Anyone out there who switched to nursing from teaching just for the money?

luvmykidz · Sep 20, 2008

Sorry to hear about your marriage! The grass is always greener on the other side...I am a nurse who tried being a sub teacher for a while (yes they let me because i had a 4-yr degree). I also quit the hospital to go to the school system as a school nurse and did take a pay cut so I can see where you are coming from. Here's the thing, though, as a nurse you don't get your summers, holidays, snow days, or spring break off and you also have to work weekends, holidays and shift-work. As a mother, the hours as a teacher are so much better. Do you have adequate child care anytime you are working? The nurses that make the most money have to work a lot. Does dealing with other people's blood, vomit, urine, stool, and other body liquids bother you? Could you handle being on your feet for 12-16 hours at a time with very little breaks and help lift and turn people? Would it stress you out knowing people's lives are in your hands? (Doctor's aren't around a whole lot-it's the nurse's that keep things running until they get there.) Would it bother you to be forced to work another shift even though you don't want to or to ask for a day off and be denied? Nursing can be very rewarding and exciting but also very stressful. There are a ton of different areas of nursing but most nurses have to start out at the hospital to get experience before anyone will hire them elsewhere. When you consider what you get paid only working the actual number of days you do then your salary isn't much different than nurses. Most nurses around here start out at $18/hr. That's less than I can sub as a school nurse for. Nursing school is also very hard and it takes lots of home time to study. I'm not telling you not to go for it but I want you to know what you're getting into. It helps to read all the different boards on here as well, esp the ones that talk about what they like and don't like as a nurse. Is there a possibility you could get your master's in teaching to increase your rate of pay? What about working summer school or tutoring kids for extra money on your own time as ways to make money? Can you give up time and money working as a teacher to get your nursing degree? I hope this helps a little and I wish you luck in whatever you decide.

Blee O'Myacin, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2008

I am a teacher by profession with 13 years experience and I love teaching passionately. I also think I'd love being a nurse. I am going through a marrital separation and I am worried about supporting my kids with my teacher's salary. I feel like nursing would be more reliable and more practical from the monetary end. I just don't know if it's the right thing or if it's something I'll equally love. Anyone in my shoes or have advice having any experience in the matter??? Thanks!

13 years with the same school district, solid, reliable hours and summers to pick up work at a camp so your kids can go for free or a reduced rate, or going through nursing school to start at the lowest pay scale, rotate shifts and not know which days you might be working while waiting for a schedule to be posted 1 week before it begins, then scramble for a sitter? No contest to me. If you love teaching, then I say stick with it and find other ways to supplement your income. (Your STBX is also responsible for child support. Even if he is no longer going to be your husband, he is still your childrens' father)

If you had an overwhelming urge to be a nurse, then I'd be the first one to tell you how great it is to be a nurse and encourage and support - etc. I love it, and haven't looked back at my IT job since the day I left on maternity leave 12 years ago. But that's the thing with nursing. You can't live with your household in an uproar for something that you didn't love doing. My DH is a cop, and was for years before I went to nursing school, so my shift work is nothing more than a blip on my childrens' radar.

I wouldn't leave a job I loved for something that would further complicate my life. This must be a rough time for you, so I guess I would get the family stuff settled first before going through the major stress of a career change.

Good luck and best wishes -

Blee

bosnanurse · Sep 20, 2008

HI!

I was a teacher for 8 years and went into nursing because I start to love it during hard time in my life. I work as a nurse , but also my heart went back to the teaching. Now, I am on both sides.It is stronger than you can think . As previous girls said if it is only because of money it is not a good option. IN my region nursing full time can earn around 45,000 dollars in one year. But, you have to work every other holiday, weekend, stay double, not sit for 8 hours , etc, etc, etc.. School of nursing is very hard. But I also love it . It is a hectic part that I enjoy but I never worked full time because I just could not do it. It was too much, does not matter the money . So, I encourage you to explore it , but also warn you that you have to love it to do it.

jjjoy, LPN · Sep 20, 2008

I'm with the others here... if you love your job teaching, it would seem to make more sense to find other ways to improve your income... such as earning a master's degree, tutoring on the side, etc.

To become a nurse would mean at least a few years of classes (pre-reqs and nursing school), the cost of tuition and any lost wages (it would be next to impossible to find a school of nursing where you wouldn't have to stop teaching full-time to attend). Nursing school itself is very rigorous and time consuming. The first years as a new nurse, the learning curve is astronomical so you don't just graduate and life goes right back to normal. Scheduling can be a issue. Etc.

As others noted, if you really wanted to be a nurse, then, yes, you should go for it. But if it's just for the money and since you really love teaching, I'd wouldn't advise you to jump into nursing without more reasons.

yeSICU · Sep 20, 2008

I got my post bachelors teaching cert and decided while still student teaching that I wanted to go into nursing. I did a one year accelerated nursing program, which I had all of the prereqs for because of my general science degree so it was really just one year total. It was the best decision I have ever made.

