Cost for your MSN degree vs. Salary increase

Trauma Columnist · Dec 19, 2010

I got my MSN in 2005 and couldn't find the job of my dreams since the concentration was management and leadership.

I then did a post-MSN adult health CNS in a state where NP/CNS have equal scope of practice. I landed a job paying $15k more than what I was making as a bedside nurse. Now, four and a half years into this position, I've received another $15k in raises. And thats in a terrible economy.

I'm okay with it.

coast2coast · Dec 19, 2010

Unlike 99% of the posters on AN, I am not afraid of educational debt. I will be well over the 6 figure mark in student loans when I graduate with my NP. My reasoning is:

I am young, and have every reason to believe I will have a long and successful career as an NP. I expect to start out making between 70-90k/year (depending on location), and to average over 100k within a few years of starting out. I'm willing to choose jobs/fields based on salary, because I want to be able to pay off loans quickly. I think that flexibility is an important part of my plan.

I plan to live cheaply and pay down debt those first few years, and basically to have the sort of salary where I can chip away at the loans over time. Most of my friends and family have gone into significant debt for professional degrees and paid them off, and I think this makes me less risk-averse than some other students here. Much of the price tag of my degree comes from school reputation, which I DO expect to help me in finding a job.

I am fortunate to not have other student loans that pre-date NP loans. If I did that would seriously impact my educational choices. I also have no kids/mortgage/car payments to factor in. It sounds like this might be a big difference between my situation and yours.

All of my loans are federal - I would not take on this much debt from predatory private bank loans. I am definitely living like a poor student BUT I've never known anything better! So it's not that hard.

As for salary increase - prior to this I had a B.A. and was making $27k/year working 80 hrs/week. So the time commitment, debt, and debt-payoff seem worth it to me. I am sure there are a couple hundred posters here who would vehemently disagree ... :rolleyes:

ParkerBC,MSN,RN, PhD, RN · Dec 20, 2010

i will be graduating in april of 2011 with my bsn. i will be working on my msn (cns in mental health nursing) in the spring of 2012. i have attached a pdf file for your review. many people have said that it is quite easy to get the grant.

Mental Health Nursing Loan Foregiveness.pdf

lkwashington · Dec 20, 2010

I will be starting Walden U on Jan. 3 to earn a MSN in education. I believe the degree is worth the debt of a student loan. I will be planning to earn another degree after this one. I truly believe in higher learning and education is powerful.

rmicu, MSN, NP · Dec 20, 2010

Your education is definitely a worthwhile investment, however, you should be able to accomplish the NP or CNS for significantly less than 60k.

Have you looked at colleges that offer distance learning/online programs at very reasonable rates and are also accredited with good reputations (Univ of Alabama at Birmingham, Indiana State Univ, Univ of Soutern Indiana, UNLV, etc.) ? Also, UMASS has very reasonable in state tuition for its MSN. Are you sure 60k is accurate?

allnurses Guide · Dec 20, 2010

I have taken no loans, received about $2000 in scholarships and about $3500/yr from my employer for tuition assistance. Apart from that, I have paid upfront from my bank account. I work full-time and study very part-time (although that's getting harder to wrangle with clinical time & work).

I started Fall '08 and graduate Spring '12. [i did take off 2 terms this year to care for my mother while she was ill]. It's been stressful but doable, and I am very glad I will graduate with no debt.

NICU_babyRN, BSN, RN · Dec 20, 2010

The hospital where I work covers my MSN tuition in full. I have to pay taxes on it which comes out to roughly $4000/year. That money is taken out directly from my paycheck over 8 pay periods (two pay periods after each quarter). So I just work enough overtime in those pay periods to make up the $500. So in other words I don't pay tuition. I am still paying off my undergrad loans and although i am not a fan of having those, the program I did as an undergrad landed me my DREAM nursing job right out of school so it was well worth it.

Are there any hospitals near you that offer tuition reimbursement? Also, with the push for DNP rather Masters degrees by 2015 you may also want to look into those programs where more grants may also be available.

BCRNA · Dec 22, 2010

I would recommend checking other programs in your state, or possibly moving to another state with cheaper tuition. 60000 for a master's degree is excessive. I am about to start a DNP program and my in-state tuiton will make a total cost of 15,000. Most out of state ones are at least 30000. I found PhD programs that cost less than 60,000--and that was for four years of education. Many schools master's programs are distance accessible now, take classes online and do clinicals locally. My master's degree was 50,000; but it was out of state tuition and I was not allowed to work at all during the program. I would also recommend not trusting any school that says out of state tuition can be waived after one year; I found out the hard way that this is extremely rare for them to do. My master's would have been less than 25,000 had the school not lied about its practices.

Also, check into working somewhere with tuitoin re-imbursement. Where I work the hospital will pay half for a master's if you work at least part time.

ccso962 · Mar 5, 2011

I found PhD programs that cost less than 60,000--and that was for four years of education. I would also recommend not trusting any school that says out of state tuition can be waived after one year;

I think both of these are excellent points. Keep in mind, however, that many PhD programs pay a stipend to students for also teaching undergrads, working in the labs, etc. Some schools even forgive the tuition for PhD students who provide these services to the school (my experience looking at this avenue has been in Biological Sciences so it is possible this is not an option for a nursing PhD program).

On the other front, some states such as Florida will not allow you to be classified as an in-state student for tuition purposes if you work part time or less, and moved to the state solely to attend higher education. This kinda makes sense though or else the "out of state" tuition would only be a one year increase for students. That said it is sadly true that some admissions officers, especially in for-profit schools, will mislead applicants in order to get them to enroll. This is more troublesome in for-profit schools because many admissions staff at those locations are paid commission. I would always encourage ANYONE pursing ANY degree to attempt to do so through either a public college/university or a not-for-profit private institution before even considering a for-profit school. The very name "for-profit" means that their primary goal is turn a profit and not see you successful in a career. Also many for-profit schools are not considered as highly as not-for-profit and public schools despite the reputation these for-profit schools might claim to have. I know of one nurse educator who said she would rather hire an instructor with a Nurse Educator degree from an unknown public school in the middle of no where than one that graduated from a very well advertised for-profit school (I'm not mentioning the name because I don't know if that is allowed on this forum).

Anyway as always just my two cents worth.