2 full-time jobs?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi! I am wondering how likely and doable it is to work two full-time jobs as an RN?

I am currently in nursing school and will be graduating with over $200,000 in student loan debt (before interest) because of some stupid financial decisions I made. I chose to go out of state for a different major and took the wrong route on changing it. Rather than transferring back to an in-state school or even community college, I stayed out of state and somehow wound up in a private nursing school. Long story short, I am doomed when I have to begin paying my loans. :cry:

I am terrified of not being able to make my ~$2000/month loan payments working as a nurse, and I know I would not be able to live a sustainable lifestyle this way. I will be moving back in with my parents and throwing almost my entire paychecks towards loans, and I am afraid that after bills I will not have enough to make these payments. I would do absolutely anything to be able to have these loans paid off within ten years but it'll be nowhere near possible with one job in nursing.

My situation being as stressful and complicated as it is, I am having a difficult time wanting to keep going and graduate, but I know I won't be able to afford to pay off my current loans without a degree. Due to all of this, I was wondering how possible and doable it is to work two full-time jobs as an RN? I plan to work in the DFW metroplex, and my preference for my first job would be in a pediatric ER but I am open to anything, just because of my situation.

EDIT: I am still unfortunately 3 years out from graduating but am stuck in the situation I am in. I am a first generation so nobody in my family understood what I was getting myself into, so please don't judge too hard!

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Two full-time jobs is possible. Whether it is viable for you do to is another story.

Keep in mind that each job is going to have specific scheduling requirements, particularly for holidays and weekends. Also, each job is going to expect to be your priority, and probably won't be willing to accomodate the schedule of the other. Neverminding that working two jobs will leave you with precious little free time for yourself and your family.

As far as taking one job and expecting to work overtime...it is unwise to make your financial plans based on getting overtime. Sure, you might pick up a shift here or there...but overtime staff are usually #1 on the cancellation block, so there's no guarantees that you'd get it on a consistent basis. If your everyday budget relies on you getting overtime each week, you're going to quickly find yourself in financial trouble.

Your best bet would be to go full-time at one place and per-diem at a second (or even third) place. Then you have the security and benefits of full-time work, with the option of picking up more work whenever it's convenient for you.

Specializes in School Nurse, past Med Surge.

It's not impossible, but why would you want to do that to yourself? (aside from the obvious financial obligation) I've done three 12s in a row and was BEAT by the end of it. It's a recipe for mistakes because you will be exhausted.

Maybe after you get a little experience under your belt you could look into travel nursing. From what I hear those jobs pay pretty well.

Best wishes.

I have $90,000 already racked up from prior schooling. I took (most of) the pre-reqs required for the nursing school I anticipated on going to and they don't transfer well to any schools in-state back home, so I would have to start from pretty much scratch and take about four years. The one school I could and did transfer to and have most credits transfer was this private nursing school. This school I'm currently attending takes students directly out of high school, however I was only able to be a year ahead because they have nursing classes and clinicals for three years. I couldn't jump ahead on those.

Basically, it would be even more expensive and time-consuming to transfer and go to a community college at home for two more years then onto an in-state nursing school than to just finish what I got myself into. It's a sticky situation overall and I am stuck in it regardless.

I would do whatever it takes to not get into another $100K debt. I realize you know your situation and we don't, but I can't imagine that there's no way to get something like an ADN for less than $100K (if I'm reading this correctly...)

I think you have to come up with plan B. Do you have a good estimate on paper telling you that CC (evn with redoing a number of pre-reqs) is going to cost you the $100K you're planning on spending elsewhere?

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

It would NOT be more expensive to STOP DIGGING THE HOLE YOU'RE ALREADY IN and go to community college. It would half your current projected debt load.

Just because you spent a lot of time and money making a mistake does not mean you have to KEEP making it!

Your logic for remaining where you are and getting into another $100k of loans is short-sighted. You are getting into loan territory for an MD degree, but you will only be a nurse with limited earning capability. And this is a road of no turning back. Even if you go bankrupt you will still have $200k in student loans. You will not be able to sustain working 2 fulltime nursing jobs for 10 years. And think about the impact of that on the rest of your life. What if you decide to marry and want to start a family? You are also putting your parents at tremendous financial peril by having them cosign these loans.

Move back home, finish an associate's degree in nursing the cheapest way you can find. Taking another year now is far better than tacking on ten years of slavery to loans that will destroy your future. If you get a hospital job, many of them offer tuition reimbursement to complete a BSN. My hospital does. I have coworkers who finished their BSNs through Western Governors, all online, and for less than $10k. Once you are in a job, it doesn't matter where you get the degree from.

Another thing to consider is to move to an area that is underserved, and gets special consideration for student loans. I work at Dartmouth Hospital in NH, and it counts as a rural, underserved hospital, even though it is a level 1 trauma center connected to an Ivy League school. Th ere is a program here where you make a certain number of loans payments, and the rest is forgiven. It's a federal program.

