I am currently an RN and have obtained interviews for CRNA school starting fall 2015. Please read on.
Before I start school (If accepted), I first need to establish realistic debt vs. future income analyses, and cannot find accurate starting salaries for CRNA's online. The range seems to be 100k-150k for Southeast Michigan. I'm posting here because I believe you can give me better insight since you currently work in the field.
Hold on, before you bash me as a money chaser please understand I am simply trying to map out my financial future and weigh cost vs. benefit.
Here it is:
As of now we (wife and I), have a combined income of $95k, and plan to have $20k saved if/when I start school. She will continue working (makes $45k annually) and will pick up the mortgage, bills, etc. We have a small mortgage (house value under $100k), one car payment, no kids. She does not have student loan debt, I have paid my undergraduate loan down to $58k, and will enter into deferment when starting anesthesia school (God willing). This debt is residual from two prior Bachelor Degrees.
CRNA school will be paid with student loans which means I will be about $120k in total student loan debt including undergrad and grad school upon graduating with an interest rate of 5.8% after consolidation. Based upon a prospective initial income of $100k/year (CRNA), my student loan payment will be $2300 for 5 years. This payment would be roughly 50% of my net income, based on my current tax bracket.
Does this cost analysis seem fair? Please advise any adjustments, additions, deletions, and general advice is appreciated.
I think you are planning accordingly. Larger cities in Texas are starting at 115-120 pretty consistent. Not sure if rural is better or not. In the long run it should be beneficial.
You should remember your pay can always continue to drop. Pay is related to those who have come before you, participated in the field, PAC and AANA and been involved and cognitive of politics within anesthesia... They did not sit on a stool and collect a check. Those are the CRNAs which lower your pay.
That's a kind of practitioner I didn't experience until the past 20 years or so, but has become a depressing reality. Hopefully the glut will weed them out. I believe we will be asked to step up to our real skill level in the future and it will be sink or swim for those who don't want to add the tougher skills too their repertoires.
subee, MSN, CRNA
1 Article; 6,115 Posts
That's a kind of practitioner I didn't experience until the past 20 years or so, but has become a depressing reality. Hopefully the glut will weed them out. I believe we will be asked to step up to our real skill level in the future and it will be sink or swim for those who don't want to add the tougher skills too their repertoires.