JaneAustenRocks

i am in desperate need of advice and i hope you can help...i will try to be as brief as possible. i've spent all of my adult life as a police officer. during that time i had been slowly attending community college with the plan of attending nursing school after retirement (20 years). eighteen months ago, after 15 years of dedicated service and a spotless disciplinary record, i ****** the wrong guy off, due to my affliction of female intelligence coupled with verbal ability, and was ultimately fired. i lost my salary of 65k, my health insurance, 5 weeks vacation and a huge chunk of my retirement benefits. despite the fact that i hated my job, as a result of the malevolent leadership, rampant nepotism and unchecked politics in the department, i was left completely devastated and without a plan. since then i have focused on recovering emotionally and am now trying to develop a new career path. i have spoke with some nurses; i have been reading the boards and have read some books on nursing careers. under the old plan, with a full retirement to count on, money was never an issue. but now there is a gaping whole in my financial plan and the one area i feel completely uninformed about is the salary, benefits & career outlook for nursing in illinois, which is where i hope you may help. my plan is to finish my degree (bsn) after which i will want full-time position with benefits. after i graduate i will have 50k in student loans and 30k in credit card debt, so i need to have the best idea possible as to what my chances are for full time employment w/benefits and what i may reasonably expect to make a year. i have heard that hospitals aren't or don't want to hire full-timers to cut costs by not paying benefits. but i keep reading about the boomers who will be flooding the health care system and the great job outlook. i don't know what to believe. to the girls (and guys too!) in the trenches... what do you think? in addition to any opinions and/or experiences you would care to share, would you please give me some hard numbers as to salaries, in different environments, with general suburb locations? another question that comes to mind: do rn's w/a bsn make more $$$ then rn's w/an adn? thank you in advance for any and all information you would like to share. kate p.s. three things i've learned- bad things happen to good people everyday; it was just my day! everything happens for a reason! i am exactly were i am suppose to be! "life turns on a dime! i wonder what tomorrow is going to bring?!"