insight needed on the pros and cons of sponsorship, please

[melissa.mcgovern]

HI there. First off, I applaude and admire you all for choosing this specialty. I am in pre-nursing right now and looking really good for acceptance in the fall of '10 so long as my HESI goes well in a couple weeks (fingers crossed)...I started volunteering at a nursing home in 2/09 because I've wanted to specialize in LTC anyway. 3 months ago, I needed to make extra income so I was hired on in the dietary dept (no time to go the CENA route). The plan was to work a couple days a week as long as I could handle the load with school. I felt like if it got to be too much, I'd just go back to volunteering to keep my foot in the door there. Well, for tax reasons (we file extensions every year due to my husbanb being a sm. bus. owner), I cannot qualify for fin aid anymore...this has me reeling with how to pay for school out-of-pocket for the next 2.5 years and especially if my grades suffer down the road and I need to quit making the little money I make now and go bk to volunteering)...anyway, I talked to HR and am really thinking of applying for a sponsorship (2 yrs would forgive my 11K+ tuition, books, etc). BUT I know that obviously once I graduate, I will have zero negotiation on salary. DOes anyone have any experience with this and will my starting pay really matter in a few years if I start my career at a lower pay after graduation? Hope I was clear on this...thanks in advance for any advice/words of wisdom...

[elkpark]

In my experience (over a couple decades), new grads have v. little room to "negotiate" salary to begin with -- the hospital/facility offers you their standard rate, and, if you don't like it, there are plenty of other new grads who will be happy to take it (especially these days!) Also, from the limited knowledge I have of those kind of "loan forgiveness" type programs, they usually offer you their standard pay rate -- you don't get a lower rate than other comparable new hires; the benefit to the facility is that they know you're not going anywhere for the contractual amount of time (or you'll have to repay the money if you do).

Of course, it's possible that, after graduation, if you had the opportunity to "shop around" for a job (that is, if you weren't obligated to this facility), you might find a job with a higher rate of pay. However, you have to factor in the money you're saving by going with the sponsorship.

If you know, from your own experience, that this is a decent place to work and they treat their employees decently, and this is an area you want to work in, anyway, it's probably a pretty good deal. But only you can decide if it's something you want to do.

Best wishes!

[melissa.mcgovern]

Thanks, Elkpark:). I'm pretty sure I will go ahead and apply IF all goes well and I'm accepted to school. I can live with standard starting salaries for sure. I'm prior military, gov't and UPS, so I have little/no experience with negotiating salaries to begin with and wasn't sure if there were mostly set starting salaries for entry- level ADRNs. I was just worried that there might often be some over-exploitation above the tuition they put into it when it comes down to hiring time... Yes, I really like the facility and you're right that thats what matters most. Our plan is to get my hard-working painter-hubby off the ladders & in school once I'm working, so I'm trying to look (maybe too far) down the road lol. thanks again

[elkpark]

Good luck! :balloons: