Working During Nursing School

Nursing Students General Students

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I was accepted to nursing school and am supposed to begin in August. My partner always told me that I didn't need to worry about working during nursing school and that she would take care of the bills. Well we have been on-again-off-again for the past month and recently found out that we would have to move. She never said anything about rent or getting another apartment together so I assumed that we would. Well we signed our new lease and are planning on moving in early July. Now she brings it to my attention that she was under the impression that I wouldn't be moving with her into the new place and that I either have to get a job and pay half the rent or else she would move and leave me with the entire thing. Her mom is a nurse and told her that it was very difficult to work during nursing school and when I went to orientation they said the same thing. Now the problem is that we have broken up (for good this time!) and we both are on the lease. I don't mind helping pay the rent as that's typically what roommates do. My problem is that she has always told me not to worry about getting a job and working during nursing school and now I have to. So my question is how difficult is it to work and go to school? I don't want this break-up and move to affect my schooling as I have worked too hard and too long to get to this point. I am just at a loss as to what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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I worked during nursing school. But I worked the pool (so I could make more money) on a closed unit so I didn't get pulled everywhere and on weekends/nights were we are pretty much empty on our unit (tonight only have 6 pts) so I could study. But it was very difficult because it never failed our test were on Mondays, I would have to run home get a 4 hour nap and go to school and take a test. If you work somewhere where you can't get some study time in, then you might not do so well.

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Specializes in Ambulatory Care, ED.

I'm sorry to hear about the breakup! :( I'm in the same boat, starting school in August and I have rent, car note, bills, etc. that I need to pay and no support. I already have a BS degree so I don't qualify for grants.

I have to quit my full time job before school starts so I'm also worried about insurance! I've yet to receive my SAR but I'm sure any financial aid I receive won't be enough to cover tuition, monthly bills, etc. so I've been searching/applying for scholarships and plan on applying for a private loan in the next month. I do plan on working part time, maybe 2-3 days a week. After a couple months into the program, if it feels like I can add another day or weekends, I will try to do that for as long as I can and as long as my grades are up.

Best of luck!!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

That sucks. Good luck with that. You definately need to get your ducks in a row prior to August as that needs to be a time without much outside drama (too bad life isn't like that).

I worked at Pizza Hut full time through school in the evenings and every weekend. Not much money but it paid the rent and car payment. I had all co-reqs and pre-reqs done. So it was just nursing. To date it was the most difficult thing I have ever done, and my greatest accomplishment.

You do what you have to do. While it's ideal not to have to work, some of us have no choice. When there's a will, there's a way.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Wow, I am really sorry to hear about your situation. I agree with Tweety that you need to get everything in order before school starts. I am married and my hubby and i agreed that i would only work every other weekend while in school. I went part time in the evenings and eventually ended up cutting back even more to just working one weekend a month. I just couldn't have done it while working, I have little ones at home also. There were many students in my class that had families and worked full time, one student actually worked full time night shift. So, it can be done. I think a majority of people have to work while going through school. I know it isn't ideal, but what else can we do?? Good Luck to you!!

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I would say that it all depends on how well you manage your time, how much you have on your plate, and how difficult your school's program is. My school has an extremely difficult program because they have a 98% N-Clex pass rate to maintain. There is an unimaginable amount of reading each week, the tests cover so much material that they require lots of studying to pass, and we also have clinical performance exams that you are not allowed to fail (if you fail 2 out of 3 you are kicked out of the program). I just completed my second semester of nursing school and I devoted about 10 hours a week to studying, and I did all of my studying on the weekends. During the week I hold a part-time job at a local hospital as a technician from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on Mondays and Fridays. I also tried to pick up Wednesdays whenever I could as long as there wasn't a clinical performance exam during that week (our written tests were ALWAYS on Mondays so I didn't really have to worry about work interfering with those). I am also married and have a 3 year old son. I still managed to get a "B" this semester and it is one of the two most difficult semesters at my school (second and third semesters are the worst). One thing I did that helped me a lot was taking all of my co-requisites before I entered the nursing program. That way I could concentrate on nursing without having to study and do work for 3 other courses at the same time. So I guess whether you can work and how many hours per week you can put in depends on a lot, but I definitely wouldn't recommend full-time or anything more than 30 hours per week. I feel like I ran myself into the ground this semester in between working and studying. I created a sleep deficit of about 2 months that I'm still trying to sleep off even though school's been out for 2 weeks now lol.

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working is possible but you have to be VERY disciplined.

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Specializes in Med/Surg ICU, NICU.

I agree that working is possible. I work straight nights and go to school full time. I do not have a lot of time for social activities but I can deal with a limited social calender for a couple of years. It will be worth it in the end when I walk across that stage.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

I worked through both my LPN and RN programs. I worked the weekend Baylor and one day a week. I agree with the other poster that you have to be very disciplined. I studied/did school work 7 days a week in any spare time that I had. I did not have much family time at all but it is doable. Not easy but doable.

Kelly

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Specializes in OR Internship starting in Jan!!.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. Like they said, work and school is hard to do, but possible.

Have you looked into loans? There are a lot of options out there and it might be the better way to go. Good luck!

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Im in nursing school, just finished my first year at a 3 year program :smiley_aa I worked full time and took care of my 2 year old (of course I have lots of family support). I plan on working fulltime until I graduate. It can be done. My aunt is a RN and her motto when she worked fulltime raising two kids going thru nursing school was "when theres a will theres a way"

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Specializes in Surgical/Telemetry.

Guess you just gotta do what you have to do. I worked full time until the last 3 months, and cut down to 24 hours a week. It was busy but possible, though I wish I'd had more time to get to know my classmates.

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