I'm a recent military retiree, working as a PCT (cna) hourly rate $9.25 with $1.15 night diff + 20% for no benefits, I'm making close to $12 an hour. According to the LPN's on my Cardiac care floor, they only make around $11 an hour, with nurse externs making close to $12 an hour.
My question, is it even worth the hassle of going to school for a long year, to have a very stressful job and only make $11 to $14 an hour? I mean the county starts the street sweepers for that kind of money here in TN. There are easier ways to make low wages, no??
I have 3 years of college money left to spend and I'm slated to start LPN school in the fall, RN school would be for next year anyway due to pre-req, etc. Plus if I graduate LPN and don't like nursing or the low pay, I've only wasted a year of life.
Any thoughts on the issue of pay versus stress and/or bang for the buck of working in health care??
Tony
(retired military)
p.s. If you had 3 years of college money to spend, what would you do with it??
You can look at it this way: it isn't a "long" year, it's just a year. The year will come and go before you know it and you may as well do something with it.
This is my quote of the day! Thank you! I have questioned myself about "if I can make it" in LPN school due to non-academic reasons (aka broke as hell and miss my babies!) and when I read this, in a totally unrelated-to-my-issues thread like this... it made total sense to me.
Its only a year. Lets make sure we're somewhere closer to our ideal position in life next year than we are today.
My LPN year was going smooth, I was even enjoying it, until 2nd semester I started hitting serious money problems. If my family didn't pull through for me when they did, I would've probably quit to start working full time again, rather than let my credit go to hell and finish the last few months of the school year living in my car!
Uhhh, what do you mean validate? She worked the hours, so she got paid for them, having the baylor shift is what helped her out alot.
Where was this salary earned?
I have never heard of any healthcare facility offering some of the benefits being claimed. Even those in the larger cities.
There are so many urban legends in nursing when it comes to pay rates. I had a CNA try to tell me the other day the hospital (MTMC in Murfreesboro, TN) was paying over $15/to get ice and change bedsheets and you didn't even have to have a license, and on top of that they get a dollar raise per hour every month.
If that is the case why go to nursing school at all, because new grad RN's only start out at a little over $19/hr at that same hospital and I know for a fact they don't get a dollar raise every month.
Pretty soon the people changing bedsheets and getting ice will be making more than the RN's!
I received my acceptance letter in the mail today, I have orientation for school in 3 weeks and classes start Sept 2nd, I have to reserve my spot in class by the 18th of July with a phone call to say that I still want the slot.
To be honest, I'm struggling with the decision. There are a whole lot of jobs out there that pay way better or at least as much as an LPN here and are nearly as stressful.
If I don't go to LPN this year, I can go take my BSN for second degree holders at ETSU next year and graduate with a better degree, I'll just be in neutral until next year though.
I have to say that having an LPN is excellent leverage when it comes to experience. I don't know how many countless times I've heard people ask how they are to get jobs when all of them require some form of experience. In the long run, having as much education behind you as you can is pretty smart, LPN or not.
I have quite a bit of respect for those who have worked their way up from CNA to RN, not to disparage those who haven't WHATSOEVER, by the way. Considering I have no education at all.
But it seems to me that going through the year of school is part of character building, gives you one more strength to fall back on on your way to RN, and the stability of having a nursing education with the way our economy is right now, helps exponentially while you're in school to get your RN.
We have very limited options much like you do where you live Tony. My family is from outside of Asheville, N.C. which isn't terribly far from you. I live in rural Pa, and had I not chosen to do LPN first, I would be stuck with only one program, 50 miles away, with a 4 year ADN (part-time) that may or may not have 15 slots open that take years to get accepted into.
Or an adult learner BSN that would take me an extra 2 years to complete because of the adult learner status.
As a result of me choosing to do a 1 year LPN, I can now go to the same college that offers adult learning, for 2 years, no wait, for LPN to RN.
