Students not working while going to school....

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So I have decided not to work while I go through the BSN program. I would like to hear from others who have or are doing the same thing. How are you getting through financially? Loans, parents, or other? I am a non-trad student that will most likely be taking out a few loans here and there to get me through, but I feel this is necessary to keep up with my course work. How about you?

I really believe it depends upon the individual. Jan 30th was my last day of work due to lay off. Last semester I was BORED TO TEARS!!! (My shortened semester ended last week.) Although I am MOMOF5....I am kinda mom of 9 (hubby has 4).....however, only my 21 yo son lives at home (working and FT school) along with my 16 yo daughter. My 23yo daughter will move home when she gets out of the Army next week after 2 tours in Iraq as a combat medic. Hubby leaves for Afganistan at the beginning of 2010.

If I did not have small children and kids that really need a huge chunk of my time, I would probably be as you. My 14 yr old barely needs me, and thats even with homeschooling him. He has no problem with a once a week "mom and me" get together and the occasional "how are things going" chat. Little ones (like my 1 and 3 yr old) are much more demanding, and my husband and I are very close and never had any independent hobbies before I went back to nursing school. Between them all its a lot of my time to divy up and not so much available to divvy. :)

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Specializes in LTC.
I really believe it depends upon the individual. Jan 30th was my last day of work due to lay off. Last semester I was BORED TO TEARS!!! (My shortened semester ended last week.) Although I am MOMOF5....I am kinda mom of 9 (hubby has 4).....however, only my 21 yo son lives at home (working and FT school) along with my 16 yo daughter. My 23yo daughter will move home when she gets out of the Army next week after 2 tours in Iraq as a combat medic. Hubby leaves for Afganistan at the beginning of 2010.

Two days ago I got a call from my previous employer (IT contracting company) and my prior client wants me back on May1!!!!! I am totally thrilled! And then May 2nd, I start NS (evening and weekend program and the client and employer KNOW....so not an issue!)

Some folks learn easier than others. Some folks can multi-task better. Some have more supportive families or significant others that can pay the bills. Some of us are simply doing what has to be done.

My hubby does NOT earn enough to pay all our bills. I was scared to death about how I was going to make it through NS w/o a job and keep my house - et. al. Now, I am relaxed and can't wait to get back to work and start NS!

I am glad you have the option you have. For me.....I would probably go stir crazy! LOL :heartbeat

I started nursing school with the plan of never having to quit my job. However, once you start it may be a whole other student. I' m going to have to quit my job in may to finish nursing school. I' m not saying that you won't be able to do both all I'm saying is that some times nursing school can be unpredictable. I'm in a night/evening program however starting in May we will have on campus skills during the day and clinicals during the day.... which means I must quit my day job.... Anyway, Good luck.

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Next month I plan to leave my job due to a my last nursing course being a 5 credit course done in 8 weeks !!!!

All my classes are 5 credit hours in 8 weeks. Except the first one was 6. I thought all the programs were like that. What were the rest of your classes like, schedule wise?

I started nursing school with the plan of never having to quit my job. However, once you start it may be a whole other student. I' m going to have to quit my job in may to finish nursing school. I' m not saying that you won't be able to do both all I'm saying is that some times nursing school can be unpredictable. I'm in a night/evening program however starting in May we will have on campus skills during the day and clinicals during the day.... which means I must quit my day job.... Anyway, Good luck.

I agree. It doesn't have to do completely with what kind of student you are. I had to cut my hours due to required time demands for clinical. Everything else I can get in when I can.

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All my classes are 5 credit hours in 8 weeks. Except the first one was 6. I thought all the programs were like that. What were the rest of your classes like, schedule wise?

Mine is not like this. Pharmacology is 2 credit hours for instance and is a whole semester long.

To the person who said they were starting their job and starting nursing school... I hadnt realized from my quick read that you had not started nursing school yet.

