Get in the field or wait - WWYD

[Jmiami]

Nurses, with your experience, please give your opinions. I'm 33 with a 3 yo daughter. Would you:

a) go to lpn school starting in a few months, taking out loans of 18k for living xp and school. Hope that it covers living xp. Be working in the nursing field in 18 months at age 35. Work your way through ADN, BSN, MSN etc. Financially you'd be holding on by the skin of your teeth. However clinical instructors (cna) are very supportive of you nursing and feel that you have great potential.

b) take a promotion in an urelated field where you currently work (a coffee shop, yuck), and bide your time completing pre-reqs for an RN program for a year or so. The raise would be a couple hundred a month (30k total income). Quit that coffee job (would not be flexible with school), find a healthcare job and complete a pt rn program (2.5 years). Be nursing at age 37-38. Financially you may be able to save enough to not have to use loans. However, you may not as the pay increase is not that much. Part of me feels that this option is diverting attention away from the final goal of nursing as the promotion would not allow me to go to nursing school (scheduling conflicts).

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

It depends on whether job satisfaction is more important to you than financial security for you and your child.

Personally, I would choose option 2- save money with your pay increase, and go for the RN. Skip LPN all together if your goal is to be an RN. Once you have your RN, you can work for a few years and save more money and then go back and get your MSN if that route still appeals to you.

It also depends on the job market in your area. Being an LPN in many places doesn't give you a lot of options. Many hospitals no longer hire LPN's, and your best job prospects would be in a nursing home, which might not give you a great chance to move into acute care once you get your RN. It's also not uncommon for new grad LPNs and RNs to search for a job for several months to over a year after graduation. You have to consider that that's a very real possibility and ask yourself if you can financially survive going without a decent paycheck for that long- especially while there are 18K in student loans you have to pay off.

Forget about your CNA instructors being supportive of you and saying you have potential. It has no effect on your situation. They aren't the ones who have to feed and clothe you and your daughter. There are many, many nurses with potential who can't find a job right now.

This is how I see it:

Option 1: More immediate gratification of entering the health care field while taking a financial hit and the big risk of not being able to support yourself after you graduate.

Option 2: Takes a longer time to reach your goal of working in the health care field, but allows you the financial security to provide for your family during that time and graduate with little or no debt.

[Jmiami]

Ashley, let me tell you. You are one wise nurse. I really appreciate your replies because you bring a lot of great points up. I guess self gratification is no where near as important as taking care of my girl. My dad always used to say "bird in the hand". You're right also about the instructor. I would think that they may also have biased interests at heart. You're right about the financial aspect too. If financial security is one of my goals, then option one doesn't offer me a very stable way to go about it. I guess part of me still has the "I can do it" mentality that is pretty naive when reality kicks in. I mean, I'm not a youngin who's parents are paying for college, room and board or a wife who's hubby is supporting the family and paying for school. What is everyone's opinion on age and a new nurse? With option 2, I would be older (nearing 40 or beyond) than in option 1. I wonder if potential employers would be skittish to hire one with only 20+ years left in the workforce vs. a younger nurse in her 20s with 40+ years left to offer the company?

[TnMtnRose]

Do you think you could qualify for Pell grants and scholarships for school? If you could then you could start your prereqs (some even online so no childcare issues). Fill out a FAFSA app and see what you can qualify for with a Pell. Talk to your school's financial aid dept about scholarships too. Plus, if you do need loans to help with school, most student loans don't have to have payments made on them til 6 months after graduation. If you decide to wait...no biggie :) I didn't even get started in school til last summer at age 36. I just finished my 1st semester of nursing at 37 :)