Is there any nursing job that'll make $30,000+/yr for the FIRST job?

Gompers, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

But on a related topic... I am a student nurse intern, and all I hear at the nurses' station is money talk! Travelers, registry, staff, everyone is talking about how much they make, this or that overtime opp, how they need more money. Now, I'm a second career nurse and wasted a lot of time, but I wonder why someone in his/her thirties, who's been an RN for 10 years or so, can be so hurting for money? I mean, people are willing to work themselves to death, stay extra hours all the time, just for a bit more money! I love that such opps exist to maximize income, but I wonder if all these people mismanage their money or are compulsive gamblers/drug users or something-I mean, why can't they make do with $35/hour with a working spouse and 1-2 kids? I really do wonder.

Nurses make middle-class wages. Real estate and gas prices now are completely inflated, so trying to own a home and drive a car these days is quite challenging. Plus kids are so expensive! If a nurse is making $35 an hour after working for 10 years, then he/she is most likely in a larger city where housing prices are completely inflated. Just because a nurse has to work overtime or is obsessed with money doesn't mean that he/she is irresponsible or a gambler! It means that they're HUMAN and living in America, where we have to work hard to make a decent living.

That is, unless you're a basketball player. :angryfire

Gompers, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

OOOPS duplicate post.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

Okay, Matt sounds a little immature and goal-less, but he's probably young enough for that to make perfect sense. Good luck Matt, just research whatever you do so you don't waste your education dollars and time!
But on a related topic... I am a student nurse intern, and all I hear at the nurses' station is money talk! Travelers, registry, staff, everyone is talking about how much they make, this or that overtime opp, how they need more money. Now, I'm a second career nurse and wasted a lot of time, but I wonder why someone in his/her thirties, who's been an RN for 10 years or so, can be so hurting for money? I mean, people are willing to work themselves to death, stay extra hours all the time, just for a bit more money! I love that such opps exist to maximize income, but I wonder if all these people mismanage their money or are compulsive gamblers/drug users or something-I mean, why can't they make do with $35/hour with a working spouse and 1-2 kids? I really do wonder.
I look forward to times when I can be workaholic and get lots extra, but I hope I can refrain from talking $$ all the time on the job.
Any insight?

For what it's worth, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone, anywhere, who isn't paying some extra attention to money matters these days. Fuel costs are rising, prices for so many other things are rising in relation to that.

Aside from that, though, something comes to mind. You'd probably be surprised at how many people who are upper class socioeconomically don't consider themselves such, and actually feel they are HURTING for money. Example will be an unnamed relative (avoiding a family war!!) who makes well into the six-figure range, takes several vacations a year, buys herself designer duds and spa treatments quite regularly, and still cries poverty. Not just "wish I had this", but actually "I can't AFFORD" whiny complaints. The money is always there, but priorities are sometimes....different.

My husband and I are very fortunate. His income has allowed me to go to school without being employed and our children to have extras for which we are very grateful. However, we find ourselves, even now, thinking "if we just had THIS much money, we could have THAT" or "how come we aren't better off if we have this much money??". Stuff like that. I can't imagine how people make half of his salary and support a family, and yet it's so very commonplace to do so.

Eye of the beholder!

military spouse · Aug 13, 2006

Okay, Matt sounds a little immature and goal-less, but he's probably young enough for that to make perfect sense. Good luck Matt, just research whatever you do so you don't waste your education dollars and time!
But on a related topic... I am a student nurse intern, and all I hear at the nurses' station is money talk! Travelers, registry, staff, everyone is talking about how much they make, this or that overtime opp, how they need more money. Now, I'm a second career nurse and wasted a lot of time, but I wonder why someone in his/her thirties, who's been an RN for 10 years or so, can be so hurting for money? I mean, people are willing to work themselves to death, stay extra hours all the time, just for a bit more money! I love that such opps exist to maximize income, but I wonder if all these people mismanage their money or are compulsive gamblers/drug users or something-I mean, why can't they make do with $35/hour with a working spouse and 1-2 kids? I really do wonder.
I look forward to times when I can be workaholic and get lots extra, but I hope I can refrain from talking $$ all the time on the job.
Any insight?

