In a previous post on education tax credits, I noted that my wife was going back to school for an accelerated nursing degree through a local community college.
That prompted a 20somethingfinance reader, Telly, to write in with the following question:
I saw your post today about Education Tax Credits, and was a little intrigued by you mentioning your wife going to an accelerated nursing program. My wife has from time to time mentioned she wishes she had become a nurse. So I was a little curious to hear a little bit more about the type of program your wife was in and what type of plan you guys had come up with.
I liked the idea and thought it would be beneficial to follow up with a post on the blog, not only for those considering going into nursing, but to highlight an example of a well-paying career that does not require an expensive education, and an example of the thought process that went in to her re-inventing her career.
Long-time readers will note that I’ve been critical of graduate degrees (and you could really lump in non in-state bachelor’s too), and the costs associated with them because of their likelihood to put students on a perpetual student loan debt treadmill.
This, however, does not mean that I am against a college education. I don’t know where I’d be without one. There are still ways to successfully leverage an education towards financial success and personal betterment – it just becomes a whole lot harder when that education results in $150k in new student loan debt, income opportunity costs, less real-world experience, and marginally better job prospects, if at all. There are always exceptions, of course, but I digress.
So, here’s my wife’s story on how she is transitioning from a landscape architect (which required a five-year bachelor degree) to a nurse via an accelerated associate degree in nursing, and the thought process and planning that went into it.
Going Back to School For Nursing
In September of 2008, the economy had been slowly declining and and so was my faith in keeping my job as a Landscape Architect. Many in my office were nervously trying to find work and keep themselves busy, but there was no work to be had.
Eventually about a third of the office was laid off, and I was one of them because I had no seniority. I found a new job three months later but I still had that nervous feeling that there may not be work tomorrow or next week. My career prospects as a landscape architect seemed very limited. I started considering other job options.
I do not share an entrepreneurial spirit like my husband so I was not interested in starting my own business.
I was hearing from numerous sources that there was a nursing shortage, and nursing has one of the lowest unemployment rates by job, at 2.1%, despite the recession. Given the aging boomer population and the need for nurses everywhere in the country, it seemed to be a profession that would have a high level of job security for many years to come. And benefits were great, even for part-time nurses.
I began to question why I had not considered health care as a career option in the first place. I enjoy working with people, helping others, planning, and problem solving. It seemed like a great fit. Plus, I was getting sick of sitting at a desk all day – the job of a landscape architect is not nearly as glamorous as one might think.
I began looking into what it would take to become a nurse and if we could financially make it work. It took a lot of research. Below are the cliff notes on what I found.
If you’re considering a similar move, I’d recommend attending seminars and meeting with advisers at as many community colleges and universities as you can in order to:
- confirm the school is accredited
- find out when application deadlines are
- determine prerequisites needed to get in
- highlight the bottom line cost of the degree at that institution
- find out what the job placement rate is for that degree program
- find out what the application selection criteria is, previous year’s cutoff points, and how you can get a leg up
Community College vs. University & Becoming a “Registered Nurse”
The interesting thing about becoming a nursing professional is that you can get an education at a community college or a university and still achieve the professional tile of a “Registered Nurse (RN)”.
For that reason, it’s very possible to get paid at equivalent levels with an associates degree as it is a bachelor degree, at approximately half the cost of tuition or less.
I discovered from a few nurse friends that many employer’s actually prefer associate’s degree grads because they typically have more clinical, hands-on experience.
At first glance the decision to attend a community college seemed easy to make when considering the cost compared to a university. An associate’s degree in nursing from a local community college in Michigan averages $11,000 to $12,000 where an in-state bachelor’s degree averages $22,000-$23,000 for those who already have all prerequisites completed.
Despite that obvious cost disparity, the decision became more complicated after taking a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing (BSN)
A bachelor’s degree in nursing allows for career advancement beyond the position of a floor nurse, which could lead to higher pay opportunities in the future.
A BSN is required for specialty degrees in nursing such as advancement to a Nurse Practitioner or Nurse Anesthesiologist.
Some states are mandating hospitals to meet a quota of nurses holding a bachelor’s degree. If you hold a BSN you may have an advantage over applicants with an associate’s degree in areas where nursing positions are competitive.
Associates Degree in Nursing (ADN)
An associate’s degree allows you to achieve the title of an RN (same title as someone with a BSN) for half the price.
The starting salary of a floor nurse is the same for both degrees.
