how old were you when you realized you weren't going to make real money as a nurse

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Laid off pilot use to make 12K a month, sitting in nursing school. That's when

Am an RN with 33 years experience, married to a retired airline pilot, with 38 years in that profession..... maybe I can lend some light to this discussion. My husband retired after 38 years with Hawaiian Airlines (as the number one on the "list") and at that time he made about 12K a year. He retired just before the age limit was raised to 65, but he wasn't going to stay longer anyway. So to the OP: you say you were laid off as a pilot and making 12K a year, wow! who laid you off and that airline must be in real trouble because you had to be fairly high on their seniority list? That being said, it sucks to go on furlough, which most pilots have at least once in their career.

To others: it's very hard to go and just get another flying job....you can't just go to another airline who might be hiring.....even with all your thousands of hours of experience, you will still go to the bottom of THEIR list and you'll be making peanuts AND be the first one furloughed....again.

To all of those who think a flying career is so romantic: it's not always. We have been blessed to see some of the most fantastic places in the world, but we don't fly free, unless it's on our own airline....so if someone works for American or United, you can go "free" to more places, but if you fly for another carrier that doesn't have so many destinations, you will pay....and of course, it's always standby, and there's a dress code and you can get on the plane and then yet taken off again before it even leaves the gate.

Nursing and aviation couple are numerous, however...it seems to work.

And to answer the original question: I started nursing school in 1974. I needed to support myself and two kids.....I knew I could do that as a nurse....my spouse (now the ex) was a loser/abuser. When I got out of nursing school in 1976, my starting salary was $5.84 an hour.....now 33 year laters I am pushing $50 an hour as a perdiem nurse. I do not work fulltime, but probably could if I needed to or chose to.

I am the other half of one of those nursing and aviation couples :)

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I didn't realize I was underpaid. After pre-reqs, took a 14-month accelerated program. Make almost $80,000 a year averaging a 43 hour week (RN for less than 3 years). Nurses are very well-paid given the basic level of education provided. Also helps to work in a unit where call pay and overtime are more plentiful. Just because we are "serving profession" doesn't mean we have to accept poor pay. But then again, I don't feel underpaid for what I do. Some days I certainly "earn my money" more than others - but overall, not a bad gig as I sit home on a Thursday, in my underwear, mid-day, typing this. Beats working a "real job."

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Specializes in SICU, MICU, Med/Surg, ER, Private Duty.
I've been reading about wages on this site for months, and wonder where do you people work. NO NURSE in the hospital where I work makes $45 dollars an hour unless it's overtime, and then it would be a stretch. New grads make less than $20 for M/S.

I guess it's possible I'm out of the salary loop and uniformed as we never discuss our wages at work. But I don't think so. The next time someone posts a wage, could you also include your part of the country, specialty, and years of experience?

I am not complaining. I make a nice living in the area where I live.

Thanks. Just curious.

:)

I live in the new york area, yes.. nurses make that much an hour, without overtime. But ofcourse it depends on how long you've been working. I've been working 8 years...

and new grads starting salary where I work is about $75000...without overtime, without specialty

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

I'm in it for the monopoly money.

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Specializes in new to NICU.

Why are so many people being so critical of the OP? He knows the pays isn't what he was used to making but he's in nursing school anyway. Is he not "good enough" to be a nurse because he has done some research on nursing pay?

Sheesh!

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Specializes in NICU.

I think it's their tone. It's one thing to say 'I used to make more but now I'll make less'. The title of his post, however, announces that they are making a broad generalization that we are all either:

a) piddling little underlings that don't know the real value of a dollar

b) doing work that isn't worth his/her time because it doesn't meet their pay requirements.

Now to be honest, I couldn't care less why someone goes into nursing. As long as they are competent, reliable, and can maintain a professional working relationship with me, I really don't care what brought them there in the first place. That being said, I wouldn't like working with someone who's attitude screams to me 'you idiot, you were duped!! Didn't you know you could make more money somewhere else?!'. Of course I know that, but I made my choices for whatever reason I made them, just as they made theirs. If they think the money stinks, fine, but I don't want to hear them moan about it all day long. That would get really old, really fast.

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You will not be making this money right out of nursing school though.

Sure you can. I work in a high income area with a high cost of living (not Cali) and started at $35 with a night and weekend differential. I made great money right from the start. It's still not enough for what we do but a high starting salary depending on where you live absolutely does happen.

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I worked in social services. 2 degrees along with being bilingual will get you $13/hr to start (assuming you can even find a job). So yeah, I feel pretty fortunate to be a nurse.

Good post. Grossly underpaid. I put teachers on the list as well.

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Specializes in ED, Cardiac Medicine, Retail Health.
How do you make $100,000 as a nurse? I have known nurses in management with several degrees & they don't make this much.

Have they done a lot of extra study?

I made $94,000 my first year as a nurse. Yes I worked a lot of overtime, and was generally a miserable SOB, but I did make almost $100,000. As a nurse with 3 years of experience I made $70,000 last year without working overtime. Now, I do live in a high cost area so my hourly wage may be higher than many nurses who live in "low cost of living areas". In my neck of the woods nurses with 10 years of experience make $43.00/hr without diff. Add on the diff and they make close to or over $100,000. So, it can be done in certain areas of the country.

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Another nurse/pilot couple here. I'm a NP and my husband makes about 3x what I make. He also works less hours than I do!:mad:

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Actually, the money is better than it used to be. Everything else, however, is worse.

When I graduated in 1991, my hourly wage was 12.01/h - 18.68 in 2009 dollars.

In 1997, I was making 15.50/hr - 20.63 in 2009 dollars. With more than five years experience, I was still making less than 21 bucks an hour.

Now, this was in Wichita, Kansas, admittedly not a high paying area. But still, that is a very low wage.

However, there was a tradeoff to the low pay. Everyone was guarenteed a job, even before you were licensed. In the time between graduation and being licensed you were known as a GN - graduate nurse. You could only take boards twice a year and it involved a drive to the state capitol and a two-day test. It took around six weeks to get results. Anyway, GNs were snapped up by hospitals. We were cheap and compliant, and while we ostensibly got a 6 week orientation, in reality I was pretty much on my own after two weeks.

There was no difference in ASN and BS nurses. No one cared, as long as you were licensed.

There was a lot more respect, by both administration and the public. And hours were much more flexible. Yeah, you had to work your weekends and holidays, but 8 hour shifts were the default. You could work 12s, but you had to have a partner to work the other 12 hour shift. If you worked PRN, you could pick 4, 8 or 12 hour shifts - very important for those who wanted to work around their husbands' hours.

Back to the respect issue. We always had a unit clerk, even on weekends, even on night. Our time was considered too specialized and valuable to spend answering phones and entering orders. We had a transportation team and a hospitality team (to pass ice and fluff pillows). And, if we had a busy shift, it was understood some things were just not going to get done. And most importantly, patient care was paramount. If you had referred to them as customers someone would have taken you aside and educated you about how you are demeaning the patient, who was here for healing. A customer is someone who orders a #3 to go.

Anyway, I knew before I started the pay would be low. But the tradeoff was worth it. Now...not so much.

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I am pretty happy with the pay I make, but I think as professionals we should be paid more. Considering we have so much responsibility, life and death really. It makes me quite mad when I pay the plumber much more an hour than I make . Then, to have to treat patients and THEIR FAMILIES like guests at the Four Seasons....that IRKS me. :devil:

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