Hi,

I am very blessed to not be one of those nurses that needs to work additional hours. I typically work 16 hours per week. I do know several nurses that are very similar to those you have described. Many have house payments, taxes, private school for their children, max out 401k's, Roth IRAs, etc. I also work with some single parents and I have no idea how they make it. Life is surprisingly expensive. I've known people with health/dental insurance that still leave with large bills for "their portion." I know we pay close to half our income in taxes: Federal, State, local, Medicare, Social Security, property taxes and school taxes. :angryfire My husband contributes $15,000 to his 401k. I contribute 30% to my 401k (amount will vary depending upon hours worked). Together we contribute $8,000 to our Roth IRAs. $4000 for daughter's private school, plus additional money for before/after school care. Fortunately, we did a prepaid tuition plan for her college many years ago. By the time we throw some money into gas, insurance, other investments and "fun money" it is all gone. Hubby has military pension that covers our housing costs and allows us to prepay our mortgage so that it should be paid off in 8 years or so. If he lost his current job, I would have to work A LOT to continue on our current plan. Boy, I better go check my bank account to see how many pennies I have left to spend

military spouse · Aug 13, 2006

If one is willing to move to El Paso, TX one could certainly make more than $30,000 as an LPN or RN. Close friend is LPN make $50,000 in SNF. The SNFs seem to REALLY need nurses and hire at very high wages. I haven't seen anything like it at any other place we've lived.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

If one is willing to move to El Paso, TX one could certainly make more than $30,000 as an LPN or RN. Close friend is LPN make $50,000 in SNF. The SNFs seem to REALLY need nurses and hire at very high wages. I haven't seen anything like it at any other place we've lived.

SNFs around here pay alot of money as well, huge sign-ons, BUT that's because they can't hope to keep them for long. The demands of the facilities, the working conditions seem to be such that after a bit of time, if a nurse has ANY other options, she exercises them...and votes with her feet!

I always say to beware of those really big sign-ons and such for no-experience nurses....gotta be a reason for it!

nursemike, ASN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

Okay, Matt sounds a little immature and goal-less, but he's probably young enough for that to make perfect sense. Good luck Matt, just research whatever you do so you don't waste your education dollars and time!
But on a related topic... I am a student nurse intern, and all I hear at the nurses' station is money talk! Travelers, registry, staff, everyone is talking about how much they make, this or that overtime opp, how they need more money. Now, I'm a second career nurse and wasted a lot of time, but I wonder why someone in his/her thirties, who's been an RN for 10 years or so, can be so hurting for money? I mean, people are willing to work themselves to death, stay extra hours all the time, just for a bit more money! I love that such opps exist to maximize income, but I wonder if all these people mismanage their money or are compulsive gamblers/drug users or something-I mean, why can't they make do with $35/hour with a working spouse and 1-2 kids? I really do wonder.
I look forward to times when I can be workaholic and get lots extra, but I hope I can refrain from talking $$ all the time on the job.
Any insight?

When I was in school, I carpooled with two very good Christians (I haven't been to church in ages. Haven't abandoned Christianity altogether, but I tend to be somewhere between a Taoist and a Deist, at least by temperment. Guess you could call me lukewarm...) On many occassions, our discussions going to and from school or clinicals centered on filthy lucre. A favorite topic was, "What's the first thing you're going to buy after you get out of school?" Well, hey, we were all working part-time and scraping by on reduced incomes, paying tuition and buying lots of outrageously expensive textbooks, and the prospect of making a decent living was of understandable interest, even though I think we were are reasonably idealistic about the noble profession we had chosen.

