ADN vs BSN pay for RN

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I have always heard that no matter what level of education you have if you are working on the floor as an RN then you get paid the same if you have your ADN or your BSN, (not considering floors, locations, experience, ect. just education). Is this true?

I started off by becoming a ADN and then got my BSN. I have no regrets even though I didn't get a pay raise. It broaded my knowledged, positioned me better for Grad school or career advancement. If your finances are in order and time is on your side aim for BSN. Plan for the unknown.

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The Benefits Sound Great, But I Was Wondering What Type Of Schedule You Work. Are You Able To Work 3 12s Or 5 8s?

Thanks

Yikes, this thread was from 2005!! And I posted a "thank you" to VickyRN, thinking it was recent, since you just dug this up, lol.....well, the Thank You was deserved and still stands :)

To gelwax: you need to start a new thread with your questions, or look for one that applies; this one does not.

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Vicky, another great post! Please do not stop educating the rest us & the rest of the world!!!

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Specializes in ICU/CCU/Oncology/CSU/Managed Care/ Case Management.

I agree with all that is said. Usually you can get a couple cents more as a BSN in my state of Florida. One hospital offered an additional .75/hr for BSN--I feel like that is insulting--why not give the extra quarter more. I kindly declined that.

From what I have seen in my experience the only way a BSN can get an increase in pay easily is by going up the clinical ladder. Most instuitions give a large incentive for a BSN or MSN while going up the ladder.

I am starting to see quite a bit of MSN prepared nurses working Full time or agency in my ICU. I could never understand that. They have explained to me that you can make more in the unit opposed to working long hours as an Nurse practioner. It has been explained to me that an NP makes $50,000-$60000 dollars a year. And that same particuliar nurse who is an NP but chooses to work as a ICU nurses pulls in $85,000 a year with agency and overtime.

I have my BSN and i have not seen a distinct difference in pay. I was one of those who wanted to increase my knowledge base while getting my BSN. I am still at the bedside after 6years of being an RN and am not sure how to get away from it.

Hope this helps you.

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Specializes in ICU, School Nurse, Med/Surg, Psych.

That really depends on the state and the facility. In Arizona I got a pay increase for my BSN as well as for each certification that I had. It depends on the facility's stance on education- do they value it or not? In Iowa there are NO facilities that pay higher for a BSN, MSN or any certification. I have found that in states that do not require CEUs the benefits for higher education are greater than in states that make nurses take a minimum amount of continueing education to maintain/renew their license.

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Specializes in Peds.

In birmingham Alabama, most places, there is no difference for pay based on degree.

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I have worked for three different healthcare systems in Wisconsin, and there is no difference in responsibility OR pay.

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how do you think someone with a BS and a ADN will fair in the working world?

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Specializes in ER.
I have always heard that no matter what level of education you have if you are working on the floor as an RN then you get paid the same if you have your ADN or your BSN, (not considering floors, locations, experience, ect. just education). Is this true?

It depends where you work - I live in Massachusetts and they have a step system where I work. You are placed into the starting point by how long you've been a WORKING nurse. From the starting point, I'm not sure how they determine how you move up within that wiggle zone (there's room on either end of the pay scale). I know having certifications helps with how much you're payed at the front end. I'm sure having your BSN also has you starting at a Level 3 as opposed to a level 1 (like I started at). It's all so secretive with HR!

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.
how do you think someone with a bs and a adn will fair in the working world?

either one will "fair" just fine. i'm proof of that.

there is one requirement to becoming a licensed registered nurse, and that is pass the nclex.

there are several ways to prepare to sit for the nclex and they are: diploma, associate, or bachelor program of study. successful completion of one of those three will guarantee you a chance to sit for the nclex. all three sit for the exact same nclex to turn out a licensed registered nurse.

it is a pet peeve of mine whenever i hear one nurse putting down another nurses choice of becoming a licensed registered nurse. this -- to me -- is far worse than nurses "eating their young". it greatly disturbs me that nurses not only "eat their young", they "eat each other up one side and down the other by putting each others educational choice down by trying to "one up" each other...bsn grads thinking they are superior to the diploma and associate grads. when will this "one uping" one another come to a halt nurses?

i have a book of thoughts inside myself regarding how i've seen nurses compete against each other in my twenty one years as a nurse. it is sad, breaks my heart, and i don't see it coming to an end as long as one thinks their pathway of becoming a nurse is better than the other.

