I posted this in general nursing a month or so ago and got no feedback so I thought going more local would help.
So my story is that I'm a 29yr old male, married, homeowner, 2 dogs and no kids yet, now for the last 18months or so I've had my heart set of nursing school and had been slowly working on the prereq's to even apply for school, 3 almost down and 3 more to go. I was passionate about it and happy that finally I could pursue a career that I wanted to do and not that boring office job that I needed to pay the bills. My passion for nursing gradually faded and finally about 2 months ago I was presented the opportunity to apply for a skilled trade apprenticeship job, now I never did get a callback on it, but it got me thinking. I like the trades, I like working with my hands and I'm good at it, but never considered a career in it until now.
Now this is where you put yourself in my shoes. I still want to be a nurse, the job itself focuses on many of my values mind the shift work, but the road to get there is the concern. My wife and I have a mortgage, a house that we keep dumping money into and a large $30,000 line of credit debt mostly from our home that we are slowly trying to pick away at. Financially for us to afford me in school we would need to take on 2 roomates, we have 1 now and its working great, but another one not sure, and I would have to work a part-time job. That would put us in the green, but tuition would need to be borrowed:cry: adding to our debt. After that comes the fact that I hate school, I'm not an acedemic and that can already been seen in that I hate doing my prereq courses, sure I'm doing great in them (mid 80's), but its a chore for me to do. Reading is something I have little interest in too and the idea of sitting through hours of lectures bores me. The thought of school stresses me out sometimes too. Lastly is the fact that we would like to have kids in a couple years, but we don't want to have to wait 5yrs until we can, I'll be 35 by then and all my friends are having or have kids.
Forgot to mention that I likely won't be able to have the time nor the money to keep with my love of mountain biking, that is a big bummer too.
In general I'm concerned that life will be hell, money will be a constant stress, no chance for a vacation or newer car or anything thats not a neccessity and unexpected expenses are going to hurt ( 2 dogs means lots of vet bills, $1500 surgery 2 weeks ago), with a part-time job and full time school I don't see there being any freetime and I worry about my marriage in the long run too. Not having the chance to start a family is a concern too and just the overall feeling that life is on hold until school is done it going to be a burden. So when I think of all that the idea of getting into the skilled trades seems like a much more attractive idea, now I realize going into that field will be no easy task, pay cuts and starting at the bottom is a concern, but its doable. My goal is just to have a job that is a challenge and keeps me out of an office environment.
This morning I had an interview with Kingston General's volunteer auxillary, it was something I had booked weeks in advance and it was to help me decide if nursing was what I wanted for not. Walking to the hospital seeing all the Queen's students made me uncomfortable, the thought of going to school with these people was not appealing to me, then in the hospital I again felt uncomfortable and out of place. The interview went fine, but I was realizing that this is not something I want to do anymore.
Someone mentioned if you are passionate about it you will suceed, well the passion just isn't there for me anymore now that reality has set in.
I should mention something else here, ever since I decided to pursue nursing in June 2008 after deciding I needed to get out of my job that was sucking the life out of me life has been very stressfull. We went through so much uncertainty, first I wanted to apply for Sept 2009 but realized that was too early, we decided to move to Toronto so my wife could pursue more career options in a bigger city, tried to sell the house which never sold after 1 year, dumped money into renos to make the house sellable, still never sold, discovered selling the house would leave us with $10,000+ in mortgage penalties. I lived with constant stress and anxiety thinking am I going to get into school? are we moving or are we staying? could I stand living in Toronto? how can we afford it? what if I don't get into school? what will I do? how can we handle this debt while in school? can we handle the mortgage penalty? so many questions. Living like that for me was horrible and I know my wife was not happy with that either since it was all about my ambitions. I really just want to get far away from that kind of living and school will just extend that stress and anxiety for 4 more years. I realize that yes its only 4 years, but that is an eternity when you have to live through that.
Now I realize the skilled trades will take some time to get into and it will be a pay cut at first, but the sacrific is far less.
I'm still reluctant to walk away completely from nursing since its been my goal for the past 18months, perhaps I'll keep it in my back pocket, but its unlikely I will go that route. I know its sad but I love the idea of not having to do anymore of my pre-req's, chemisty is next up and I hate chemistry, its really hard for me to understand that stuff, to walk away from that would be a relief for me.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
My bursary was $500. That was it. I didn't qualify for student aid because my spouse made too much money! I paid for all the rest of the expense out of pocket... while paying off a huge line of credit and a car loan for that second car we had to have so that I could go to school... and raising three kids. We lived on a single measly military income for the whole time. But I WANTED it, and it seems that you, guvner, really don't.
Nursing education in Canada can't be done part time in most cases. It's four years full time at uni for a BScN. The PN diploma can be done part time but not many people go that route.
The UK still has bursaries. Canada doesn't, it's either pay as you go, student loans and if you're very lucky the odd bursary or scholarship. (when I went through I managed to get $1K in a bursary and the rest was on loans and out of pocket). Not unusual to have new grad nurses with loans of over $20K
When I started nursing, I enjoyed the classes, even chemistry. I felt comfortable in hospitals and nursing homes and there were more jobs then, at least it seemed that way.
Something that concerns me about nursing lately is the lack of jobs, at least in Ontario, even for RN's. I have not seen this type of issue in a very long time and even then there were jobs in United States. We all know that this not the case in many states anymore.
It is a very real concern for those of us with life's obligations. I desperately want to go for my RN but I worry that I'll be in so much debt that I won't have enough years working full time to earn enough $$ to help my teen through college/university, however if I was younger, or had no kids, I would go for it.
