[dreamon]

Originally Posted by Tony1790

Hi all,

I'm a recent military retiree, working as a PCT (cna) hourly rate $9.25 with $1.15 night diff + 20% for no benefits, I'm making close to $12 an hour. According to the LPN's on my Cardiac care floor, they only make around $11 an hour, with nurse externs making close to $12 an hour.

My question, is it even worth the hassle of going to school for a long year, to have a very stressful job and only make $11 to $14 an hour? I mean the county starts the street sweepers for that kind of money here in TN. There are easier ways to make low wages, no??

I have 3 years of college money left to spend and I'm slated to start LPN school in the fall, RN school would be for next year anyway due to pre-req, etc. Plus if I graduate LPN and don't like nursing or the low pay, I've only wasted a year of life.

Any thoughts on the issue of pay versus stress and/or bang for the buck of working in health care??

Tony
(retired military)

p.s. If you had 3 years of college money to spend, what would you do with it??

Tony- is it just your GI Bill you are referring to or did you get additional $$ for college?

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by dreamon

Tony- is it just your GI Bill you are referring to or did you get additional $$ for college?

GI bill + Army college fund + GI bill kicker, should total over $1600 a month tax free to go to school on. Hopefully I can get the hospital to pay for the school, then I could use the rest of the GI bill money for living expenses while going to school.

20 years ago, I applied for RN school at AB Tech in Asheville, NC, back then you took the test and then started school shortly after, I missed the cutoff for RN by 1 point on math, but did qualify for the LPN. I joined the military instead and went down another path.

Fast forward 20 years, I've been thinking of going nursing now for 20 years, but I'm much older now and much more pragmatic. If I can work at the VA pushing papers for a starting salary of $16.00 an hour vs go to school, graduate, have a stressful job and only get paid $11 an hour, where's the payoff for the effort?

One thing to note as well, my wife could always afford to have more flexible hours/jobs, etc due to her income not being the primary income. I've made good money my adult life, now to make low wages ($11 an hour is low for todays cost of living) and not have the ability to make a decent living is a little tough to swallow. I wouldn't mind if my wife made good money and I could "afford" to take a lower paying "feel good" job. But if I can't provide for the family, there's no amount of feel good thank you's that will increase the groceries that we can buy, know what I mean vern?

Tony

[scorpiostudent]

well FWIW, while I do think that money is a part of why people go into nursing, I am that "non primary source of income" in my home as I've been a stay at home mom for quite some time, and I still chose to go into nursing.

If my husband said that he wanted to quit his job and be a ski instructor or something (just trying to use an example that sounds 'fun' but not financially rewarding - although I havent googled ski instructors ) it would not be possible. He had to have a job that was BOTH emotionally/intellectually rewarding AND enough to support his family. Its not that I wouldn't want to support him in being a ski instructor... its just that we have to eat, yk? As it is, he is a software engineer, (technically he's a "database administrator" as of his last promotion) and he LOVES it. I don't think he's "in it for the money" by far as he loves figuring out puzzles and being on his computer all day long, but that doesn't mean we haven't googled the salary and researched the various things within his profession that he could to do make himself more valuable (various certifications etc). It also doesn't mean that he would take a job he hated because of the money, or a job he loved that had no financial benefit.

I see nursing as the same... we have something other than 'just' a financial need or why did we chose this specifically? I feel the need to help others, the need to stay busy, the need to be intellectually challenged and learning, and the need to feel more financially independent and contributing to my family. its all half a dozen of one, 6 of the other.

[VetTechingWasEasier]

If you think you're 100% up for it, go for it. The rewards are many and it will be a valuable springboard in your nursing education. The money is nice too but the programs have effective ways of weeding out (and brutally punishing) those who are just in it to make more money.

I'm sorry to hear that you apparently live in a state where LPN's are not paid well. Other states like NJ where I'm from, pay double what you're saying for new grads. SO, ...if not for the money, do it for the Foot-In-The-Door aspect for getting into an RN program, and also for getting an RN job that people who walk in off the street just can't hope to get.

[Tony1790]

Thanks all,

I'm 99.9% sure I'll actually go through with the LPN training starting in Sep 08, but my CNA base pay of $9.25 is barely lower than the $11 base pay here at my facility. Now I do a very good job of caring for my patients, and I love the sincere thanks that I get from them, my job involves very little technical skill and should be nowhere near what a trained LPN makes. An LPN on my floor does 99% of what the RN's do, for $8 - $9 less per hour. So I will eventually get a LPN to RN bridge, that's a no brainer. But to have less than $2 an hour between a low skill (heavy workload) CNA and a higher skilled LPN doesn't seem to make much sense, given the higher stress and responsibility of the Nurse role.

I'm not saying that being an LPN isn't worth the effort, I think LPN's are great, I work with a bunch, but purely as a method of earning a living, I'm not sure that the pay is worth the effort, at least not here in East TN.

See you all on the floor, hopefully I'll be a LPN next year and I hope that I enjoy the work and can find an employer that pays a living wage while working on my eventual RN.

