Should I pursue a BSN or LPN

Nursing Students LPN-RN

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Hi I just completed my pre-nursing year for a BSN at a 4 year college and I've been told I will start off making between $19-$23 with a BSN which is not bad but my friends sister recieved her LPN and is making $45,000 a year which might be more then what I start off making with a bachelors. Also I will graduate with $50,000 in federal loans but if I took an LPN program at a community college I will only have 5k or 6k more in loans versus 30k pursuing my bachelors. Is it worth it to stay in the BSN program or should I switch to LPN? When I gain more experience will my pay/benefits dwarf hers or is 1 year of school to be an LPN almost equal to being an RN with a BSN?

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Moved to the LPN-to-RN student forums so that you can receive specific feedback. Good luck to you!

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Specializes in Home Health Care.

If you are wanting to save money, I would suggest doing the ADN route, then bridge to BSN or MSN. However, Community Colleges are extremely competitive and there is a chance you would be wait listed. Might as well stay with BSN program if you are in. Does your friend's sister live in another state or area? How many yrs experience does she have? To answer your question, LPN experience does not equal RN experience. Your pay will depend on where you live, and what specialty you have experience in. I think you should search salaries in your area of the LPN vs RN. It all comes down to what will make you happy.

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$19 for a BSN? Where are you? In my area, LPNs start off at $23. The pay in my area is high since the cost of living is expensive and most nurses are unionized.

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If you have the opportunity to attend a BSN program at this time, to save time, money, and aggravation in the long run, do it. And all of the conjecturing about wages and comparisons between an LPN wage and RN wage are all guesses at this point, because you have no idea what jobs will be available and who will, or will not, hire you with either license. Your best bet to prepare for the job market is to get an RN license and obtain the BSN education.

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DEFINITELY stay with the BSN. Do not drop it for a LPN. It might cost you more, but it WILL make you more money in the long run. You will kick yourself if you drop out of the BSN for the LPN. I am not sure where you are that a LPN makes more then a BSN. It could be the difference of a Nursing home to like a doctors office, but over all in the long run your BSN is going to get you farther in your Nursing Career!

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Go to a community college for your ADN or stick with getting your BSN. Don't take a step back by getting your LPN and having to deal with headaches later on.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I am not sure where you are that a LPN makes more then a BSN.
My last LPN/LVN job was as a staff nurse at a nursing home that paid very competitively, and I was earning $27 hourly. The new grad BSNs in my city are paid an average of $23 hourly (base rate) at the local hospitals before all of the differentials are included. Therefore, it is possible for an LPN to earn more money than an RN who is educated at the BSN level in some regions. It is all dependent on the workplace setting and whether the company pays competitive wages.

However, I definitely recommend pursuing the BSN degree.

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My last LPN/LVN job was as a staff nurse at a nursing home that paid very competitively, and I was earning $27 hourly. The new grad BSNs in my city are paid an average of $23 hourly (base rate) at the local hospitals before all of the differentials are included. Therefore, it is possible for an LPN to earn more money than an RN who is educated at the BSN level in some regions. It is all dependent on the workplace setting and whether the company pays competitive wages.

However, I definitely recommend pursuing the BSN degree.

Nursing definitely does not seem to be an industry that values education in the form of financial incentives. My mother one started a BSN program through the mail (back when online education did not exist) but dropped out after realizing that the financial benefits of the program would be microscopic. In fact, just today I was researching NP salaries since I was toying with the idea of doing a direct entry MSN (I have a BS in an unrelated field) but the salaries I found were far lower than I was expecting. Now, I know nurses are not starving, but I think they, especially those with higher leveld egrees, are underpaid. So you have to put your self in the shoes of an investor and ask yourself whether that BSN, MSN, etc. will ever pay for itself and, if so, with what kind of dividend.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

WOW! I need to know where you all live because as an LPN I don't make $27.00 per hour, graduate BSN's don't even make that much in my area without years of experience!

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In high cost areas like NYC, nurses do make a substantial amount. An LPN here starts at $23 an hour and an experienced RN with just an associates can make over $40 an hour. In fact, when I spoke to my mother (an RN) about going to nursing school, she told me that financially it is not worth it to get a BSN. I noticed a lot of the younger generation of nurses on these forums seem to look to the BSN as the gold standard, but when you speak with more senior nurses, their opinion of the BSN is much different.

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A BSN is the "Gold Standard" to me because it is important to me to get a Bachelors degree, in anything! I can't imagine going throught the h%ll that college has been just to stop with my associates degree or no degree at all. You may as well go for one or two more years and get that bachelors degree!

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