MSN, $60-$75K, worth it?

Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN · Jun 23, 2016

Is this 60-70K cash or loans? What are you hoping to actually do with your degree?

In most cases, you'd be better off starting with an ASN or BSN than an MSN.

...and ASN verses BSN really just depends on the market for your location.

peanutfish · Jun 25, 2016

This would be student loans. In my area (DC Metro) there are several options, such as accelerated BSN and 2nd BSN for people who already have a Bachelor's degree. However, it looks like the MSN takes the same amount of time and costs about the same. I'm particularly interested in cardiac care, ICU, or something specialized.

amoLucia · Jun 25, 2016

Caution!!!!

I may be wrong and I will stand corrected but, and this is a REALLY big BUT - I believe that once you've taken out loans for an undergrad degree (or your MBA), you may NO LONGER qualify for certain loans from certain lenders.

PLEASE! Check out your financial options before you get in too deep.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jun 26, 2016

Have you calculated your monthly student loan payment? It would probably be close to $1000/month. Having lived in NOVA, I know how expensive the area is, and even with the CNL degree, you're as new a nurse as an ADN grad from any community college. I don't think the benefits would outweigh the burden of those loans. I am also in my 40s, and I didn't become a nurse until I was 36. I did an ADN, then BSN, then MSN. Total loans were $9K. The rest was out of pocket, employer tuition reimbursement, then Army tuition assistance. I am thrilled to have reached this point with so little student loan debt. I would definitely think long and hard before committing to that amount, because you'd be paying that back for a huge chunk of the remainder of your career.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Jun 26, 2016

This is not a question for nurses. This is a question for your academic advisor.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Jun 26, 2016

This is not a question for nurses. This is a question for your academic advisor.

But I would caution against academic advisors for SOLEY making a decision; many also love to steer students in decisions that reap more money for the school-in my experience.

Once I dropped seeing an advisor; I SAVED money and put me in the best track I needed for my success.

oldsockventriloquist · Jun 26, 2016

Caution!!!!
I may be wrong and I will stand corrected but, and this is a REALLY big BUT - I believe that once you've taken out loans for an undergrad degree (or your MBA), you may NO LONGER qualify for certain loans from certain lenders.
PLEASE! Check out your financial options before you get in too deep.

This brings up a great point! I know you mentioned certain lenders, but this is especially applicable to federal aid. You can find more information on federal aid for graduate loans here: Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans | Federal Student Aid .

This is not a question for nurses. This is a question for your academic advisor.

So, you might get some good advice from an academic advisor, assuming they are familiar nursing and nursing school. But, academic advisors I'd imagine would be more fit to ask admissions or school questions to, then for questions about job outlook and financial aid. Even financial aid counselors might have limited or sometimes wrong information about graduate financial aid, including private and public loans, especially since they do not directly deal with private lenders. You need to initially gather as much as information as you can on your own to see if it's worth it. Remember it's better to double check everything than to rely on a counselor that could give you wrong information.

This means first calling up hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, etc. in your area and speaking with HR or some other party that does the hiring, to see what the average starting salary is for new grads (not just average starting salary). Ask how your pay would change with a master's degree vs. getting an ADN or a BSN. I'd also look this information up online to see what you can make to start off and 5-10 years down the road (I believe Glassdoor posts salaries, for example). Then, I'd call up financial aid at your school and at studentaid.ed.gov (they have contact information somewhere on the website) and see what you could qualify for. I'd also call up a few private lenders and see what interest rates they will give you for fixed and adjustable rates and the minimum and maximum times you have to pay them back.

Once, you know the interest rates and calculate how much you will paying each month with your typical starting salary, see if you'll have enough money left over for food, rent (look up the typical apartment rent in your city, if you do not know that), utilities, and everything else, plus an emergency fund, in case you no longer have a job for whatever reason. If you do not have enough money for these things or you'll have to work 2 or 3 jobs to break-even, I'd say pursuing an MSN would be a terrible decision. And I'd also compare with how much time it would take to pay back ADN and BSN loans. Next, I'd see if employers in your area (again by calling them up) hire RNs with ADNs. That answer should tell you if getting an ADN is an option. Finally, I'd call the program and see how many graduates are currently employed and where they are employed. No matter what answer is given, I'd also look up graduates on Linkedin. If none of the graduates are employed in a hospital unit, even five years after graduating, that should be hint that you should look elsewhere for your degree.

mrsboots87 · Jun 26, 2016

Also consider that in nursing world having an MSN is not always seen as a higher degree then a BSN as far as new grad hiring for floor nursing. This is usually true for many facilities that want a BSN as an entry level for hiring a new grad. And any of the other areas of nursing that require an MSN degree will also require nursing experience.

This will not be true for all facilities. So, before you pay all that money for the degree, contact various facilities you are interested in working for and verify that they accept an entry level masters over a BSN.

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Jun 26, 2016

Are there direct entry CNL programs? Wow, ok. My impression was that Clinical Nurse Leaders would have some kind of substantial nursing experience. I know they have some NP programs that kind of shuttle you through quickly. Like send you through a pretty standard BSN program then have you work bedside while you finish your NP clinical training. But there are mixed feelings about try those kinds of programs due to some people's beliefs that NPs should have some "trench time".

ThatBigGuy · Jun 26, 2016

The general rule of thumb is to not take out more student loans than you can reasonably expect to earn in your first year of work. I would be fine with a $75k bill for an MSN-CNL for someone younger. You'll have to take a long look at taking on that much debt in your 40's.

The average student loan is paid off in 20 years. If you're 45 now, and you earn your degree in three years, you'll be nearly 70 years old when you pay off the loan.

You may want to look into completing a cheaper ADN program, then take a couple years to develop experience and enroll in a tuition reimbursement program that will carry you through to your MSN. You could pay off your ADN quickly, have your MSN by your early 50's, and not have a student loan debt hanging over your head well into your golden years.

In short, the amount of money doesn't seem to be a problem, but your age might, as you simply have less time to pay on a student loan than a twenty-something.

brillohead, ADN, RN · Jun 26, 2016

I graduated with my ASN at 44yo. I'll be getting my BSN online in a couple years (I'm 47yo now and just took a new hospital position after doing private duty nursing for a few years).

I'm a little confused about what type of work you're wanting to do, so I can't really give advice until I understand that.

Do you want to work with patients at the bedside, do you want to work as a nurse practitioner (either bedside/hospitalist or office setting?), or do you want to work as a nurse educator (either teaching existing nurses within a hospital setting or teaching nursing students in a secondary education facility?)?

If you want to actually work with patients at the bedside in a hospital setting, I'd go the ASN-to-BSN route like I am. Get the ASN, get a job at the bedside to make sure you like the work, then do the RN-to-BSN route with tuition assistance from your employer.

If you want to be a nurse educator without ever actually touching a patient (aside from clinicals in school), I'd think twice and thrice. I'd have a really hard time as a student taking a nursing class from someone who never worked in the trenches as a nurse themselves.