During our OB rotations, another classmate of mine asked the nurse midwife we spent a day with how much she made. I was shocked! But I did listen when she answered (not really a lot more than I'm making now, which is a shame, given the education required and responsibility she undertakes, but midwives (?) love their work, so they don't have to pay them as much). I, of course, was too respectful to ask such a question, although I did ask if we were going to see any Wiccan rituals...:gandalf: (What a convenient smiley!)

Anyway, money isn't everything, but it sure isn't nothing, unless you have an awful lot of it.

nursemike, ASN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

Ok, then, generically speaking, in answering a hypothetical question about this subject, one in which a real person is NOT asking such a question, I still agree. Thus, my standing by my opinion that nursing would not be a miserable vocation for such a person, because that person would not be expected to survive the nursing curriculum.
My school program definitely did a slash job on many students the instructors felt would not make good nurses. They weeded out those who were poor academically, or had poor clinical skills, or, sometimes, it seemed they just honed in on those who they felt would not be the patient's best advocate but rather, only their own.
Some people felt that having those students dismissed was unfair, that they hadn't gotten enough chances to prove themselves or whatever. The reality is, after so many years in nursing, the instructors should be given some credit for having a clue what might be needed in a good nurse. Some people think judging subjectively should not be allowed, but I disagree. A student who does well academically and can perform in skill evaluations competently may just be *wrong* in subtle ways when it comes to bedside manner, patient care, interactions with other staff and team members. It's not a black / white thing, is it? There's that gray area that you either have or you don't.

I find the idea of dismissing students who are doing well academically and demonstrate competent skills because they lack some undefined quality disturbing. A fellow I worked with in my previous job was attending nursing school, and did so well that he was allowed to participate in an accelerated program and finished his BSN in three years instead of four. This young man was from a rural background and so stoical that some of the nurses we worked with described him as having a "flat affect." He was also somewhat reticent around people he didn't know well. But he is very bright, works very hard, and is now a very competent ICU nurse, working toward his CRNA. He may never be the most personable nurse on the unit, but he is a good person and, frankly, a warm bedside manner doesn't sound all that crucial for his career track. No one who knows him doubts his ability.

In my own experience, I didn't get off on a very good foot with one of my clinical instructors, and was in real danger of getting bounced, despite a 4.0 average at the time, until she was able to see that my problem was not indifference or lack of motivation, but a combination of severe anxiety and near exhaustion. I was able to rearrange my priorities to help reduce the exhaustion, and she was helpful in reducing my anxiety, although it was still my toughest rotation.

Later, when a classmate had trouble getting the sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system, I explained the fight-or-flight response in some detail, then concluded: "then you go to post-conference, the parasympathetic kicks in, and you fall asleep..." My clinical instructor at that time got a chuckle when she overheard us.

Anyway, I'm a nurse today because a couple of instructors were decent enough to look beyond first impressions and give me a second (and third, and fourth...) chance.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

I find the idea of dismissing students who are doing well academically and demonstrate competent skills because they lack some undefined quality disturbing. A fellow I worked with in my previous job was attending nursing school, and did so well that he was allowed to participate in an accelerated program and finished his BSN in three years instead of four. This young man was from a rural background and so stoical that some of the nurses we worked with described him as having a "flat affect." He was also somewhat reticent around people he didn't know well. But he is very bright, works very hard, and is now a very competent ICU nurse, working toward his CRNA. He may never be the most personable nurse on the unit, but he is a good person and, frankly, a warm bedside manner doesn't sound all that crucial for his career track. No one who knows him doubts his ability.
In my own experience, I didn't get off on a very good foot with one of my clinical instructors, and was in real danger of getting bounced, despite a 4.0 average at the time, until she was able to see that my problem was not indifference or lack of motivation, but a combination of severe anxiety and near exhaustion. I was able to rearrange my priorities to help reduce the exhaustion, and she was helpful in reducing my anxiety, although it was still my toughest rotation.
Later, when a classmate had trouble getting the sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system, I explained the fight-or-flight response in some detail, then concluded: "then you go to post-conference, the parasympathetic kicks in, and you fall asleep..." My clinical instructor at that time got a chuckle when she overheard us.
Anyway, I'm a nurse today because a couple of instructors were decent enough to look beyond first impressions and give me a second (and third, and fourth...) chance.

