Bsn w/in 6 yrs for job

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Feeling a little frustrated with my employer. It's a big employer with branches of health systems off of it. I got a job with the big employer at first, which asks for AD/DIP RN's to get their BSN within 6 yrs of employment or you can be "let go". I worked for them for 3 years before going to one of their " branch clinics" where their verbage was if you had your RN before 9/2013 you wouldn't have to have the BSN.

I love my job but I'm 52 yo and I spoke with their HR lead and they just told me that because I transferred to a branch I am still held to the original 6 year plan. I asked, well if I quit and get rehired at a branch would I be grandfathered in that way then? HR said, no...everyone has to have their BSN by 2018 now. Yet their job postings do not say this. I have credits toward my BSN but I work in a clinic where my BSN will not help me financially but will cost plenty to get. I have 2 years from this summer to attain this but I'm really struggling with doing this at my age. There's such a nursing shortage even where I'm at and I can't believe they can do this. But HR said if I didn't have my BSN by 8/31/2018 my nursing employment would end.

Is anyone else dealing with this? I'm just very frustrated at this point and am perplexed on my nursing future now.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

At my facility, it's BSN by 12/31/2019 or no job on 1/1/2020. Those who will be 65 or older on 12/31/2019 are grandfathered. Everyone else must get that degree. Any new hire without a BSN must complete it within 2 years of hire date.

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Where I am you would be grandfathered in, if you chose to pursue a RN-BScN degree you would be either partially or fully refunded as you completed each course.

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I was given the ultimatum a few years back, so I quit a health system I had been with 12 years. I don't like being threatened. There was no tuition reimbursement, or pay raise. No thanks.

Then i decided a BSN was somethings I needed to do. I'm not quite 40, and don't want to be stuck because I have no job options. I started at last June, I'm 2 classes away from done. I will have completed my BSN in less than a year for less than 7 k.

If they will give you tuition money I would say go for it. Otherwise look around at other jobs and see if it's even possible to find something acceptable to you without a BSN. Good luck.

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Specializes in Outpatient/Clinic, ClinDoc.

I went to also - it's for most people the cheapest option (cost me 3.4K, but that's harder to do these days) and can be done in WAY less than 3 or 6 years (most people complete within a year, some in under 6 months)...

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

So ... they gave you 6 years' notice of the change in requirement for your postion, right? That sounds pretty reasonable to me. If you didn't see "the handwriting on the wall," that's your fault.

I had a good friend who seemed to be wearing blinders for the past 15 years. In spite of all the talk about requiring BSN's for decades, she kept thinking that for some reason, she would be excused. Those hiring preferences, etc. were for other people, not HER. Surely, SHE would never need a BSN. So she rationalized not going back to school with every excuse she could think of -- turned down financial assistance for years -- etc. saying that since she was in a leadership position already, SHE would never have to worry about getting more education. She wouldn't listen. So finally, at age 55, she woke up and realized that she was exempt from reality and that she would need to go back to school and get that BSN. She just graduated at the age of 58.

The world has moved on since you first graduated with that ADN or diploma. If you haven't kept pace with the changes, expect to be left behind. It's not too late.

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Specializes in General Internal Medicine, ICU.

It sounds like a condition of the job...you don't fulfill the condition on your end, there's no job for you. They gave you plenty of warning.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Many employers offer tuition assistance or are aligned with schools to provide tuition discounts. Have you looked into that? As I see it, you can either start now and get it done, delay and risk losing your position, or find a position that does not require a BSN. But llg is right — times have changed.

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What is ?

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Western Governers University I believe.

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Thanks for All of the real talk. I'm just tired as everyone is of constantly paying on student loans for schooling when the wages don't seem to keep up with the times in small towns, even if it's a big health system. The .25 per hour increase for the BSN isn't the best incentive for going back. But I've already checked into some schools. I'm thinking I'll start back in Aug.

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