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Discussion

Seeking advice about taking classes while on Active Duty. (Army)

I recently commissioned as Active duty Army RN, ER identifier. 6 years RN experience.

Any current or former Active Duty Army nurses care to share what their day to day /week to week work experience and work life balance is/was like while stationed at a stateside hospital / Medcen?

I want to take classes (in person classes, probably 2 days a week Tu/Thurs or Mon/Wed) How feasible do you think this will be? I understand if I am deployed that is will not be possible, but wondering about schedules/work duties while stationed in the states.

Thank you!

Edited : I will be stationed near a large university and want to take advantage of that. I will be paying out of pocket and the classes I want to take are not offered online.

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    • Experts

    Since you don't currently have an MSN, you should look into tuition assistance benefits (TA). You get $250 per credit hour up to $4500 per year to take graduate classes. I believe you can only use TA for an MSN...not a DNP.

    As an officer, it will entail a 2 year commitment from the date that you finished your most recent class. However, that commitment can be served concurrently. That means it is NOT tacked on to the end of your existing commitment. If you just commissioned, this is basically free money.

    I'm active duty Air Force, but I can tell you many active duty nurses take part time grad schools classes. It's perfectly feasible.

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    • Author

    Thanks for the info! I'll look more into. I'm wanting to take pre-med prerequisites so I figured I would have to do that on my own , as well as probably avoid additional service obligation if I want to go to med school before age 35.

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    • Experts

    Yes you have to have a master's level degree (doesn't have to be nursing) that you are working towards. Some of those classes might not fall under any master's degree but some might.

    You won't actually owe any extra time with TA if you do it at the beginning of your commitment. For example, you can use TA for 2 years for free if you signed a 4 year active duty commitment.

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    • Moderator

    My schedule as an active duty Army ER/trauma RN was neither set nor flexible. I could not have attended classes in person between my shifts and collateral duties. I could only do online courses, so that's what I did using TA. The GoArmyEd website will tell you how much ADSO you are adding, so I used TA up until it would go past a two-year ADSO when I had two years remaining. My first MSN was funded almost 100% by TA. I think I paid for one class and my capstone out of pocket.

    Your schedule might be better at a MEDCEN. I was at a MEDDAC, so I wasn't just one in a sea of LTs, haha. I didn't realize how much the military favors its civilian workforce to the detriment of its military RN's quality of life.

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