I hear you, and don't disagree an iota. Mostly where I was going with that post was that there sometimes *IS* something about a person that the instructors know makes them less desirable as a nurse. I'm not so sure I'd say it was "indefinable", either. For instance, I recall a former classmate who was so very unsure of herself where skill evals and clinicals were involved. If you asked her to tell you her NAME, I think she'd give you one answer, then another, then declare she had to look it up :uhoh3: . Obviously I'm being facetious, but that's the idea anyway.

She really had so little confidence in what she was doing that although she eventually DID it correctly (if left alone), she could very easily be swayed to an incorrect conclusion and it would take so long for her to make that decision it was just....too long. She was dismissed weeks from the end of the program. She just couldn't demonstrate the level of assuredness, competency that was expected by that point. You could say it was "undefined", but really, it wasn't. She passed all her tests, passed the perfunctory evals, but when it came right down to it, you wouldn't want her as your beloved's nurse.

Sometimes, too, it goes the other way. Like a student who didn't get past second semester because of the opposite problem: arrogance. This person was so sure she knew everything, she was also a problem. Did she pass tests? Yep. Did she pass skill evaluations? Yep. But she blindly charged forth, more certain of her own abilities than she should have been, with less than desirable results. Patients disliked her, floor staff disliked her, classmates avoided her, and well....eventually she was just deemed "unsafe".

I'm very glad that for you and your friend, you didn't fall into those categories. I believe a good instructor will know the difference between someone who is different from the crowd and will be a good nurse anyway and someone who is just different in the wrong ways and....won't be.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2006

But on a related topic... I am a student nurse intern, and all I hear at the nurses' station is money talk! Travelers, registry, staff, everyone is talking about how much they make, this or that overtime opp, how they need more money. Now, I'm a second career nurse and wasted a lot of time, but I wonder why someone in his/her thirties, who's been an RN for 10 years or so, can be so hurting for money? I mean, people are willing to work themselves to death, stay extra hours all the time, just for a bit more money! I love that such opps exist to maximize income, but I wonder if all these people mismanage their money or are compulsive gamblers/drug users or something-I mean, why can't they make do with $35/hour with a working spouse and 1-2 kids? I really do wonder.
I look forward to times when I can be workaholic and get lots extra, but I hope I can refrain from talking $$ all the time on the job.
Any insight?

I get a little irritated when I read the occasional post that nurses make poverty wages. I've been a nurse for 15 years and I don't make $35/hour. But I don't do to bad either, especially because I have a spouse with a greater income.

However, as was mentioned again. Those of us who don't make 35/hr but might make $20 to $25 that have kids whose responsiblities don't alllow us to work overtime because 40 hours a week is a struggle, cars, houses or renting apartments at very inflated rates, gas, college for the kids, taking care of elderly parents, on and on and on. It doesn't go far and is indeed a struggle to make ends meet.

I try not to judge those who struggle because I clearly understand. I do take exception when they say we make poverty level wages.

Many students with no income or much less income find it hard to relate when we complain about our wages, so I understand where you're coming from as well.

Are you enlightened? :lol2:

Nursing28 · Aug 14, 2006

I live in California and RNs make more than 30 thousands a year. Yes you have to love nursing in order to be a nurse or you will wake up everyday hating your job. And that is unfair to the patients cuz you will not provide the care that these patients need. Nursing is hard not just school wise but in the real world. We have to deal with doctors screaming at us. I don't know, I suggest you should volunteer at a hospital before making up your mind. Anyhow, good luck......

TinyNurse, RN · Aug 14, 2006

Don't let anyone tell you different, you can go into nursing for whatever reason you want. In the state of Ohio I made darn near close to 30k working from August to December my first year.