What is ur average 2 week take home pay?

Sheri257 · Jul 9, 2006

I applied EVERY term for financial aid & too many scholarship apps to list......all I ever qualified for was "UNSUBSIDIZED" student loans........note, we live in a double-wide trailer, so we are not "rich". I will begin paying my loans back in the FALL......
Oh really. I'm a responsible adult, over 50, an honor student, and a minority. Please tell me where this minority can get some $$$$. I start LPN school in August, and plan on bridging to the RN six months after graduation. I need the money especially since I was laid off from my job, and this is my second career.

You should come out to California. There is a TON of money for minority nursing students. If I had to guess, at least a quarter to one half of the scholarships in the state list minorities as a preference criteria. For one thing, the state board of nursing gives high dollar scholarship awards (starting at $8K to $10K) with preference for minorities, especially if they speak another language.

I too didn't qualify for financial aide, and applied for many scholarships which, I didn't get and not being a minority was one of the reasons. Still, most of my nursing school expenses have been paid for through scholarships I got through my nursing program, mostly due to good grades.

Of all of the scholarships I applied for, the local school scholarship drive was the most productive as far as actually getting results.

Also, the county had this work program which reimbursed nursing students for most of their expenses. You weren't eligible for it during the first year, but it pretty much paid for everything during the last year of school.

Maybe the problem is that you're not in nursing school yet because, once you are officially a nursing student, there is money out there ... whether you're a minority or not.

:typing

sdeaton · Jul 10, 2006

When I graduated in 1975 I made I made about 5.75 per hour. Sounds yucky I know but it was a living and I was glad to get it. As for now with 30 yrs experience I make between 30-35 dollars per hour for an agency. The more experience the better the pay. Specialty areas such as ICU and ED will pay a bit more but they expect you to have ACLS certification. As others have said, it is not always about the money. It is staffing, patient to nurse ratios, support staff and administration attitude. One needs to consider the other things that make job enjoyable. If you only judge a facility by what they pay you you may not be happy. As for your student loans there are many places in desperate need for nurses who are willing to pay off the loan for an agreement to work for them for a specific amount of time. Make sure that you are given an adequate orientation or even an internship so that you will have some time to adjust to being the one responsible for the care of others. Do you have a specific specialty in mind or will you be happy just working in med-surg? You need to prioritize what is most important to you and make that part of your goals to work toward. I have worked all across the US and as others have said the pay is usually mediated by the size of the town and the competition for nurses in the area. There are a lot of under-served areas of the country that will pay your loans off as well. Good luck with your search. I live in the San Antonio area.

rngreenhorn · Jul 10, 2006

It's nice to see that most of you can't stay on the subject. All of your minds wander into other areas and can't really see what the OP was asking. You delve into areas that aren't important and take on each other as to who is better than whom. I give this a 5 star also because it has been a "hoot"! To go off on a tangent in a completely different direction doesn't really answer the question as originally asked. I have noticed this over the past year where someone will post a question and it will get answered by most but there is always that one person who gets up on their soapbox and makes it a debate. Complete waste of time. I don't have this on my favorites list anymore because it isn't just for this reason. I come back once in awhile to see if it has gotten better, but it hasn't. Most of the posters are honest and forthright, others tend to just waste peoples time with their rhetoric. Sorry to be so blunt but I can't help it.

Ahhh... Human beings. What a crazy bunch we are. We all have opinions, and you know what they say about opinions...

Trying to persuade others to join our side is engrained in human nature. This, of course, is why we've been killing each other since the beginning. You know, free will and all that jazz.

We all have our reasons for posting and reading this site. In the case of yours truly: I look for the irony in all things in life. I entertain myself by pointing out these personally perceived ironies. Occasionally others appreciate my humor. More often, people think I've a big fat pain in the orifice.

Some have strong unwavering opinion. Some go with the flow. Some like to argue. Some would rather not. Some follow the rules; others apply them more liberally. I personally only obey the law of gravity. All other rules are up for tweaking. Some people live on a tangent, others in a straight line. Some are easily offended. Some just don't give a crap what you think about their mother. Some are blue. Some are red. Some are purple. Some are sensitive. Others, not so much. Yada... yada... yada...

I can't think of a more appropriate place to post an opinion than on a message board, even if it doesn't exactly follow the OP. Beats the hell out of aiming heat at each other.

Smiles and Cheers.

lorster · Jul 10, 2006

i have been an RN since 1989 on a med surg unit in Montana. I make 31.52 an hour. I work 24 hours a week. It is about a quarter of what I'm worth :)

Gussiegoose, RN · Jul 10, 2006

your a new rn making over $500 per 12 hour shift????????????????

