To Work or Not to Work- THAT'S MY QUESTION!!!

[jsully13]

Hi all! I start my FNP program this fall. My current plan is to continue working full time and attend school part time. As it is now, I will graduate in May 2010. Last night, I got this great idea that I should quit work, go to school full time, and graduate in Fall 2008 instead! When my husband's head stopped spinning, we talked about it.

First, we COULD afford to live only on his salary for a year, BUT we would have to really scrimp and save. We would also have to take out student loans for tuition since I would no longer have tuition reimbursement. Basically we would be able to afford to eat and live, but not much else. My husband does not like the instability of the idea, but he would like for me to be making twice my salary in half the time! There is a Graduate Assistantship position open that I am waiting to hear more about.

Any advice would be much appreciated! What are other people doing???

Thanks!

[labev]

That is a tough decision to make. I will be graduating in 6 months from an ACNP program. I have been going part time since fall of 2005. When I first decided to go back for my MSN, my husband and I found out we were pregnant the week classes started. At the time, our plan was for me to go to school full time and continue working, however, those plans changed. I decided to go to school part time and work part time. Let me tell ya, that was and has been a big financial burden, the addition of a baby, school and a cut in my income.

However, I'm glad that I did go part time because it is sooo much info that had I gone full time to school, I think I would have become more frustrated with really trying to let it all "sink" in. With taking one to two classes a semester, I felt like I really got to dig in and learn the material. Just from my personal experience! Good luck.

[carachel2]

This is a tough decision and one that is bound to fluctuate as you progress through the program.

I have found a comfortable balance between working a part-time flexible job and maintaining 3-6 credit hours per semester. There were some semesters where it worked better to drop down to 3 hours and some where 6 hours were doable.

I think a more workable situation would be a part-time unit type job and 6 hrs at a time WITH the idea that there is going to come a semester where you will be doing a LOT of clinicals and it will be better not to work.