Most employers will partially or fully compensate you for going back to school to earn your BSN. Hospitals may have mandates to hire nurses with a BSN but in areas where there is a nursing shortage, the hospitals need to hire a nurse regardless of the degree. And once you’re in, you’re in.
Accelerated Nursing Degree Vs. 2-year, or 4-year Program
Many community colleges and universities will offer “accelerated” nursing degrees for those with a previous degree, versus standard 2-year (community college) or 4-year (university) degree programs.
The accelerated nursing degree programs can be as short as 1 year.
For those going back to school who want a quick path to graduation, accelerated programs offer it.
The upside is lower opportunity cost – less salary is lost if you are focusing 100% on the degree. The downside is that the programs usually have a very rigorous schedule that shifts every few months, and it’s hard to carve out time to work while in school.
Prerequisites for Nursing
My landscape architect degree was a bachelor’s of science, so I had a number of prerequisites out of the way.
I discovered I would have to take about eight prerequisite courses – mostly in biology, chemistry, and nursing, before I would be able to apply to a nursing program.
I started taking these courses at local community colleges while I was still working (unknown by my employer who may have cut me loose if they had known I was considering another career).
These financial decisions lead to the big debate of attending a Community College or University for the degree.
The Big Decision
After careful consideration of the above options I decided to go with the accelerated associates degree in nursing. The cost was a major deciding factor especially considering I had already invested plenty in my previous degree. And the opportunity cost of not working for a longer period of time was very high as well. I can get a job as a nurse where I am paid the same as someone who spent twice as much on their education.
Nursing is an entirely new profession to me so I do not have any immediate plans on furthering my education to become a specialized nurse. If I get in and decide nursing is not a good fit for me, my investment loss is minimized.
If I decide to pursue a bachelor’s degree, many employer’s will partially or fully cover the cost of the degree and you can take online courses while you are working.
I live in an area where the demand for nurses fluctuates. At times the BSN holders may have an advantage over me but I am confident my resume will be competitive due to a bachelor’s degree in another profession along with several years of professional experience.
The Nursing Application Process & Acceptance
Most nursing degree programs are difficult to get in to because there is such a high demand for nurses and so many students looking to get in, that there is often not enough instructors to teach the courses.
As a result, many post-graduate nursing degrees cap the number of students they allow in to the program and rank applicants by a points based system that factors in your GPA, volunteer experience, previous work experience, and coursework. So I started volunteering, taking voluntary courses, and tried to get 4.0’s in all of my prerequisites.
I applied, and narrowly survived the very competitive cut of 32 students for that year.
Now, one year after starting, I’m just 1 month away from graduating and very excited to move into my new career!
Career Change Discussion:
- If you’ve changed careers, highlight your personal story!
- If you’re a nurse, what considerations or advice do you have for future nurses?
Related Posts:
Great article. I have just one question – after moving into a new career also, I wasn’t aware that my last year required an internship that meant I had to start some of my days before 7 AM and I have a pre-school child. I’ll also be “on call” for this next and last year of my internship in a medical field.
Are you aware of any cost-savings ways to help defray the cost of increase child care for this last year? When I’m employed in a hospital/medical center child care is usually on-site or available for professional staff, but thus far I’m affiliated with my college, not the hospital where I’m doing my internship.
Hi Sue – Are you asking about tax breaks? You may want to check out this IRS article for guidance: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc602.html
This is a great story. It takes a lot of courage to go back to school and learn something new from scratch. I was also surprised at how affordable it is to get an associates degree in Nursing. I guess I always assumed you needed a bachelors. Interesting.
Be careful with going in this direction. I am a healthcare executive and for the past 3 years nurses have been getting laid off in almost every hospital and hours cut due to hospital’s financial constraints, despite the nursing shortage that is being reported. Healthcare is expensive and there is more and more pressure on them to cut costs, and much of this lands on RNs jobs.
May be so, but after working in the contruction/build industry, anything is an improvement over their manic hiring/firing cycles.
It seems as though hospitals with nurse unions would be a little more immune to layoffs, I’m guessing?
I’m not a nurse but I do work in health care. From my observation, I would say that unions aren’t less prone to layoffs. If market conditions call for layoffs, then layoffs are due. The layoff just have union “rules” to abide by. They may take a bit longer to execute to make sure all the rules are executed but the overall result is the same. In figuring out how many people to lay off, they do a market analysis to figure out the minimum number of nurses their competitors are getting by with… even if the hospital/clinic is non-profit.