I hear you. That figure doesn't sound right to me either.

Sheri257 · Jul 10, 2006

I hear you. That figure doesn't sound right to me either.

Actually, I do know a couple of new grads who are making $500 a day in my area of California.

BUT, it's registry pay with no benefits. The registry and these hospitals are so desperate for RN's they're now only requiring 6 months experience rather than the typical one year's experience.

Also, one of the hospitals is a hellhole. I know, because I used to work there. Consequently, they can't keep RN's. The other hospital is a little better ... but not by much.

:typing

nurse~ashley · Jul 10, 2006

wow everyone here is so up-tight! :idea:

mlnrs1 · Jul 10, 2006

Morganvibes, please run for congress!!!!! You are right, as women we too easily judge ourselves as guilty and skew our faces in distaste at the thought of deserving financial compensation for our hard work!!! We still drag around components of martyrdom which serve to perpetuate our devalued status. Lets look at other healthcare (and nonhealthcare too) professions -- how do salaries relate with gender?
Come on women, let's own our ability to intellectually and skillfully nurture and recognize it as a commodity worthy of respectable financial reward ---- physicians have demanded this for years. Is that because the world of physicians is dominated by males who have no problem accepting their worth or putting a monitary value on "helping people"?

I don't think it's a male/female issue (as a male, I WOULD say that...) as much as simple supply and demand. Nursing is a second career for me, and yes, a big part of why I entered the profession was good pay and job security. That doesn't mean I don't care, I do.

Never forget, if there there was a sudden glut of RN's, your employer (who by now is probably a for-profit subsidiery of some mega-corporation) would have NO bones about cutting your salary in half. The market dictates your wage, period.

If there were so many nurses that they could be had for $9.50/hour do you think your employer would care that you can't support your family on that? Do you think they would care how it's not right that you have all of this training and experience and make the same as a starting laborer with no education/experience?

I have experienced a job market that is the other way, where there are way more people vying for the jobs than there are jobs. I graduated with honors from UC Berkeley, one of the best colleges in the nation. I did all the right extracirriculars, all the right internships, put myself 30k in debt - yet, my first gig in advertising paid $7 an hour (this is in Southern California - high cost of living).

I brought it up once to my boss, that I had worked my tail off for 4 years and it's not fair that I would make more money if all I knew how to do was drive a forklift. He showed me a pile of resumes he had in a drawer and said: "Then go learn to drive a forklift. All these people want YOUR job."

weirdRN, RN · Jul 10, 2006

I brought it up once to my boss, that I had worked my tail off for 4 years and it's not fair that I would make more money if all I knew how to do was drive a forklift. He showed me a pile of resumes he had in a drawer and said: "Then go learn to drive a forklift. All these people want YOUR job."

:roll:roll:roll:roll

PANurseRN1 · Jul 10, 2006

I can understand some reluctance to answer. For people of my generation, asking how much money someone makes is "just not done," even if it is on an anonymous BB. It can be perceived as kind of rude.

This site will give you the average salary in your area.

ChaosNurse · Jul 10, 2006

small survey
1.type of nurse? psych, adn (@ primary) staff (psych-er) staff (acs diagnostic residence)
2. how many hours u work per week? 48~64
3. how many years of nursing? 25
4. what shift: day, evening, nights, or weekend only? evenings (primary), days on others
5. city and state: staten island, ny
6. average 2 week gross pay totally: gross! actually it should be more
:wakeneo:
thanks

i work for the state, so salary ranges are very behind private sector, that is part of the reason for the other two jobs, (which are techniclly per-diem, but i get regular days)

amnesh · Jul 10, 2006

I just want to say this. I am a male who starts his LPN training on July 11. I plan on going straight to RN training right after I'm done. I've been a CNA for over 4 years. There are 35 students in my class and I am the only male. I don't want this to sound wrong but do all Nurses attack each other like this? I am not saying this in an evil, but humorous tone. I mean I am enjoying reading this. It's 3:50 am and I cannot stop reading this, its funny! Whatever career field a person goes into they are going to see what type of money they are going to make before they start training, wouldn't that be wise? I mean who wants to go to school for 3-4 years and get stellar grades and find out after they gaduate they're only making 10.50 hr? I am sure we all love nursing and helping people but life is more than that. There's an old saying that goes, "Love don't pay bills." I love the medical field and I love working for/with women especially ones who can teach me about the job and about life without the EGO. Let's respect each other out here because we are all we have.