Yes definitely pre-reqs as a sole "job" is not all that consuming. I would be bored stiff as well. But nursing school... well its just a huge huge HUGE time sink for many of us, and I was also one who had never planned ot leave my job but had to. In college classes, you go, you leave, you study a bit, you do some relaxing self endulgent activities (movies, shopping, whatever). In nursing school, we go from test to test so fast that we never have time to relax. Somehow by the grace of god we have 2 weeks where we do not have a test, and this is the FIRST time since school started. I spend more time with my classmates than my family, and I see people failing out all around me and just when I think nobody else will go, someone else fails out. Its so much that I have no intellectual desire to talk to anyone outside of school because I'm so people'd out by the time I leave school that i'm content to hide in my house and avoid the world.

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Specializes in Case management, occupational health.
... I don't know how anyone could hold down a job and get through nursing school... I know I couldn't. Not with two kids, a house, a husband etc. ;)

It can be done, many of us do it. I am a single mom working 40 hours a week, full time nursing student, take daughter to dance, girl scouts, drama, soccer etc ,and have kept a 4.0 until this semester (I have a 89% in med surg) Most of my fellow classmates work full time and I am in an accelerated program. With the way the economy is student loans are becoming harder and harder to come by, so many of us do not have any other choice but to work. For me I think I do better because I work, it forces me to use my time wisely.

If you can afford to not work then go for it, but financial stress can be more stressful than nursing school

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It can be done, many of us do it. I am a single mom working 40 hours a week, full time nursing student, take daughter to dance, girl scouts, drama, soccer etc ,and have kept a 4.0 until this semester (I have a 89% in med surg) Most of my fellow classmates work full time and I am in an accelerated program. With the way the economy is student loans are becoming harder and harder to come by, so many of us do not have any other choice but to work. For me I think I do better because I work, it forces me to use my time wisely. If you can afford to not work then go for it, but financial stress can be more stressful than nursing school

Maybe the stress of YOUR school is not as bad as financial stress but thats not the case here. :chuckle

In my starting class of 17, we are down to 10, and there is only 1 person left who works while going to school and she works just weekends. (we do have 2 more, but 1 works in a pharmacy and studies/gets tutored at work, and the other watches the night desk at her family's Inn and said she gets no more than 1-2 interruptions at night and studies in silence the rest of her shifts, both working part time when school allows.

The first semester made quick work of everyone who worked "real jobs" in our program and they are both intent to come back while not working, next year. I dunno. Maybe its just because my program is in its first 5 years and feels like it has something to prove.

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It can be done, many of us do it. I am a single mom working 40 hours a week, full time nursing student, take daughter to dance, girl scouts, drama, soccer etc ,and have kept a 4.0 until this semester (I have a 89% in med surg) Most of my fellow classmates work full time and I am in an accelerated program. With the way the economy is student loans are becoming harder and harder to come by, so many of us do not have any other choice but to work. For me I think I do better because I work, it forces me to use my time wisely.

If you can afford to not work then go for it, but financial stress can be more stressful than nursing school

Financial stress can be hard- and you're right- being a single parent leaves few other options. But would you recommend this? How long have you been doing this? How are your kids handling the situation (are they older or younger?) Rhetorical questions. I think most people would be unable to function (in a healthy manner) under such conditions- at least once the harder parts of the program got underway. Sure- there may be a few who handle and maybe even thrive under the pressure- perhaps yourself included... But I'd venture that they are the minority... I know if I tried it I wouldn't have a family life and I'd be a stressed out neurotic mess. My kids would be hit hard (they're not used to not seeing me) and the house would be unliveable (I'd never have time to clean it or cook etc.) So sincerely- kudos to you if you're surviving, let alone thriving in that situation. You have my respect, admiration and near-worship- because there's just no way I'd be able to pull that off. Given that schedule- I don't see how you even have time to sleep... :up::bow::)

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Specializes in med/surg.

Kudos to all who are working FT and taking care of multiple kids-especially you single moms!! :bow: I don't know how you do it.

