Low Salary @ the VA as NP

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I would like some advice. I have been a NP for 3.5 years now and RN since 2011. I received a job offer from he VA at less than <95-100k annual. Non-negotiable. I am currently, working the job and I'm honestly not happy about the hoops to go through to increase to the next grade. And my salary took a hit because I mainly was employed via locums.

I am under 35 years of age, single with no child. I have so much financial responsibilities/debt. It's to the point where I may have to find a 2nd job, which is frustrating me.

Can anyone tell me if the VA is worth it long-term. I mean I have my own IRA and personal savings. What I make in 2 weeks I made in 1 week doing locums. Everyone keeps telling me its great long-term, but I really need the "NOW".

Any advise would help.

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I left my super low pay government NP job after everything fell into place for me to do so. There was a lot to consider, and I am much older than you. The state health insurance, especially the family plan, is definitely cheaper. However, I am old enough I was able to "retire" and take mine with me. You also can also build up sick time with the government, which private employers generally do not allow. Meaning if you ever have to have surgery or have some medical serious issue, you'll still get your full check for a long time. Also, with a government job, you get a couple of random Mondays off in the middle of winter that private employees don't get.

People were quite surprised when I announced I was leaving. Almost nobody leaves a state job, however I was offered a position in the private sector paying twice as much. I crunched the numbers and staying made no sense.

My suggestion is to look around at other positions and do some heavy number crunching. Keep in mind, too, if you earn substantially more, you should be saving quite a bit of it.

It has been almost 3 years and I have been very happy with my decision. Don't miss having President's day off, not at all.

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I am glad I saw this topic, I hope you can get some more responses/info as I currently work for the VA system as a floor nurse and I am considering going the NP route. When I saw a job posting that had a starting salary for NP in the 60k range, I felt that couldn't be correct, but people told me it probably was correct which led me to question if it was worth it to get my NP if I plan to stay at the VA, or if I should get the NP and plan to leave the VA.

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22 minutes ago, Aliens05 said:

I am glad I saw this topic, I hope you can get some more responses/info as I currently work for the VA system as a floor nurse and I am considering going the NP route. When I saw a job posting that had a starting salary for NP in the 60k range, I felt that couldn't be correct, but people told me it probably was correct which led me to question if it was worth it to get my NP if I plan to stay at the VA, or if I should get the NP and plan to leave the VA.

There's layers of "correct". That 60k may be result of NPs falling under the nursing pay system. Odds are the pay would be higher especially if not currently a VA employee. Now on your situation, it may or may not be worth it to you if you plan on staying VA. You probably are aware how much of a pita getting a grade bump is. So even if you have your np, there's no guarantee. When I worked VA before finishing np school, I was a nurse 1. Was told maybe I would go up to nurse 2, but my boss wasn't sure if even that would happen. Fortuitously, the head of primary care had no interest in NPs given their access to doctors at u of m. I moved on to private and a $30k pay bump.

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My government job maxed out at 90k for NPs. They couldn't attract people, so they did some fancy footwork and got a 20k geographic differential, but it isn't permanent. It has to be voted in every year. It is also not part of the salary to determine retirement benefits.

If I loved working there, I might still be there, but the politics were so dirty I handed in my papers the day I turned 55.

I will say it was a great learning experience, and that is where I met the physician who hired me for this position

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I looked at pay for LA and not only are NP jobs insanely low, but I make more as an NP than their starting physicians do! Sorry, but you're not going to attract talent that way. It's crazy, and a bummer--I would like that population.

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Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).

The VA offers location differential pay, so an NP in Los Angeles is going to make more money than an NP in Houston. I don't know where you are getting your information. The VA publishes public pay scales. In San Diego, an NP will make between $92,000 and $162,000 per year. That is competitive with the private sector. The VA offers much better benefits than most private sector jobs.

Here is a link to the payscale by state and city. These are Title 38 jobs

https://www.va.gov/ohrm/pay/

15 minutes ago, Pachinko said:

I looked at pay for LA and not only are NP jobs insanely low, but I make more as an NP than their starting physicians do! Sorry, but you're not going to attract talent that way. It's crazy, and a bummer--I would like that population.

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Specializes in acute care, ICU, surgery, vasc.surgery,trauma.

As they say,every VA is different. My particular VA pays poorly, at the lower end of the scale. I have noticed that you can make more these days if you come in from outside as an NP, not just transfer from a RN position to an NP position. Not every VA has location pay, either. Ours does for PAs but not for NPs, because we are title 38 employees and paid on the nursing scale. I do love working with the vets so it all works out for me, but a better salary would be nice.

