flrn18

I am currently an RN in Jacksonville, FL. My husband and I are looking into the possibilities of moving to California in the next year or two. We love the weather there (not as humid as FL!!!) ,and we love the surroundings and countless number of things to do/see. We are desperately looking for a new place to live and Cali seems like a good choice for us. We are looking around Orange County down to San Diego. Right now in FL, we own our own house and purchased it under $200K. I have found homes in Orange county listed from $500K and up. I am wondering it is even possible for a nurse to affordably purchase a home in CA without going broke?!?!? Also, how are the hourly pay rates? I currently make $19.25 plus shift diff. Is it significantly more in California? I really need a lot of advice!!! We love California and would love to make it our next home, but we just do not want to go bankrupt!!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

I went through the same dilema you are going through. I decided to go to FCCJ and receive my ADN. In Jax, there is no difference in pay between an RN-ADN and RN-BSN. I work at Memorial Hospital and we get a lot of FCCJ and UNF students. The UNF students tend to gripe about the amount of "useless" paperwork and projects that they have to do. I came to the conclusion that I would rather just get my ADN, start working, and have my employer pay for the rest of my education. As far as I know, all hospitals in Jax have tuition reimbursement if you decide to go back for your BSN. UNF and UF at Shands both have good, flexible RN-BSN programs. Good luck!