I've been working FT and going to school PT, taking all my pre-reqs. I have been accepted to NS for August and I am going to switch to working only PT and going to school FT. My school's RN program is not offered as a PT program, we'll have 2 half days of lecture & 2 full days of labs/clinicals per week + the community service they request but don't require... so that doesn't leave a lot of time for work (day job) so I will be working about 20 hours/week. Luckily my boss is willing to let me do a flex schedule and work 1 full day and a couple of half days during the week. I will still be off of work/school by 7pm each weeknight and off on weekends, so that should leave me enough time to study and take care of the house & husband... and leave a LITTLE quality time w/ family/friends... These are my hopes anyways... anyone care to bring me back to reality? :roll

We will be losing about $900/month of income, which is scary. I do have a scholarship that covers tuition and about $300/year for books, I will have about $5000-6000 in savings (part of that from a college trust fund that my grandpa left me--thanks Grandpa Markey!!) by the time August comes. We have also lowered our TV/phone plans and paid off some debt, which has saved us a couple hundred a month. We have REALLY been trying to cut back on our spending and it's becoming easier, so I think we'll make it.

Good luck to you!

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Specializes in Neuro.

There are other options. I live with my parents so I don't have to work full time (I never moved out after high school). But I work 10-15 hours every weekend at a job where i can get good tips to get my through the week. It helps alot. Plus, I like have a day or two away from studying/feeling-guilty-because-im-not-studying.

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I am married with 3 small children. I worked part-time during the first 2.5 years, but once the "real nursing" classes began, I quit. I know people say it can be done, but I don't think everyone can do it. I knew that I would have to sacrifice something and my only options were education or mother. I don't want to be a second rate nurse or mother. Not a decision I could make. My husband pays our bills, we just don't have much left over for any fun stuff. But who has time for fun in nursing school!!!???

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I'm just finishing prereq's this Fall and applying in Spring for nursing. I have an at-home medical transcription job, which is great and they are very supportive and flexible. I had daycare for a few months, but now I do not. I have a 20-month-old and I absolutely cannot sit at my computer with him to work; he "talks" on the phone, unplugs everything, "helps" me type, mouse, etc. (My 9-year-old was quite the opposite; I worked at home with him at home until he was three, until he got bored and wanted/needed regular daycare/interaction). With my younger son, I cannot work. I even bought a counter-height table so I could use my laptop, but within two months, he mastered climbing the tall chairs.

I am freaking out because I will no longer have daycare in a week (it will cost more than I'm making in a month). My mom is working a schedule so she can watch my little one/meet my oldest at bus stop on my school days, three days a week, which is great, but even working at home is pretty impossible with my little one (because I'll be using his naptime/nights to study) -- don't know when I will work! I now get up at 4-5 a.m. to get schoolwork/work done (but I have daycare right now!); I also work/study when he goes to bed at night. Oh, and I cannot break down and keep him in a playpen for more than 10-15 minutes (I have to do this just to do dishes or he's climbing furniture, taking something apart, he's insanely curious); the poor thing is go-go-go and I feel like I'm hindering his exploring/learning by putting him in this little "cage" -- has anyone done work and school with a small child at home; how did you do it the days? I don't know how I'm going to do this??

I have to keep up my GPA (lots of study time) in order to get into nursing school; word was last year it was 3.8 with all prereq's to get in. I also have to stay full-time for grants (and the fact I want these darn prereqs DONE! LOL). Anyway, I was thinking about student loans, but I am scared to death--I'm only pre-nursing. If I have to use student loans 4 years out (BSN is what I'm going for), won't I be in a huge amount of debt? Nurses make good money, but to pay back $30k in loans is a scary thought! Any input is appreciated; anybody use loans for income (with him in daycare and house to myself during day for studying/working, I still only worked 20 hours a week and I'm barely squeaking by)?

I have explored all known avenues of help with childcare--government/county, etc., no funding available. :confused: I am in Florida if anybody knows of any resources.

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Specializes in PICU/Pedi.

I only work during school breaks. I am a single mother of two three-year-olds. We live with my mom, so I can get away with living on my grant and loan, and a small amount of child support. It's important to me to do well during school, seeing as peoples' lives are at stake. And I just want to be around my girls as much as I can. I already don't see them much as it is during school, and I don't want to make that any worse. I know that people CAN work and go to nursing school, but I'm glad that I don't have to.

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