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Thanks to everyone who answered. I already know at two other jobs I would straight off the back would make 107-112k. I actually turned them down b/c.. people kept telling me "how great the VA was/is". I am not worried about health insurance (Reserves). I had a setback due to several family emergencies and I had to help out financially. Also, the PA that they hired makes ~110k and we have the same years of experience. Plus, I have the certification for my specialty.

I've decided I am not staying long-term and when I have more stability in my finance I will be leaving. I do love locums and traveling.. I feel the VA is a job for someone who is more "settled" than I am. I love the Vets though!

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On 4/28/2019 at 9:09 AM, BermudaTriangle said:

I would like some advice. I have been a NP for 3.5 years now and RN since 2011. I received a job offer from he VA at less than <95-100k annual. Non-negotiable. I am currently, working the job and I'm honestly not happy about the hoops to go through to increase to the next grade. And my salary took a hit because I mainly was employed via locums.

I am under 35 years of age, single with no child. I have so much financial responsibilities/debt. It's to the point where I may have to find a 2nd job, which is frustrating me.

Can anyone tell me if the VA is worth it long-term. I mean I have my own IRA and personal savings. What I make in 2 weeks I made in 1 week doing locums. Everyone keeps telling me its great long-term, but I really need the "NOW".

Any advise would help.

That's the government for you. I would stay for the benefits, rarely is a person laid off or fired from a government job.

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Specializes in Outpatient Specialty Clinics.

I have been a federal employee since I first became a nurse. I currently work for the VA. I can say from experience that the benefits of being a federal employee far outweigh the lower pay. And the government routinely makes "cost of living" increases to match the private sector, along with mandatory salary increases every other year, it's really not that much lower pay.

The benefits:

1.) Some of the best employee healthcare coverage available anywhere through Federal BC/BS.

2.) TSP (government retirement account similar to 401K, but with much better payout and matching), the ability to retire early after 50 years old or after 20 years of service or full retirement at 62 years old with at least 5 years of service (of course the longer you work, the higher percentage of lifetime payout) into a great pension program that you automatically get when you retire that is fully funded by the government.

3.) FEGLI, which is a government funded life insurance plan that you automatically get, and it's a good one.

4.) Of course the stable job security and peace of mind knowing that they can't just "let you go" when you get old so they don't have to pay for your retirement. It's a union job, so it's nice they can back you up if you ever need it.

5.) I have also found that we have some of the best providers of anywhere because the experienced providers from the private sector get tired of running that rat race eventually and want to become government employees due to dealing with profit margins and insurances.

6.) And that leads to the best part IMHO: is it's healthcare that is not profit driven. The care you are able to provide is really limitless as long as it is justifiable, and you don't have someone telling you that you can't provide the best options of care due to cost. It's rewarding to know you can leave work everyday knowing that you have helped people get the care they deserve because they need it.

Just food for thought!

Good luck in your job search.

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Specializes in Outpatient Specialty Clinics.
24 minutes ago, Knight2Nurse said:

I have been a federal employee since I first became a nurse. I currently work for the VA. I can say from experience that the benefits of being a federal employee far outweigh the lower pay. And the government routinely makes "cost of living" increases to match the private sector, along with mandatory salary increases every other year, it's really not that much lower pay.

The benefits:

1.) Some of the best employee healthcare coverage available anywhere through Federal BC/BS.

2.) TSP (government retirement account similar to 401K, but with much better payout and matching), the ability to retire early after 50 years old or after 20 years of service or full retirement at 62 years old with at least 5 years of service (of course the longer you work, the higher percentage of lifetime payout) into a great pension program that you automatically get when you retire that is fully funded by the government.

3.) FEGLI, which is a government funded life insurance plan that you automatically get, and it's a good one.

4.) Of course the stable job security and peace of mind knowing that they can't just "let you go" when you get old so they don't have to pay for your retirement. It's a union job, so it's nice they can back you up if you ever need it.

5.) I have also found that we have some of the best providers of anywhere because the experienced providers from the private sector get tired of running that rat race eventually and want to become government employees due to dealing with profit margins and insurances.

6.) And that leads to the best part IMHO: is it's healthcare that is not profit driven. The care you are able to provide is really limitless as long as it is justifiable, and you don't have someone telling you that you can't provide the best options of care due to cost. It's rewarding to know you can leave work everyday knowing that you have helped people get the care they deserve because they need it.

Just food for thought!

Good luck in your job search.

And how could I forget:

We get off or paid double time for ALL federal holidays (and there are a lot of them!) along with accruing lots of paid time off: 5 full weeks of vacation time and 2 and a half weeks of sick time every year!

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