i am not knocking education. education is a great and wonderful tool to have, but...it should not be used as a tool to demean one's choice of how to derive at a certain goal in one's life. whatever happened to respecting "freedom of choice".

wearing educational titles behind the rn on one's badge, or feeling the need to always say "i'm a rn, bsn" is nothing more than political propaganda that rips into the very core of the nursing profession as a whole...demeaning...belittling...making one's nursing peers with a different educational path feel as though they are still not good enough nurses -- even though they passed successfully the nclex that granted them the privilege of becoming licensed registered nurses.

if you are a diploma grad...you did what it took, and chose your educational path to reaching the same goal of becoming a licensed rn just as an associate and bachelor degree graduate chose their educational path to becoming a licensed rn.

if you are an associate grad...you did what it took, and chose your educational path to reaching the same goal of becoming a licensed rn just as a diploma and bachelor degree grad chose to do to become a licensed rn.

if you are a bachelor grad...you did what it took, and chose your educational path to reaching the same goal of becoming a licensed rn just as a diploma and associate degree grad chose to do to become a licensed rn.

so....i ask...what statement are you bachelor degree grads trying to make by putting "rn,bsn" behind your name on your work badges when all that is required of you is that you successfully pass the nclex to obtain that license to practice nursing.

mds and d.o's used to be at each other...mds didn't want to recognize dos as "good doctors" or "equal to them" for years. then, years ago, they finally came together as one group...medical doctors with different pathways to treating the sick, but with the recognition as one another as physicians.

what century will nurses stop "eating each other" because they have chosen for themselves different educational pathways to deriving at that one goal.........becoming a licensed registered nurse.

let's say that all nurses are bsns. then what? everyone will want that msn to put that title behind their "rn" to signify what? that they are better because they took more college courses that don't even apply to nursing in the first place?

now, let's say we all are msns. will we be satisfied as msns, or must we continue one uping one another and get our doctorate degree in nursing? and what healthcare institution will be able to afford nurses demanding to be paid for the educational pathway they chose to take even though we are only required to pass the nclex to work as a licensed registered nurse? will we ever be paid what we think we are worth irregardless of what level of education we have? we are dancing in a "never-ending-circle" and going nowhere because education is not what is keeping nurses salaries down.

i'm not demeaning four year grads. i'm simply bringing home truths that we are ignoring in nursing due to being brainwashed into believing one degree is better than all others.

entry level nursing is: diploma, associate, and bachelor degree studies. drop the tooting of the "rn,bsn" crap. it stands for "brainwashed student nurses"....i used to hear it referred to as "bull shick nursing"........ stop putting each other down, and stop tooting your own educational horns.

i am a very proud associate in applied science degree graduate who sat for the nclex exam -- a two day all day written exam that required a passing score of 1600 points to pass...to obtain a license as a registered nurse. i did what was required of me irregardless of the educational path i chose. and, when i went to take the nclex exam back in 1987, i wasn't sitting in a separate room from diploma or bachelor grads taking a different exam. i was given the same exam as the diploma and bachelor grads. now, if i can pass the exact same nclex as someone with a different educational choice than i chose for myself, that either makes me one smart cookie to sit next to a bachelor grad and test along with them, or it makes the bachelor program of study hyper-inflated. what say you?

i've had a great nursing career...agency, travel nursing, civilian hospital nursing, military hospital nursing, substitute school nursing, homehealth nursing...working with newborns, pediatrics, adolescence, young and mature adults, and geriatrics. no regrets.

do i want to further my education? absolutely. should you? absolutely...if you so desire. the pressure to continue one's education should come from whatever your passion may be in life...in the healthcare arena of your choosing. do not feel pressured to obtain a certain degree to feel better about being the licensed rn that you already are. you've done the work whether you are a diploma, associate, or bachelor grad. you graduated, got your diploma in hand, and passed the nationally required exam to now call yourself a licensed registered nurse. pat yourself on the back, hold your head high, and feel good about all you've worked hard to accomplish. you are not less than...nor are you more than...you are now a licensed registered nurse. :up: :yeah::twocents::cheers::caduceus::nurse: :bow:

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Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

AMEN to that Cheer!!! Thank you

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THANK YOU!!!

maybe if the schools etc would stop worrying about this and worrying about how to be able to admit and graduate more students, the field would not be suffering such shortages!

Where I live it is sad to that very viable, excellent nursing school candidates are being turned down because there is simply not enough spaces in the program!

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