Is going back to school worth it?

FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP · Oct 22, 2020

NP salaries vary tremendously by specialty and location. You will need to research NP salaries where you want to live and work vs RN pay.

I STRONGLY advise against becoming an NP just to get more money.

1. More money is not guaranteed

2. You need to be sure that you really want to perform the job duties of an NP. It will be very different from being an RN.

I've read a lot of posts here from RNs who became NPs and then are very disappointed:

1. They didn't make as much money as they thought they would

2. They didn't really like the work

3. They missed their 12 hour shifts 3 days a week.

I would only advise becoming an NP if that is what you truly want to be.

chempansy · Oct 22, 2020

I second the above poster. It really depends on the specialty you choose to pursue and the location. For example: FNP, some areas are more saturated than others. It tends to be a popular specialty frequently sought after.

hcurry9 · Oct 22, 2020

I definitely agree with you not doing NP school for the money. I just didn’t want to go through all of the school and not be able to pay off the student loans.
It’s something I could definitely see myself doing, I guess just a little nervous to apply because I want to make sure I can get a job after. I was also trying to decide if I would be OK getting an MSN, or I needed to get my DNP. Also has anyone done FNP or ACNP?

NurseBlaq · Oct 22, 2020

Let's start with, what type of unit do you currently work on? What's your nursing experience? Which experience interests you more? If you decided to go to the NP route, what would be your preferred demographics? Basically, you should look at your experience as a nurse and gauge what types of patient problems/demographics you liked/disliked and start there. List your pros and cons of FNP and ACNP. However, be aware being a provider is different than being a nurse. Just as being a CNA is different from being a nurse, you get the gist. You don't have to decide on a specific patient demo but you should have some form of an idea of the types of patients you prefer before starting an NP Program. For example, I don't ever want to do peds so I wouldn't consider FNP. Yes, you can choose to work in a geriatric clinic but you would still have to do pediatric precepting in the program. Think about those things as well. Only you can make the decision, just be sure to add the different variables and make sure they align with your expectations and goals.

babyNP., APRN · Oct 24, 2020

Depends on what type of NP you want to do and if you’re willing to move at least at first. I work about 6x24s a month and make $160k so lifestyle is good for me. But I also work in neonatology, which is pretty niche. I also didn’t get to love exactly where I wanted to out of school but a few years later I was able to move where I wanted.

FNP2019, MSN, APRN · Oct 24, 2020

While the pay may vary from state to state / rural vs urban environments and may be lucrative.... do NOT go back to school for the money. Nuh-uh. Do it because you REALLY want to be a nurse practitioner. It's a very different role. I went from being a RN (easiest job ever) to NP (holy moly: the paperwork! The stress! Missing dinner while waiting for urgent results!) in a primary care setting. I love my job now- its stimulating, fun, challenging. I even sometimes feel like I made the world a little better for someone. But 100% would not do it for the paltry $12/hr raise if my heart wasn’t in it. Not worth the stress, lost wages during the 2 years of school, and $100,000 in tuition.

myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN · Oct 25, 2020

I do believe that going back to school for the money can definitely be worth it. Let's face it the reason that we work at all (primarily) is for the money. If we all got a check for 75K per year call it basic income as some politicians have proposed most of us would rather spend our time reading books, painting, hiking, camping, traveling, gardening, playing with our kids certainly doing something besides our jobs . The ability to eat, live, send our kids to school, have medical insurance, go on vacation(s) ect is mostly dependent upon earning enough money to do those things. As someone who has experienced the range from being homeless to earning over 100K I can definitely tell you that the only time that I felt money wasn't important was when I actually had money.

In general, you will earn more money as an NP than as an RN. For example, as an RN I earned around $45.00 per hour in central Florida for the last six years of my RN career at an HCA facility (working nights) with no benefits. Indeed, given that I worked "full time non benefitted" and never got a raise I was actually getting a decrease every year by the rate of inflation (even when it is a low 2% that's still a 10% pay cut every five years). I've only been a psych NP for about eight months and am on track to earn about 250K (again non benefitted, but at least if my incomes stays even close to where it is now I should be able to afford to buy my own health insurance soon). So for me as someone who owes 160K in student loan debt (most of which was accrued during may ASN and before that when I did about 100hours towards a pharmacy degree that I never completed), who also has no IRA, no medical insurance is 51 and still rents, going back to school is probably worth it. However, if I was an RN say in California working at say Kaiser at age 28 making $70.00/hour with good benefits it would be a much harder call. Conversely, were I more like my friends call them Dave and Patty who I used to work with in the ICU who became travel nurses and now each earn about 150K per year each (and get their housing paid for and get to see various parts of California) it would be a harder call still. As it was I worked in an ICU job that I found very stressful and where I felt I had to give 110% each shift just to maybe not "get in trouble" and deal with upset families and endless death it was an easy call. Indeed, even if the money had been a bit less getting to work from home and not have to deal with the litany of stresses of my old trauma ICU job is more than worth it to me.