reasonable hours to work while going to school

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I applied to a state FNP program locally to start in September 2014. I tried to take one course to get it out of the way, but sickness got in the way. I will now be starting from scratch with the curriculum. My husband and I are also having a baby in August.

With that said, I will have a newborn and be in school part-time if I get in. What is a reasonable number of hours I could allocate to work? I have two options regarding work...a job where I could work from home (not make as much $) and my current job (compensated well) where I commute 40 minutes each way to work. Obviously, I know I will not be able to work a bunch, but need some income coming in.

I am wondering if anyone out there was able to do this successfully (#1)? and 2) Approx how many hours were you able to maintain in your position while trying to balance school and family?

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I currently work Sat, Sun, and Mon and that seems to work great as it gives me the week to work on homework and do clinicals once those start. However, I would be interested to know what type of work you are being offered from home....this would be an interest to me.

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Specializes in Emergency.

There is a thread about how much work did you do during school that has probably hundreds of replies to it. You might want to search it out. In my class the range is from none to full time with a second job depending on which student you talk to. I think it is highly dependent on factors like your family and support systems, your financial needs, flexibility of your program, etc..

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Thanks for the insight! I'll have to seek out the thread re: this issue.

Road2NP: The opportunity that I have working from home relates to Core Measure Abstraction.

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Road2NP, how far along are you in your program?

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Specializes in Internal Medicine.

Like others, my fulltime online class ranges from full time to not working at all. I personally work fulltime and have had no trouble managing it, that's thanks to working night shift in a hospital with downtime enough that I can read a lot. Before I started clinicals, I was working a day of overtime each week as well. If I could afford to work less I probably would, but with a mortgage and my paying for this degree without a single student loan, it's not in the cards.

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Specializes in Home Health, Podiatry, Neurology, Case Mgmt.

I agree with zmansc on this one. It is going to be dependent on what YOU can handles with classes etc...I did full time ASN RN and full time BSN RN all working full time (40hrs per week) with three kids under the age of 7 and a disabled husband...I'm now enrolled full time for graduate school taking 3 course (one on Wed nights and two on Thur AM and afternoon), and I work 3 twelve hour shifts per week on my off days. I have never had a problem juggling my family and school and work life. However, that being said I also am typically a home-body on my days off and since we moved I do not have a lot of friends so very rarely do I just "hang out" with other people. My husbands' disability $$ is not enough to cover our bills so I have no choice but to work regardless. My program is 18mo long full time.

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Specializes in Outpatient Psychiatry.

I think it's totally dependent on your personal abilities, the instructor you get, and the collection of classes you have. I took three 3 credit classes along with one 1 credit class my first semester of the master's program and almost never had work outside of class beyond some reading. I can attest that in my research methods, in which no papers were written, and the introductory practice management class that reading wasn't even necessary, lol. I got A's in all of them, but fortunately my research class mirrored my BSN research class.

The following semester to the contrast was a nightmare. I always had stuff to do to the point I took it to work to do it and even threw a few tantrums at home over it all. The third semester was a medium of the two, and here in the fourth I only do A LOT of reading and re-reading. I have two semesters left, and I'm told the next one is brutal. No clue about the final one.

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I work a 40 hr work week mon to fri. I plan on staying full time until clinical starts. I have a 17 month old and just had another on march 7th. I took one class this semester because of the pregnancy but from summer semester on out ill take 2. My husband is super supportive and my mom is a lifesaver so I think I'll be able to handle it.

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