I had a nice conversation with a friend of a friend on Saturday night, she is a 2nd year RPN student. She really opened my eyes about being an RPN, I had always pushed that idea aside because stubborn me only wanted to go for my full RN or nothing at all, but finding out more about the RPN course it seems that I just might persue it. Only having to commit to 2years and half the tuition cost is much more appealing to me plus I always have the option to bridge to RN should I feel it necessary in the future, not to mention I would only need 1 more pre-req rather than 3 more for BScN.
On a side note I did look into the skilled trades and for example to be an electrician apprentice because of stiff competition I would have to go to school for 2years anyways just get some electrical engineering background just so that I could have a better chance of scoring a job
It sounds like you're really exploring your options, and the RPN program seems like a good fit for you. Best of luck as you march toward your dream of becoming a nurse!
OK, so after reading your post, I can see your frustration. My husband and I are in the EXACT same boat. So, here is what I did. I applied to nursing school. Currently I am a microbiologist making $12 per hour. This is not enough to pay for the mortgage and bills.
I made a list of pros and cons. In order to pursue microbiology, a better paying wage I would need my doctorate. Retail jobs are out of the question. After a very extensive pros and cons list, my husband and I decided it was better off to go back to school.
In BC, the nurses make $28.00 approx per hour to start. Assuming they work 3-12 hour shifts per week, they bring in gross 50,000. Even if taking the minimum pay, which it will be as a new grad, my husband and I are able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are going through a lot right now, but the light helps keep things better.
If necessary my husband and I will sell our house to pay for schooling. The biggest difference, is that I cannot get a government student loan or bank loan, due to my personal bankruptcy 5 years ago. So no loans for me.
Don't get me wrong, life will be VERY HARD! for you, especially working a p/t job, but here is another thing to consider.
The hospital around here allow 3rd and 4th year nursing students too work as an undergraduate nurse, and after 4th you can work as a grad. To start as an undergrad nurse you make ~ $28/hour. This will give you experience and money.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
In BC, the nurses make $28.00 approx per hour to start. Assuming they work 3-12 hour shifts per week, they bring in gross 50,000.
Not exactly. The base pay for a first year nurse in BC is about $54,500 a year plus shift differentials with an hourly rate of $29.02. Annual hours of work equals 1879.
The hospital around here allow 3rd and 4th year nursing students too work as an undergraduate nurse, and after 4th you can work as a grad. To start as an undergrad nurse you make ~ $28/hour. This will give you experience and money.
Again, not quite. Undergraduate nurse employees are paid $24.08 an hour but they rarely work more than one shift a week during the school year due to educational demands. And graduate nurses, those who have completed their educational programme, graduated and are waiting on their CRNE results start at $29.02 an hour.
Don't mean to be a downer but make sure you know what you are getting into. Right now in Ontario, new grads are having a hard time finding even jobs that are part time as many hospitals are not actively recruiting due to the large deficit. Be prepared to start with part time work or you may need two jobs. I think a lot of people think that nursing is good money with easily available work that anyone can do. Nursing school is tough and work is even harder with tons of stress.
Right now the economy is in a tough state and nursing is no exception. Check the stats on job placements from your school of choice as they vary widely, also check any union websites to see what is going on. I am not saying don't be a nurse, just be aware that nursing is going through some very turbulent times right now. Just ask the nurses from Alberta.
I've noticed the jobs are not as readily available now as they were a year ago, but keep in mind there are a few years of school before the job hunts starts so you never know what the market will be like. Historically its a high demand job.
So since my thread was bumped up I figure I would update my situation...why not eh. Well I started the New Year off with losing my job, should have seen it coming, but I didn't so school is clearly the only route for me to go. I did apply to St.Lawrence College's Practical Nursing program in November since I have the courses for it and its easier to get into that than the BScN program, I'm just going to go that route with the option of bridging in the future. So for now I'm just going to live off EI, cross my fingers and hope I get accepted to school and see if I can get financial help with the Second Career program or something similar.
Guvner
15 Posts
Thanks for all the feedback everyone.
This morning I had an interview with Kingston General's volunteer auxillary, it was something I had booked weeks in advance and it was to help me decide if nursing was what I wanted for not. Walking to the hospital seeing all the Queen's students made me uncomfortable, the thought of going to school with these people was not appealing to me, then in the hospital I again felt uncomfortable and out of place. The interview went fine, but I was realizing that this is not something I want to do anymore.
Someone mentioned if you are passionate about it you will suceed, well the passion just isn't there for me anymore now that reality has set in.
I should mention something else here, ever since I decided to pursue nursing in June 2008 after deciding I needed to get out of my job that was sucking the life out of me life has been very stressfull. We went through so much uncertainty, first I wanted to apply for Sept 2009 but realized that was too early, we decided to move to Toronto so my wife could pursue more career options in a bigger city, tried to sell the house which never sold after 1 year, dumped money into renos to make the house sellable, still never sold, discovered selling the house would leave us with $10,000+ in mortgage penalties. I lived with constant stress and anxiety thinking am I going to get into school? are we moving or are we staying? could I stand living in Toronto? how can we afford it? what if I don't get into school? what will I do? how can we handle this debt while in school? can we handle the mortgage penalty? so many questions. Living like that for me was horrible and I know my wife was not happy with that either since it was all about my ambitions. I really just want to get far away from that kind of living and school will just extend that stress and anxiety for 4 more years. I realize that yes its only 4 years, but that is an eternity when you have to live through that.
Now I realize the skilled trades will take some time to get into and it will be a pay cut at first, but the sacrific is far less.
I'm still reluctant to walk away completely from nursing since its been my goal for the past 18months, perhaps I'll keep it in my back pocket, but its unlikely I will go that route. I know its sad but I love the idea of not having to do anymore of my pre-req's, chemisty is next up and I hate chemistry, its really hard for me to understand that stuff, to walk away from that would be a relief for me.