I heard it all from people. "You wont have summers off, you will have to work holidays, weekends, etc. etc.". What people don't realize is that as a teacher you have no set work hours (I often worked 12 hour days) and a "concerned parent" can monopolize your time and continue to do so for an entire year. You have a room full of 25-30 kids at all different levels of ability and behavioral/social dispositions. Your work comes home with you and cuts into your family time (aka report cards, tests to check, weekly newsletters, lesson planning etc.). I love kids, I just don't like teaching a room full of them. Love one on one tutoring. The classroom was too nerve wracking for me. People don't realize that you can't have a "bad day" when you are a teacher.

With nursing, I work weekend cadre midnights. My son is without me for two hours, two days a week because he goes to bed at 9 and I work from 7-7. I have a set schedule and work stays at work.

I am constantly learning and constantly challenged. I plan to return to teaching (nursing) in the future, and just applied to a masters program.

I think my problem was two pronged with choosing elementary ed as a career. I like to learn and am very into science and math, and teaching the same material, all content areas, year after year was not my cup of tea. I wanted the challenge of learning complex material. I also think I chose the wrong audience. I want to teach college level because I think I enjoy adult learners more so. I respect the craft and art of teaching and I wouldn't trade my education for the world, but I am so glad I found nursing when I did. (I do miss the look in kids eyes though when they finally "get it", but I have my son now and he fills the role quite wonderfully!)

Really research your options. There are so many opportunities in nursing in so many different roles. That is what is great about it. It isn't like teaching where your options are pretty limited as to your scope and role (I felt like you got your masters and you stayed where you were, or you went into curriculum planning aka slim positions, or you went into admin). In nursing you can end up doing totally different jobs from bedside nursing, research, homecare, nursing education, pharm. rep, school nurse, to running clinics. There are advanced practice roles where you can work as an NP working in a doctors office or acute care setting providing a wide range of care to specific populations. You can become an anesthetist and administer anesthesia to surgical patients. The opportunities are limitless!!!

I love what I do (hence the long crazy post), and I think that is so important. I would be a miserable person if I had just decided to stick it out in teaching. Do some soul searching before you take the dive, because it would be unfortunate if you got all of that education only to find out you wish you would have stayed with teaching.

Good luck with everything! It sounds like you must be going through a lot right now. Do what makes you happy, because if you are happy your kids will be too. :heartbeat

penelopelp · Sep 20, 2008

I'm glad that you asked this question. I'm enjoying seeing the others' responses. If you really love teaching, then I don't see any reason to change. You could increase your pay by getting more education, or you could take on more responsibilities at school. Where I taught, we could be treasurer, cluster leader, etc., and take home some extra $$.

I taught for over 5 years, and got completely burnt out. I was tired of working all those hours every day, and late into the night, and not getting paid for all those extra hours. The students I taught were very hard to work with. They came from troubled homes, and they were very stressful to teach. I loved the actual teaching part of it, but very little of that really happened. Then two different things happened in the same year--I was attacked by a student, and my mother-in-law died. The attack by the student was probably the final straw for my interest in teaching. When my mother-in-law died, I was extremely impressed by the wonderful care that she received by the nurses. We were able to stay in the hospiital with her during her last night. Even though she was pretty much brain dead for about 5 days, the nurses took incredible care of her. They treated her with dignity and respect.

I didn't really have anywhere to go with my teaching degree. I could have gotten a Master's--and still spent every day in the classroom. I didn't want to become an administrator. I was ready to move on. I thought of going into speech language pathology. However, I really, really wanted to be a nurse, and it would cost about as much $$ as getting a master's in SLP (actually, most like less).

I have just started out on my pre-nursing education. It is very hard to start over again. I'm going to get an entry-level position in the hospital. This is after years of having a professional job, with my own autonomy and classroom. I will have to work very hard in school, and I'm taking a huge paycut while getting my education. I would only suggest that you take this on if you have a huge desire to be a nurse.

If you are happy with being a teacher--then continue with that route. You can always work in the summers as a temp secretary--that's what I always did.

BelleP · Sep 20, 2008

I am in NS right now but I taught for 13 years and I loved it. I did devote a lot of unpaid hours to work but it certainly did not feel like work at all. However, there are NO teaching jobs where I live right now. My husband might be able to move to another state for his job but it will always be similar to the setting that we are in now.

