Tons of Questions for a tough decision

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I have been going to school to get pre-reqs on and off for a few years. I lack 11 hours to apply to nursing school.

I had to drop A and P II this Semester because of work. It's crazy here. And I

have no passion for the industry I work in anymore. It actually makes me sick at my stomach.

But, it pays the bills and it's comfortable.

Anyway, I'm having problems trying to go to school, work full time, be there

for my son who is only 19 mos old and maintain a happy marriage.

So I have a few questions to someone has done nursing and had children.

From what I hear, nursing school is very brutal and I should pretty much not expect

to be there for my family while I'm in school.

Would you do it with a 2 year old? Or would you wait until they got older?

When you have children, do you think you would continue to work in a hospital, or

would you change to something different?

Is it worth taking out about $100,000 in loans to live and go to school to be a

nurse? What kind of raises do nurses receive in a hospital environment? How often,

how much?

What kind of hours do nurses work in a hospital setting? Will I actually be away

from my family more, or would I really work 3 12-hour days? With an extra day here

and there. What kind of vacation do you get, benefits?

My heart really wants to do it, but I don't want my marriage to fall apart or

be selfish and not be there enough for my family. I also have tremendous guilt about putting them into so much debt.

What type of jobs are available in hospitals other than RN that don't require

certification?

So maybe i can switch careers now and when the time is right, go to nursing school.

I have a lot of questions

and my heart is torn.

Thank you for anyone that takes the time to answer this.

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Specializes in Peds (previous psyc/SA briefly).

I did it with a 2 year old. As a single mom. Working part time. And got married during nursing school. To a hottie (well, I think so anyway.) ;)

I work in the hospital - 12 hour days. With the commute and report, I'm gone for about 14 hours on my work days. I started back when my second child was 3 months old - part time 2 days a week. Then I went to every other weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun.)

Vacation - not much but I do have lots of PDO hours, I just can't use them! - because I'm weekends, I can switch around as much as I want. Benefits - as a 3/4 time person, it's a bit pricey but pretty comprehensive.

I guess if your spouse is supportive, then why would your marriage fall apart? It will take work on both parts. But life does, right? As far as being selfish - most people have to work. As a nurse, you work in a field that is honorable, a service profession, providing endless opportunities for learning and your kid(s) will think you are cool (at least until 5th grade.) Plus you can always find a job and really work as much as you want/need to.

$100,000? I paid WAY less than that for nursing school. Is that your only option? *gulp* Honestly, I'm not sure I'd do that.

I don't know if school is much less intensive education-wise, but ultrasound/rad tech is a cool position, IMO. PT/OT (again, college education there.) Respiratory tech if you can handle sputum. Things like Child Life are cool, but at least at our facility - that's a bachelor's degree minimum.

With less education, I think you'd be looking at CNA or transport, which might be good to figure out if nursing is really your thing. The pay isn't great, but most CNAs that I know are intelligent, hardworking people who are obtaining higher educations.

Best of luck.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

My friend has three kids and is married and made it through nursing school while working fulltime. Could you possibly take time off from your job to focus on school? I wouldn't suggest taking out such a large loan for school and to live on. Were you planning on going to a community college or university?

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I actually have a Bachelors degree that I earned in 1993. After looking at the requirements, it would be better for me to earn a BSN instead of an associates. The loan would be to make up for cost of living mostly. Not sure how to deal with this. Thank you for your input.

:nuke:

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Specializes in Peds (previous psyc/SA briefly).

? If you think so...

I have a previous degree and grad school. I'm doing an MSN bridge program now. I'm very glad that I got my ADN from a community college - having the prior degree certainly is helping as far as school now. But I work with a number of ADN nurses who are brilliant - and a great many do accelerated or online BSN (or more)programs after they get their ADN.

Whether or not an ADN will always be enough for an RN, I don't know. But for now, at least where I live, I see no difference between the BSN nurses and the ADN nurses (and there isn't one responsibility or pay-wise.)

Either way - good luck.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Home Health.