Thanks again!

[amjowens]

I'm in an LPN program, and only doing it because I had a wait for my RN program. Now I'm so glad I'm doing it because I'm learning SO much, and know I'll be a better nurse because of this year (and two years of working as an LPN while getting my RN should give me more experience). Personally, I want to become a nurse practitioner, and I want all the experience, and get in and do it, as soon as possible.

We each have different reasons for choosing as we do. I agree, money IS important. I attend a community college, and tuition is a total of about $5000 for my entire LPN program. I weighed that with the positives of experience, secure LPN job during NS, etc. It weighed out in favor of LPN school for me. But, NO WAY would I pay some of the outstanding tuition rates ($12,000 plus) for the private schools. What a joke-the classes don't even transfer to RN programs (the certificate does, but not actual classes at many of those programs).

The pay of $35,000 or so plus is better than working as a CNA $8 or $9 an hour in my area) during my RN, plus the experience is valuable.

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by amjowens

I'm in an LPN program, and only doing it because I had a wait for my RN program. Now I'm so glad I'm doing it because I'm learning SO much, and know I'll be a better nurse because of this year (and two years of working as an LPN while getting my RN should give me more experience). Personally, I want to become a nurse practitioner, and I want all the experience, and get in and do it, as soon as possible.

Those are similar reasons that I have starting the LPN program, I won't be able to start a RN program next year, but I can start LPN this year. Next year I'll do a LPN-RN bridge and finish up.

I spoke with one of my LPN's today, she started 4 years ago at $10.50 per hour, YIKES!! They say they value Nurses, but not when they only "value" them at godawful wages.

I had a pretty good shift today as a PCT, one Code Blue on our floor and several other "challenges" I kept up with my work and helped the Nurses out anyway I could.

Take care all, see you in LPN school.

Tony

[Thornbird]

Where I live, hospitals pay the least for LPN's ($14-16 hr),Nursing homes better ($22-26 hr w/benefits and more without), agencies pay the most ($28-34 hr). Even though cost of living is high, it's a decent income and there are plenty of jobs.
Tony1790, if you don't mind more committment, the military offers excellent training opportunities for nursing through Guard and Reserve as well as AD. Also, if you get your LPN look into Excelsior, very military/veteran friendly, for LPN-RN. Also, look into www.charteroak.edu You can take pre-req's online, including Biology with Lab. Special rates for servicemembers & vets.
You have lots of options on how to spend your education $$. LPN is definitely NOT a waste. But, if you are able to do the RN, there are more job opportunities and less limit on upward mobility.

[VetTechingWasEasier]

I think it's strange how the cost of education+workload for some vocations is so grossly disproportional to their earning potential. I saw a classified ad on Monster.com, the facility wanted a social worker with an MS,a decade of experience and all kinds of certifications, for a job that paid 18k a year and no benefits.

I suppose it's a good thing that money is in fact not everything, or else human health care would be obsolete in this day and age.

[Tony1790]

Originally Posted by VetTechingWasEasier

I think it's strange how the cost of education+workload for some vocations is so grossly disproportional to their earning potential. I saw a classified ad on Monster.com, the facility wanted a social worker with an MS,a decade of experience and all kinds of certifications, for a job that paid 18k a year and no benefits.

I suppose it's a good thing that money is in fact not everything, or else human health care would be obsolete in this day and age.

I've seen many ads for the same, Social workers with masters degrees, paying nearly nothing, are there that many social workers and is a masters degree the minimum required education level to get a job? Wow.

Anywho,

I called the 3 major hospitals in the area and asked if there were any scholarships for LPN's (there are for RN), none had anything for LPN's. Also only the VA had pre graduation positions for LPN, no Nurse externs nor interns for LPN as they have for RN. The VA will give you a job as a student LPN when you have 4 months left to go in school.

Starting pay at the VA is $11.50 new grad to $13 with experience, not exactly thrilling, especially considering that housekeeping aids start at the same VA facility at $11.68 and laundry techs at around $13 an hour.

Why are LPN's paid less than Housekeeping aides???? Wow, boggles the mind, yes housekeeping is dirty work and hard, but it requires no education, very little training, etc I can only assume that LPN's are a dime a dozen in this area, or that there is so little demand for them that is why the pay is so low.

Anyway, from what I see LPN's work just as hard as the RN's perform 99% of the same duties (where I work at) but are paid close to half of what the RN's are paid. So it does make financial sense to get your RN as soon as possible, that way at least you get paid more than the cleaning lady. (and no there is nothing wrong with the cleaning lady, I just think that holding a person's life in your hand and being responsible if something goes wrong should be valued higher than someone who cleans the room and doesn't get fired right away if something goes wrong with the cleaning job)

Tony

p.s. I seem to be focusing on pay, but my real point is how little LPN's make in my area, and the fact that it may not be for everyone on a strictly financial level to work as an LPN considering the education costs, stress level, etc. Job satisfaction is a whole nuther nut to crack