Please Help Me!

[mydee]

HI,

I know that this is normally a RN ADN v.s BSN thread area but I needed some help with this one and decided to post it here. Anyways here is my situation my commuinty college just open up a brand new lpn and since the RN is so hard to get into it seemed a little easier to go for LPN then bridge to RN ASN. I had plan on taking Algebra I and Algebra II then college Algebra( I'm @ a community college and my math skills a kind of far behind) also my prereq for LPN to start Jan 09 they are only accepting 36 students my my chances my not be so great. But my husband just accepted a job in the far south side of chicago right next to IN. I found a diploma RN program there in IN it would take about 3 years to finish all I would have to do is transfer in. I would not even try to apply to this program until Jan 09 (once I finsihed all of my math even though Algebra is not a requirement for this program to me I still want to get through college Algebra that way I can go to a RN to BSN program not only that but I will need the math to help my get through nursing school). My goal is to become a RN in the long run both programs will take my a total of 3 years to finish to become a RN. The thing is if I became a LPN first I would have to work and go to nursing school becasue I live in IL the cost of living is very high. If I go stright through the RN program I would not have to work and go to nursing school becasue the cost of living is so much less. If I were a LPN first I would be in a lot less debt then going stright through to the RN program. I just don't know what to do.

Please Help

[deeDawntee, RN]

I tend to believe that if being an RN is your goal that it is best to go for it!

My question to you is how much debt are you talking about? You say you won't have to work while in RN school, but then you will be in more debt, is that because the tuition is so much more? Remember that your salary will be a lot higher with an RN than with an LPN, so unless you are talking about a HUGE amount of debt, you will have the salary to pay off that debt. Also, you may even consider a part time job while you do your RN, if you think you can swing it, to offset some of the debt. Personally, I worked full time nights while I was in nursing school, certainly that totally sucked and I wouldn't recommend it, but perhaps doing some part time work would not put too much strain on your study time and ease some of the financial concerns. Just a thought.

The truth is you have 2 good options here. I'm sure you will make whatever decision you make work.