other parts of the nation.

I made $60.00 doing overtime with bonus on Monday night. But I don't like putting in much overtime.

Good money can be made in Travel, contract and agency nursing.

I've been 11 years at my hospital and am near the max of my allowed salary, so I'm pretty happy with it. The starting wage for new grads is a livable, middle income. It's all relative to lifestyle though and expectations. But it's nothing to get rich on. It's not as good as some college educated professionals, but not horrible.

Salary being one aspect as to why one becomes a nurse. All the money in the world isn't worth it if you don't like being a nurse.

If you're smart enough, try an additional two years of schooling to become a nurse practitioner once you've attained RN status and have worked in a hospital for a year. That's what I'm doing, and NP's make very good salaries

Cost of living is high where I live and RNs only make about $36,000. a year. I got that from the Texas Nurses' Assoc. However, it is much better to be happy with what you are doing than to worry about the money.

I dont think it is so much that we are unhappy with our pay as with what the pay means. We are responsible for peoples lives and well being but make no more than those who's jobs make them responsible for digging holes. As a matter of fact they make more. That is sad and speaks to the respect our profession gets.

I work Sat/Sun 7p-7a every week. I get paid for 36 hours base pay. My overall salary isn't that great, but I only work 24 hours a week and get fulltime benefits. You can't do that in other fields. The money is there is you want it, you just have to be willing to look for it. Plus nursing offers such a wide range of choices.

If you can get your RN for free it 2 years go for it. If in two years you decide to go into something else you can work parttime as a RN to support herself.

Noney

I think "are you happy with your pay?" is a loaded question. Everyone always thinks more would be better.

Am I happy with my pay? No, I make less than most due to working for a school facing a budget crisis.

Would I change jobs to make more money? No, because I am very happy in my job. I am also lucky to have a husband who has a good job with a good salary. If his situation were to change (God forbid), I may have to consider changing positions for more money.

At this point in our lives, school nursing fits the demands of our family. Yeah, I could make more working more, but to us it is not worth it. We are comfortable and happy and that is good enough for us.