LiLoRN

Those are all great ideas...but none will work for us. We already operate on the bare minimum, although I suppose everyone has *something* they can cut back on...but not enough. We are a family of 5 so there's no family that would take us in haha, and if I'm working and the husband's working then we need 2 vehicles. My attempt at thinking outside the box is to get loan repayment But thank you!

Hello. I'm a new NP, been working in urgent care for a couple months now. I am drowning in student loan debt. I am really considering moving somewhere that I can get guaranteed loan forgiveness. I've heard that you have to start working in a place, then apply, and you may get turned down. I really don't want to move my whole family unless it's a sure thing. Does anyone know anything about this? I would even move to Alaska. Thanks!

I don't know if this point has been brought up as I just read the "last" page of this thread, but scwolf, my school no longer has just a MSN program so I am in the DNP program. They give us the option of obtaining the MSN along the way, which I am getting in August and will not be returning to complete the DNP. Point being, even though there are few schools that only offer the MSN you can still get it and stop there. I don't think there will be a doctorate mandate any time soon.

Kevin Ross, can you please describe your business? Thanks!

I live in FL and everyone I know who's graduated found a job easily. Look at indeed.com to get a feel for it.

Oh dear! You do realize you posted this in a NP forum, right? And you're a NURSE who's thinking about becoming a (gasp) lowly NP? Yikes. I'm trying hard not to take offense to this post. Maybe some more education on the scope of practice of NP's is in order for you. And I will keep all other comments to myself (biting my tongue so hard it bleeds)

I live in Fl also and have had to work thru hurricanes. Believe me, it's AWFUL. I've been on both teams. It was pretty much one of the worst experiences of my life. Let's see...we had no water and no electricity (sure there was a generator but it didn't allow for a/c) and I was in the ICU with a head trauma pt who was 'waking up' (and you know how crazy they can be) who also happened to have c diff and was having diarrhea all night long....oh did I mention we had no water? That made clean up so much fun. And since there was no a/c (no real circulating air) the smell was wonderful too. Then there's the after team, when u get called in RIGHT after the storm hits, when no sane person should be driving on the road. As in, before they have a chance to clear the trees and downed power lines off the road. I white-knuckled it the whole way there, praying I didn't get electrocuted. So OP I fully understand where you are coming from. And after a season or 2 of that, I made sure to find a nursing job that didn't make me sign up for hurricane team! Believe me, I strongly considered not going in at all but didn't want to deal with trying to find a new job. Now all you haters can come after me and tell me what a horrible nurse I am for not loving my job through that experience. Edited: I should add, this all happened before I had kids. There's no way I would leave them during a hurricane. No. Way. If they could come with me, that's another story. And really, unless you've been thru it, you shouldn't judge.

Sorry, have to play devil's advocate from someone who is 100% pro choice. It's not your place to judge her. Whether you like it or not, people have abortions every day for all sorts of reasons. And the reality of it is, you don't know for a fact that the reason she's aborting is because she wants the pills. You suspect it (and it may be a good suspician) but you don't know about every little facet of this woman's life. It possibly could be deeper than that. That's just my thought. Sorry you had a bad day.

Chuckster, trust me, if those of us who have student loans *could* get by without them we WOULD. Unfortunately, lots of people don't have that kind of disposable income to pay for school. Hence, the $1 trillion debt as you described. But thanks for the advice.

I don't blame you for being angry. If you didn't need a referral it would have been a moot point, you could have just gone to UC. But unfortunately he has the CYA mentality. And yes, I agree that he didn't need to make that comment about your education. BTW, not sure why some people on here are being so snarky to you. Totally not necessary.

Hello! Yep, I had baby #2 my first semester of FNP school and will be having #3 at the end of my 2nd to last semester. I am fortunate in that I am not working (I go to school FT and have accumulated mucho student loans) so I don't know if I would have/could have done it if I was working also. I took a semester off after #2 and will be taking a semester off after #3. If you plan it right and have the baby during/right before a semester that's didactic only (no clinicals) that would be ideal and you wouldn't have to take any time off at all. But you can still charge right through and do clinicals anyway, depending on how quickly you heal after delivery. All of my professors have been so understanding and they all reiterated how many of their students have had children in grad school. So long story short, you can absolutely do it and I don't recommend waiting. Good luck to you!

Hmmmm...free would definately make me think more about it. But if I'm getting a free education, I'd probably enroll in a post-master's program that actually could get me a different job/pay scale....That's an interesting question though and if I ever had that opportunity I would really have to consider it.

1. In your area are the nursing schools transitioning the NP from an MSN to a required DNP? Yes; my school "got rid" of the MSN a couple years ago, requiring everybody to enter as a DNP candidate. However, you receive your MSN along the way and many students (including myself) will stop at that point. 2. If you are an MSN prepared NP are you pursuing or considering pursuing a DNP? If yes, why? At this point in my career, absolutely not. I am swimming in financial aid debt and am looking forward to working as an NP. I just can't fathom paying for more schooling that will not increase my salary or my chances of finding a job. Maybe down the road I will consider it. I will, however, strongly consider getting my post-master's in another specialty.

Under normal circumstances I would say work as a RN first, but since you already know what you want to do and have worked in the field, I would look into direct entry programs and once you get your RN license try to work a couple days a week while you are getting your MSN/DNP. Good luck to you!

Do nurses have a responsibility to keep their fb 'professional'? Does anyone? What people post on their fb pages is THEIR business. Whether or not they keep them public or private is again, their business. I'm so tired of people complaining about what other people post, whether it's what they had for breakfast or how drunk they are or how depressed they are. Some people actually do use fb as a form of a diary. I feel like a broken record when I say, if you don't like what a particular person posts, DELETE THEM or at the very least (if you don't want to hurt their feelings) hide their posts. And what a PP said about how someone 'in the know' can bypass security is kinda ridiculous. Yes, there are ways to get into someone's private fb account. But do you really think that a hospital would spend the time, money, and future liability for blatantly violating privacy to try to access someone's page just to see if they're complaining about the facility or getting drunk on their own time? Now, if the page is already public, that's a whole other story and if a person posts offensive things they are setting themselves up for trouble; but once again, that's their business.