Seeking advice second career

[dimechic]

I will be 28 tomorrow....lol. I currently hold a bachelors degree in psychology and a masters degree in behavioral epidemiology. Since I received my masters degree in 2006 each job that I've held I have worked with teams of nurses. Until I recently I never even considered being a nurse. Now its all I think about. I'm currently enrolling in a local university to complete some of my pre-nursing courses.

Here is my problem.....I already have an enormous amount of student loan debt from my previous degrees. I need advice on financing a nursing degree. Most of the schools that interest me require a full-time commitment so I would have to resign my full-time job and resort back to being a broke college student. This worries me a lot! Please share any scholarschips, grants, loan reimbursement programs or employeers that will pay for my education.

Since I already hold a bachelors degree I have to pay out of pocket for my pre-nursing courses. I anticipate that will be roughly $4000 or more.

I want to know if someone can tell me the pros/cons of seeking a Associate nursing degree vs BSN. I really need to know the difference because it appears that the Associate degree is much much much cheaper.

Thanks in advance for your feedback

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

I leveraged my income by about 35% with my first nursing job and it has now almost doubled the salary of my old job. That 15 months of working 30 hours a week and FT ABSN was the best decision I ever made.

I still have student loan debt and will for the next decade but at least I can finally make payments on my debt.

Bedside nurses are eligible for student loan forgiveness after 10 years of paying their loans on the IBR/ICR plan. (Google public service loan forgiveness.) Whatever is left is erased after 10 years of on time payments and service in a public service job. While Mr. Ramsey has some good points but a short term sacrifice leading to making much more money will achieve those goals much easier and faster.

The OP already has a masters degree and that will carry them far in the selection process for a nursing job.