Anyone else?

[3rdgenRN2B]

Anyone else moving forward with this having no idea what they will do for work if they get accepted? I'm a non-traditional student with a family and hoping, if I get accepted to nursing school, to at least have a bunch of debt paid down before having to quit or cut my hours at work big time. But I'm desperately trying to not let this fear get in my way of pursuing this at all. I'm hoping there's others out there feeling the same and we can help support each other!

[araew2129, ADN]

I changed to a job that allows flexibility while I was still working on my prereqs. I do in-home caregiving so I basically make my own hours with my client. However, not having control over my schedule once I start nursing school makes me very nervous. I do have to be available to my client during certain times and now I am worried this will take that ability away from me. I guess I just have to wait and see...

[MiladyMalarkey, ASN, BSN]

I did this. Started school fully intending to keep my full time 8-5 job with no flexibility. After the first month it became clear to me and my first exam score that it would not be realistic. My family was a two income family, we had two very small kids. I thought we'd be unable to survive if I left my job. Somehow we made it work. My spouse works in a job with shift work, allows for OT and he picked up extra shifts. I still to this day, don't know how we've done it. But, we have, we made it work. I graduate in May if all goes well. I did have to live off of a small amount of student loans which I was not thrilled with, but, we somehow did it and should be able to pay off my loans within a year or two. You get creative, you learn to go without, we've not gone on vacation, but found other means of having family fun. We've not starved and our bills somehow have managed to be paid. We have just enough left over for food costs, etc. I feel that if I have done this, many people can, not all, don't get me wrong. It's amazing how one makes things work on a incredibly fixed budget.

[3rdgenRN2B]

Thank you! My husband is just starting a job with shift work, and will be able to pick up OT by the time I would start clinicals. Hadn’t really even considered that. It would be tough but also not forever so I have hope!

[monkeyshines, ASN]

Same! I've had a career for 11 years, and have a husband and 3 yr old son. I started my prereqs last year (at night/weekend/online) with the plan to just get through them and then figure out school when I needed to. Now I'm at the point where I can start full time school in the fall and I'm having to actually legit figure this stuff out!

I think at this point I'll defer admission until the spring, and work my current job through December. More time to pay off debt and whittle down expenses. I'm hoping to get CNA certified and get a tech job at the local hospital in the fall. They do some tuition reimbursement, so between that and working a couple shifts a week while in school full time, we should be able to scrape by. And hopefully I'll still be able to see my husband and son on occasion. Feels stupid sometimes to do this when I have a good job and career and decent money, but I can't keep doing what I do for forever and am dying to get into the medical field. I'll do whatever it takes to make that happen!

[KaityKait, EMT-B]

Yup! Single, no savings, no idea how people make it happen... woohoo!