I am getting my BSN. In my home state of Texas, there are basics on top of the pre-reqs required for me to get into nursing schools down there. These basics include courses such as Texas history and so on. I would be at least another two or more years behind to complete these courses. For the community college in my county, it costs roughly $5000 for one semester full-time. That would be about $20,000 to finish pre-reqs. On top of that, I would have to pray to get accepted into another nursing school on my first attempt, and I do not fully trust that I would be able to as I didn't have the best first year at the university I attended. One year at most nursing schools in the state also would wind up to cost about $20,000. This total would be around $60,000, which is substantially cheaper, but only if I was to get accepted into another nursing school. Where I am now, so long as I don't fail my nursing classes, I am ensured to complete my degree.

While I do want to get out of the hole I'm in, I don't trust that everything would turn out better by changing schools. I am ultimately afraid of not being accepted into another nursing school on my first try, and therefore I'd have to begin paying my student loans after the sixth month grace period. I cannot afford the ~$1000 a month (or more if I went to a community college for a couple years) payments right now, so I absolutely must finish or I more than likely never will.

Again, it's not a situation I WANT to be in. It's an incredibly complicated and tough situation that I got myself into by making the original decision to go out of state when I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life. I have accepted the situation I am in, I just fear the payments I will have to make in the future and want to know what would be my best options for attack, which was the purpose of this post. My situation is 100% my fault and I accept it, however I was never educated by advisors and counselors on what I was getting myself into - rather, I was just encouraged to go to a school I wanted to and pay later. It's ultimately my fault for making the decision, but the government's also for allowing such outrageous costs for an education when compared to just decades ago.

Move back home, finish an associate's degree in nursing the cheapest way you can find. Taking another year now is far better than tacking on ten years of slavery to loans that will destroy your future. If you get a hospital job, many of them offer tuition reimbursement to complete a BSN. My hospital does. I have coworkers who finished their BSNs through Western Governors, all online, and for less than $10k. Once you are in a job, it doesn't matter where you get the degree from.

Thank you for giving me this information rather than only telling me to escape what I was in. I will definitely look into an ADN, I have just heard horror stories about it being more difficult for them to get jobs as opposed to those holding a bachelor's so I have never put much thought into it.

Will it be easy? Nope. Is it doable? Yes. I'm a respiratory therapist. I have a FT (12.5 hour shift) job as an RT in a hospital, a PRN (12.5 hour shift) job as an RT in a hospital, and a full-time non-RT job. I wouldn't work more than 6 hospital days in a row because you will be completely exhausted by the end of day 6. I try to never do more than 5 hospital days in a row.

Do you have a job now? Maybe something flexible that can work with your school schedule so you can borrow less money would be a start.

I do have a job but it only covers my bills, gas for my car, and half of my rent for a month. I didn't have luck finding a roommate for this year.

Here's an idea to dig yourself out.

You get 1 year of RN experience, in a "in-demand" speciality (if you're fortunate), and work 1 job as a new graduate, maybe pick up some OT.

Two jobs as a new graduate will be completely overwhelming.

Then, at the year mark, if you aren't contractually obligated to the facility to stay, you begin travel nurse life. Depending on specialty and agency, you can make over $8000/month, working 4 12's per week. Most travel RN's will exceed 100K/year. Just got to play your cards right, and research. And you'll get to play and work all over the country.

This is what some people have done. Put your time in as a grad, then hightail it out of there for more lucrative opportunities. Keep in mind, being a traveler can have a lot of difficulties attached to it. But, it will get your out of debt chains. Consider it!

I am getting my BSN. In my home state of Texas, there are basics on top of the pre-reqs required for me to get into nursing schools down there. These basics include courses such as Texas history and so on. I would be at least another two or more years behind to complete these courses. For the community college in my county, it costs roughly $5000 for one semester full-time. That would be about $20,000 to finish pre-reqs. On top of that, I would have to pray to get accepted into another nursing school on my first attempt, and I do not fully trust that I would be able to as I didn't have the best first year at the university I attended. One year at most nursing schools in the state also would wind up to cost about $20,000. This total would be around $60,000, which is substantially cheaper, but only if I was to get accepted into another nursing school. Where I am now, so long as I don't fail my nursing classes, I am ensured to complete my degree.

I would recheck your figures, again, if I were you. I live in the way overpriced San Francisco Bay Area. The AA in Nursing program at the community college down the street from where I live costs roughly $7500 for the WHOLE 2-YEAR PROGRAM!!! This is in California, where we like to charge a lot for nothing!! Not cost-friendly Texas.

They charge $46 per unit out here in all community colleges and I know the AA degree, for a good majority of AA degrees is about 60 units.

60 units x $46.00 = $2760.00 to complete prerequisites. Mind you, within these prerequisites the nursing ones will count toward the nursing degree so you don't have to retake them. If you already have a degree, you might get credit from your old degree for some classes.

Sure, I realize it would take you more time to finish your degree, but I would think a good majority of people on this board would rather take the extra time to not be another $100,000 in debt and to perhaps only need to take out 1/10th of that amount.

Are you at a private school??? I know the costs you're referring to is an ABSN degree out here at a private college. That runs around around $70,000.00. Again, in Bay Area prices. The price wouldn't be so awful if you didn't already have a load of debt. Debt really does cause a lot of stress just on its own.

Good luck to you. Only you can know what you can take on and deal with, but I'd strongly suggest really taking the advice of the people on this board who have been around the block a few times and know what's what.

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