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.
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!
Student loan interest rates are higher than 4%. The federal change yearly and most likely will go up every year and I can only imagine what the private student loan interest loan rates are, I've heard as high as 18%. The Parent Plus loan rates are also higher don't know the exact rate but closer to grad rates.
As to refinancing the Parent Plus loan under her own name, I highly doubt this would be allowed because common sense they would realize she did not have the income to pay back the loans, plus they were made out by her parents who have the ultimate responsibility to pay them back and no they do not come with income based repayment. Sadly they do not do even basic credit check or income verification to make sure the parent can actually afford to repay the loan. The govt really doesn't care because they will get the money one way or another and will simply garnish social security if it comes to that, sad to say!
Wow! I should have looked!
The maximum you can borrow is $57,500 for undergraduates-No more than $23,000 of this amount may be in subsidized loans. Right now, the interest rate is 5.05%. That means $140,000+ is in much more expensive loans. The Parents Plus loan is at 7.6% now. I'm sure any additional loans are at even higher rates. Assuming 8% average interest rate, it's a $2500 monthly loan payment for 10 years to pay it off.
I used to live in a part of the country with a very high cost of living and have worked with numerous nurses over the years who worked 2 full-time jobs. One that I can recall did it for decades until finally retiring from one job.
It's obviously not desirable and can seriously impinge on your personal life, but if you get 2 jobs that work 12-hour shifts each then you can conceivably work 6 days a week. Trying to get 2 jobs to accommodate work schedules will be a challenge and you may frequently find yourself double booked and scrambling to swap shifts with coworkers.
You may be better off getting a job that offers lots of opportunities for overtime, particularly if those shifts pay you time and a half or double time.
My childhood dream was to be an army medic - but, I got diagnosed with epilepsy so that was blown out of the picture unfortunately. You all make good points about the degree that my life will be impacted.
Specializes in Adult and Pediatric Vascular Access, Paramedic.
OP, no offence but I don't feel like you really want advice. What you want is for people to validate your plan and tell you what you want to hear.
I am here to tell you what a mistake you are making. Think about what you are doing and the debt and the fact that our good health isnt guaranteed. Think about what will happen if you go to a community college for nursing ans half way through you break your leg, come down with cancer, or have some other serious illness ans u have to drop out of nursing school. Yes even a broken leg would stop you from finish because you wouldn't be able to attend clinicals. You may have 100k in debt. If the same thing happens and you go to this private school and now you have 150k or 200k in lows which now have to be paid back and u have no degree to make enough to pay them
You are young and have no idea what real life is like. Real rent ans mortgage on top of a 1000 to 2000 dollar a month loan payment isnt doable Food. Bill's. Maintanance etc. By taking on all this debt you are significantly lowering your quality if life for years, ans it may sound ok in theory and it may even feel ok in the beginning but you will eventually feel the overwhelming anxiety that comes with a huge burden of debt ans one you cannot escape. As one person pointed our you cant get out Iof student loans even if you file for bankruptcy! Working two full time jobs for a year or two may sound doable but you wont be able to do it for any sustained amount of time. Its not doable. We are talking about patients here. These are people, someone grandma daughter. Mother etc you are going to make a mistake and hurt someone if you try working that much without rest. I have no doubt and if you hurt someone whether it's from absolute exhaustion or other reason you could loose your licence. This is people. We aren't talking about fixing cars or computers here.
A lot of us on here are older and wiser, so do yourself a favor ans listen to us. I work 70 hours a week some ans it isnt pleasant! Thanks to the high cost of living here ans my mortgage is less then the cost of your student loans and I somt have any of those.
You have the choice of two lives here. One will be filled with misery, hate and discontent ans an inability to cope with daily discomforts because of a total lack of down time and sleep. You will be risking your patients lives for the same reason, and that isnt fair to them. You wont have enough money to afford the cost of living on your own what Iof your parents decide they want to love into a small condo. Life changes over time, so dont think of what will work right now, think of how it will work a year from now or 4 years from now.
Option two is you attend community college. I get the impression that you havent even applied to see what credits will transfer. I am a professional student so I know this because I know many classes are standardized and will transfer into different states. You graduate with maybe 120k in debt so your student loan payment is half of what it would be. You work 36 hours a week and take 4-10 hours a week in overtime or at a per diem job. You live with mom and dad if they stay put and allow it or in this scenario you could potentially move since u will be able to afford rent. This if u cannot find a new grad job in your area you have the flexibility of going to a different place where jobs are more plentiful. You have work life balance so you are happier because u get adequate rest and relaxation time. Your patience are safer because you are getting sleep and can focus on learning. Your licence is also at less risk! You pay off your student loans in 3--5 years.
Two lives, you pick . We cant force you to make the better decision but take it from us older folks, cheaper is better! Think of a the times you said ok I'm gonna get this paper written, you sat with motivation and zest to do the research ans get it done, but then when you actually had to sit down and read and type for hours it wasnt as nice as when you thought about getting the goal done. That's how you need to look at this idea of working your ass. Off to pay medical school sized loans off for nursing pay!!
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.
2 years of pre-reqs before you could begin the ADN?? Something doesn't sound right.
Specializes in Flight, ER, Transport, ICU/Critical Care.
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.
Do you have a degree? What is it in?
Do you have any work experience?
Are you actually in nursing school -- the nursing program -- how much longer do you have?
Are you working now to support yourself? Where are you living?
Personal Q - are you adding debt to pay the living expenses for you for the next xxx (how many) years?
Will your out of state degree allow you to sit for Texas licensure? NCLEX - some states have weird course demands until a nurse has been practicing a certain amount of time. Just be sure.
I really want you to do great things, if your considering 2 jobs and 200k in debt to be a nurse - you must really want this - let's work through some options.
I understand we all need to make a living but nursing for the money and trying to obtain loads of it will not make you a good nurse. Please look for alternate solution. Perhaps a cheaper school, moving in with a roommate (having your own apartment means extra bills to pay not just rent alone), couponing, working part time. Good luck, op.
Focus on studying. Nursing courses are much harder than first year.
I have a coworker who works 2 full-time jobs. His first job is evening shift at a state-run inpatient psych hospital. His other job is at an outpatient crisis unit doing night shift, which is very easy with little to nothing to do. It's likely that he makes at least $150k pre-tax. But I don't think he has a life because he works so many hours.
Can you work 2 FT jobs? It's possible, but it might take time to find the right combination. Like other said, start with your first job and get a bit of experience, pick up shifts, get a couple per diem positions.
Set up a 20-year repayment program. That will give you a bit more breathing room during repayments. You can always make prepayments as you earn extra money.
There is something here that I don't understand. So many of the threads here in allnurses are about new grads who either can't find a job, or are overwhelmed with learning time management, or who are simply in over their heads. They are burning out, unable to cope.
This is with ONE full-time job.
And you are talking about doing two full-time jobs as a new grad?
beekee
839 Posts
Wow! I should have looked!
The maximum you can borrow is $57,500 for undergraduates-No more than $23,000 of this amount may be in subsidized loans. Right now, the interest rate is 5.05%. That means $140,000+ is in much more expensive loans. The Parents Plus loan is at 7.6% now. I'm sure any additional loans are at even higher rates. Assuming 8% average interest rate, it's a $2500 monthly loan payment for 10 years to pay it off.