I either had to finish my Masters Degree or try to find another career that I can be equally passionate about. I did a lot of research and Nursing fit the bill. I know I will not be rich but I can at least be able to put food on the table and pay bills. More than that, I will be in a discipline that will enable to me to have similar intangible rewards that teaching offered. In teaching, I felt like I was making some sort of a difference in someones life. Of course, in nursing, it really is part of the whole profession. That caring aspect was very appealing so even though I know that it is a tough, TOUGH profession, it will be worth it at the end of the day.

(Incidentally, when I considering Universities/Colleges back in the day, Nursing was my first choice. However, it required more money that what we had at that time so I went into teaching instead...hehe. )

skilledteacher · Sep 21, 2008

I posted about switching from teaching to nursing and thank you all for your great thoughtful responses. I am actually realizing that I did not give enough information possibly to have complete knowledge on this matter. I forgot to add that I do have a masters degree in education and my masters is in early childhood education. I taught in only parochial day schools where I did not get paid equally to a regular public school system income, not even close. I do not get pensioned in and I also did not go for my state certification (which would take a lot of $$$ to go back and do now and about 2 years) because I was teaching and living on my own and couldn't afford to go back to school on no income. So now that I am in a desperate situation and can't afford to support my kids with my salary I have some big decisions to make. Here's the thing, I wanted to be a midwife or LC or even work with geriatrics/home health but I also love teaching little kids. I am awesome at what I do (not trying to be boastful, just honest with myself) and it kills me everyday when I take my 3 year old to school and I miss being the teacher in the classroom. Also, currently I am working part-time tutoring everyday and teaching supplementary school twice a week but it just doesn't cut it to support my girls. Also, it doesn't pay for me to send my baby off to daycare and go teach (gas, childcare, breastfeeding...) so I feel like maybe the nursing route would make sense. I honestly don't know. I am torn terribly. I realize the summers and vacations are a HUGE asset but teaching in parochial schools here I am limited to VERY VERY few and with nursing the sky is the limit. I feel so confused and wish I had a lot more clarity on this one. PS- my parents desperately are pushing me to get the nursing degree and so I also want them to be proud of me. I know this is not enough to push me in either way but it is weighing on my shoulders as I contemplate this decision. Aaaah! Sorry guys if I come across lost but I am. Any thoughts on what you would do in my shoes? Thanks so much!

jjjoy, LPN · Sep 22, 2008

Becoming a nurse won't necessarily cost less or take less than earning a state teaching credential.

Timewise, you could probably become an LPN in a year, but vocational school LPN programs can be pretty pricey... over $20,000, for example. LPNs usually don't make as much as RNs and you'd have to check your local job market to see what kind of opportunities LPNs have there. LPNs often more easily find work in nursing homes. Some hospitals hire LPNs and some don't.

RN programs through community colleges are generally much more affordable but it would probably take you at least 3 years in that case (1 year pre-req classes, two years of nursing school). And in some areas, there are waiting lists or lotteries to get accepted by the school. The few hospital RN programs out there are usually 3 years long.

You may yet decide that nursing would work for you. Just giving you more food for thought. : )

luvmykidz · Sep 22, 2008

An older lady once gave me some good advice that I wished I had taken at the time. She said in her experience if you're really really having a hard time making a decision about changing something and you just can't decide and don't know what to do then it's best to just not do anything and stay where you are. Maybe you just need to step back from it all and let the decision rest for a few weeks and don't let yourself even think about it and then maybe you'll have a clearer perspective on what to do. Thinking back to most good decisions I've made, even though I may have had some reservations, I just knew that's what I should do with no one else even offering their opinion. Sometimes it's the right decision but wrong time. I think you have a lot going on in your life right now and you want it all figured out as quickly as possible but maybe you just need to not try to plan out your entire future so quickly and take one day at a time. It sounds like you have a lot of family support so I'm sure if you tell them that you aren't ruling out nursing school but you are ruling it out at this moment until your kids are older, until your divorce is final, until the first of the year, whatever, and then you'll re-asses or gain more info I don't think you'll regret it. It also sounds like you really love teaching and the only reason you want to go into nursing is not because of a long unmet need to be a nurse but just because of the money. That's the wrong reason to go into nursing. I've never met anyone who would give up a career they actually love and are good at to go into another one. Like Dr. Phil says-if you only have money as your main motivation you'll pay for it every day. I'm not saying you won't like nursing or make a good nurse but it just sounds like being as confused about it as you are you aren't in the best place to make a good decision right now so I do hope you'll give yourself some time to step back. Good luck!

skilledteacher · Sep 22, 2008

Thank you for the response. I am looking at one program here at a community college -- I have all my classes but have to retake 2 classes that have expired before applying. So it would be one or two semesters before application. The program is 2 years minus the summer so it's fairly quick but I still don't know if its worthwhile. The cost is not too bad though so for 6,000-7,000 I'd have the degree but don't know if its worth giving up teaching for? Thank you again for helping me think about all the considerations.