Is self suffiency a good enough reason to attend nursing school?

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This was a question of a friend. If her husband list his job tomorrow, she would not be able to support them in her current job. She is wondering if thats enough. I told her that your darn right it is. You can always bet on the unexpected and pretending or holding out otherwise is foolish. Her and her spouse are not fonancially sound and a tip of the scale could financially devastate them because of it. There is a pride in being able to save the day and the flexibility if nursing can do that. Hope she listens..

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I would say yes and no. Does she want to be a nurse? Can she afford the time and money to get the degree? Is she of the type of constitution that can handle the stress that modern nursing is, combined with the gross-factor we deal with and the emotional factor of death, dying, ailing families and frequent ethical distress? There are a lot of things that your friend can do to make them more financially secure. Nursing is a good option, but only if she has it in her to actually do it. Not everyone does.

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There are many different ways to become financially sound. And like not.done said, there is a significant investment to becoming a nurse, particularly if one has to take student loans. Imagine if she did that and then discovered she hated the job. She would be wise to consider the future and account for hardships, but that doesn't mean she should become a nurse.

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She has prepared and took all the pre reqs and was accepted to nursing school for j1 and j2. She has the opportunity to have little to no loans through scholarships, aid and tuition waiver (contract) through work. She will be committed to work at least 30 hours a week while attending school. She has worked so hard for the opportunity.. but she feels her motivation (financial stability) may not be enough to complete what she started...

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She has prepared and took all the pre reqs and was accepted to nursing school for j1 and j2. She has the opportunity to have little to no loans through scholarships, aid and tuition waiver (contract) through work. She will be committed to work at least 30 hours a week while attending school. She has worked so hard for the opportunity.. but she feels her motivation (financial stability) may not be enough to complete what she started...

Wow, that sounds like a pretty sweet opportunity. I wonder if there is another reason behind her ambivalence?

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I don't think that's enough to be the sole reason to go into nursing (or any job) because there are many other professions you can get into that will also help with financial stability. There should be some level of desire to be a nurse outside of the pay. I don't think someone will be happy in the job if they don't enjoy some aspect or find something out of it, and we spend too much time at work to purposely go into a career one isn't going to like or enjoy.

I mean, I could go into accounting and probably find some type of financial stability too, but I'd be bored out of my mind and having to do math all day. It wouldn't be worth continuing on in an accounting degree, even if I had already started it.

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There are many jobs that offer financial stability. There are many careers that will make someone miserable. If she truely wants to be a nurse (as in, would like to do the job for many years to come) then she should go for it with the opportunity she has right now.

However, school can be a major stressor on relationships and family. So can the job. The hours are not usually ideal either. There's stability in some areas, not so much in others. What's the new grad market where she's at and would she be able to relocate if it's not that great?

Also, financial stability is a relative term. Learning to live within our means and not overspending is the key in many situations. The more we make, the more we spend. I had my LPN when I got married. I made a lot more than my husband. Then he got a great job but it's hard to come by. You have to know people and there has to be an opening. People don't give up the positions until they retire. Well, the company got in some hot water, restructuring was taking place, and I was faced with this question-what would happen if he lost his job tomorrow? Now I didn't have as many opportunities as years before and we had a child. We lived on so much less before but now we had other obligations, a mortgage for double the current value of the property (thanks to the real estate bubble burst) so we couldn't sell it, a car payment, and other loans. I went back for my RN because I realized that if something happened to his job or to him, we were screwed.

Now his job is busy for now but is taking him out of state. It pays more than my RN and pays our healthcare. I now work part time so that someone is here to watch our child when he's at work and am making my student loan payments for the next several years...but I have my RN and am current...because we never know what could happen tomorrow. If I had the knowledge years ago that I have now I would have financially planned things better.

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