I went to school when my daughter was 3 years old, my husband was VERY supportive. I also had 2 stepdaughters, ages 11 and 8. I didnt spend much time with my family during school, but I was going full-time and my husband understood that I was doing it for my family. Why not get your associates first, work and make the money you will need and go part time for your bachelors. Most hospitals will pay for your continuing your education so it will be much cheaper for you in the end, hence less debt. Also, there are alot of assistance programs to help you pay for school so you wont have to take out so many loans, if any. I went thru WIA program (TENCO) which gave me 2000.00 free money to go to school. Plus I got the CAP, PELL, SEOG grants thru the school which was another approximately 3500.00 each 6 months. Also, get your loans thru The Student People, later you can get them paid off thru Best In Care (they pay 20% of your loans for 5 years). Some classes you can even take online..providing more time with your family.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

I agree with Cheno and Kristen. There is nothing wrong with getting an ADN. Pay for either ADN and BSN right out of school are the same. Community college would be cheaper if money is a concern. You can get your ADN, work a little, save some money then go back to get your BSN. Also if you are interested in getting your MSN, many colleges have bridge programs that enable ADN-prepared RNs to get their MSNs. In the long run, it would be alot cheaper than taking out such a large loan that in an event such as you not being able to finish school, you wouldn't have this huge debt on you.

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unless you can complete an accelerated BSN in 16 mpnths vs 24 months for an ADN.

I think accelerated option is the way to go for you. If you can find a way to work 16-24 hrs per week it will help reduce the size of your loans.

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Thank you for that. I have been looking into an accelerated program that would get me in and out in 15 months.

Thanks,

Alliestar

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Specializes in Cardiac ICU.
Thank you for that. I have been looking into an accelerated program that would get me in and out in 15 months.

Thanks,

Alliestar

Not sure how your grades are, but if you do well, like 3.6 to 4.0 well, in the pre reqs the program that I just got into is the one at University of Nevada Reno. BSN in 16 months.

This is just one, and there should be plenty more out there. Hopefully you can find one nearby, since moving may be hard on the family, especially if your husband has a job.

100k in loans seems way too high. Your husband working should help, and if he doesn't, regardless if he does or not, apply for fafsa, pell grants, state grants, scholarships, food stamps... there should be ways to help reduce cost. Of course all is relevant to your financial responsibilities, car payments, house payment...etc. and maybe in your case you will need 100k in loans.

But cost of living for a "normal" student, (this figure is estimated by the government) is about 16 k per year. I would think you would be able to get by with 50k in loans, max.

A thing to note, fafsa looks at your taxes for the previous year. So if you and your husband earn a decent wage right now, you may get little free money, in the form of grants, your first year in nursing school, but by the time year number two rolls around, you should get a nice sum, considering you don't work or only work part time. Just for an example, each semester I am getting about 2600 in pell grants (federal), and 1200 in state grants.

There is money to be had.

Good luck, and if it is something you truly desire and want, then find a way to get it done. Theres always a way, hopefully you'll be able to find the best one.

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Specializes in LTC.

$100,000 is too much money to borrow. Your loan payments will be something like $2000 a month for 5 years or close to $1000 a month for 10 years. 10 YEARS! Are you prepared to do that?

Be creative in ways that you can cut that loan amount in half. Grants and scholarships should be available to you, even if they are small. Can you cut 25% out of your grocery budget? Can you go to school opposite you spouse's work schedule to avoid daycare costs?

I have 4 kids and just finished my 2nd year of school. The thing I wish I would have done is spend quality time with each child (or the whole lot of them) for 30 minutes every day that I was "busy with school". And 2 year olds are so much fun...with so much energy!

You need to find out how much money you can afford to make payments on after you are a full time RN.

Good luck.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Tele, PH, CM.
I actually have a Bachelors degree that I earned in 1993. After looking at the requirements, it would be better for me to earn a BSN instead of an associates. The loan would be to make up for cost of living mostly. Not sure how to deal with this. Thank you for your input.

:nuke:

If you already have an undergrad degree, go for the ADN program. You can work in 2 years, not make any less money than a BSN grad, and get any other degrees you want at your leisure, perhaps online, and when your child is a little older. I did. I put off BSN for many years because I already had a 4-year. The only reason I went back was because I wanted a certification, and the ANA said my undergrad degree had to be "healthcare related". I ended up with a BBA in Healthcare Admin and both the ANA and I were happy. I had 2 small children (1&3) when I started my ADN. It's not something I would want to repeat, but it was certainly worth it.

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