Your situation is pretty unique in that you have VA benefits to use at your discretion. It seems elementary that you would go back and get a BSN since you already have a degree now. I believe though, that you may very well have to take some classes over again.
Whatever you do, it's great that you have the VA helping you out. If you served after 9/11, I know my brother was really excited about a bill that just passed that will give veterans a ton of extra education benefits if they served at least 36 months after 9/11.
Not sure if it's in addition to GI Bill or in lieu of though.
I've noticed that many pof my classmates have unrealistic expectations of how much they'll make once they graduate. They fail to differentiate between starting paying and whatever someone ones mum/tia/cousin whatever is making.
I have never heard of any healthcare facility offering some of the benefits being claimed. Even those in the larger cities.
There are so many urban legends in nursing when it comes to pay rates. I had a CNA try to tell me the other day the hospital (MTMC in Murfreesboro, TN) was paying over $15/to get ice and change bedsheets and you didn't even have to have a license, and on top of that they get a dollar raise per hour every month.
If that is the case why go to nursing school at all, because new grad RN's only start out at a little over $19/hr at that same hospital and I know for a fact they don't get a dollar raise every month.
Pretty soon the people changing bedsheets and getting ice will be making more than the RN's!
I know a camp fire story when I hear one.
You need to leave TN, im in sc and new RN's start around $28 an hour and new LPN's start around $22 an hour, my cousin has been an lpn for for 7 years and she is paid what she works for, she makes that much because she has 2 jobs and there are no rules stating that nurses can only have one job and live off of that one salary.....i dont know what other way to put it... What may be a campfire story in TN it is a reality in SC....Im sorry that you live in a state that dont pay as much.
You need to leave TN, im in sc and new RN's start around $28 an hour and new LPN's start around $22 an hour, my cousin has been an lpn for for 7 years and she is paid what she works for, she makes that much because she has 2 jobs and there are no rules stating that nurses can only have one job and live off of that one salary.....i dont know what other way to put it... What may be a campfire story in TN it is a reality in SC....Im sorry that you live in a state that dont pay as much.
wow, what part of SC? I'm in SC (w/in an hour of Florence/Conway/Georgetown/Myrtle Beach) and have been kicking myself for going LPN instead of straight RN because of the mentality of LPN = "low paid nurse". She works at a nursing home?
It would make my day... no my year to make more than $15 an hour (considering I was capable of making $13 p/hr in my prev field)
I know that I originally got excited about nursing when I took an unlicensed home health position on the weekends to supplement my income.
I thought I was going to have to grit my teeth and pray the whole time, because I figured I'd be pretty squeamish.
But, I didn't mind at all. I actually loved it, and realized that nursing was where I needed to be.
I looked at LPN jobs because I wanted to get school over with quickly as I have 2 kids and no family or anyone to help me out. LPN's got paid around 16-18.00/hr to start after graduation in the DFW area closer to the city, and I was shocked.
So, they really CAN make good money. I now live in Pa. and they start at about 12.00/hr which is really really disturbing and angers me to no end. My point is that LPN pay rates can vary pretty widely depending on lots of factors to include location. But,
lol @ a dollar pay raise PER MONTH as an unlicensed CNA. Even in DFW they started at about 8.00 per hour.
wow, what part of SC? I'm in SC (w/in an hour of Florence/Conway/Georgetown/Myrtle Beach) and have been kicking myself for going LPN instead of straight RN because of the mentality of LPN = "low paid nurse". She works at a nursing home?
It would make my day... no my year to make more than $15 an hour (considering I was capable of making $13 p/hr in my prev field)
Yeah, she works at a nursing home in columbia. Do you work in a hospital? Did you go to HGTC?
missjennmb
932 Posts
This is my quote of the day! Thank you! I have questioned myself about "if I can make it" in LPN school due to non-academic reasons (aka broke as hell and miss my babies!) and when I read this, in a totally unrelated-to-my-issues thread like this... it made total sense to me.
Its only a year. Lets make sure we're somewhere closer to our ideal position in life next year than we are today.