I am a BSN prepared RN at a Magnet facility. There is a rumor on my unit that there is a hiring freeze because of the need to cut costs because of the decreased reimbursement from Medicare/Medicaid. So while everybody thinks Nurses are immune to job losses, the reality isn’t so. Some hospitals will frankly just close their doors and everybody looses their jobs.
Congrats on getting through Nursing School! Have you been applying to jobs at all? I graduated in December 2011. While most people in my class were lucky and had job offers before we even graduated (and passed the NCLEX), classmates who graduated this past Spring were not so lucky. Some are still waiting to get offered a job.
Also, if you already had your BS, why didn’t you look into BSN accelerated programs? I can name a number of them in my area/state. Many of my classmates had Nursing as their second degree as well. Granted the cost is more, but the amount of time would be the same. Also, there is a push from Nursing organizations to have all ADNs get their BSNs within 10 years of initial licensure. Plus, if you hurt your back (like one of my instructors did), you could go back to get your Masters to teach (which Nurse Educators have the best job security around).
Good luck with Nursing! Remember, everybody has tough days and sometimes days become manageable chaos!
I would advise anyone against universitys at the moment. Education is a wonderful thing. The student loan bubble will be just as crippling once the bubble bursts as the housing bubble was. Wait until the bubble bursts, and the market corrects itself. Then you can get yourself an education at a fair price. In the mean time, there are other ways such as training programs and certification programs to beef up the resume’.
Universities are testing out an inflection point on how much people can afford. How else can you explain 8-10% tuition hikes? As long as people keep paying, they’ll keep raising at rates much higher than inflation. Some of that is govt. budget cuts for public universities, but a lot of it is simple greed.
I am just discovering this site and am very thankful to have this information as a 20 something, 27, just starting to become financially literate. I felt compelled to you as I am an RN, 3 years now in the ICU. I started out though, as an LPN 6 years ago and worked on a medical surgical floor. Nursing is a very fulfilling career for me. I love my job, even through the crap that we deal with on a daily basis, I couldnt see myself being happy in any other job setting. I don’t know if you’ve found a job but, I know around the time I graduated LPN ’07, employers were lined up at the RN and LPN graduations. My nursing school a hospital diploma program, there was a 95-98% Job placement rate. You pretty much could pick where and what Area you wanted to work. When I graduated in ’10, after the Great recession there was only a 50% job placement rate and most if not all those jobs were the least desirable areas. Now most hospitals want 1-2years hospital experience. It’s hard to find a job in the hospital as a new grad, and thats where the $$ is. I just want people to understand that and that if you can get your foot in the door while your in nursing school, being an aide or a tech, it would be really helpful. 100% treat that job as your job interview, suck it up- bc if the staff like you there you could be guaranteed a position over people w/experience. Also, you may become disappointed if you come into this profession purely for financial reasons, it’s not easy by any means- if you thought nursing school was hard, just wait. First year as a nurse is always going to be the roughest and just keep that in mind. It does get better.
This is great article and I’m curious how your wife is doing, now that a few years have passed? I’m a middle-aged male who lives in Michigan and I’m pretty much making the same choice she did. For a variety of reasons. In college I was torn between a medical field career and communications based one. I chose communications and worked for various business firms for the past 15 years. After being cyclically laid off, I decided I had enough. So my goal is to do a local Accelerated BSN program and make the change. The advice I’ve received so far, is to go for a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) first. And if possible do some work as a CNA while getting the pre-reqs together. Having the hospital experience of working as a CNA, will go a long way with future employers. Or so I’m told.
Thanks for asking. She’s been on the job for about a year now, and is doing well. I think the first 6 mos. + as a nurse are very stressful because there is so much you need to learn and know that can’t be learned in school. And when people’s health is on the line, it makes it even more stressful. Starting out on a floor where each nurse oversees 6 patients is also challenging. But she is more comfortable now. Piece of advice: if you can find a hospital with a union, they often have more reasonable nurse-to-patient ratios. Her hospital is not unionized.
Take a look at Lansing Community College’s accelerated program, but you may be able to get cheaper rates if you live in a community with a community college (if you don’t live in the Lansing area).
Hi, what a great post. Im so glad to see this story. I’m a architect with two master’s degree living in Spain, and im just having the same problem that your wife had. Here there’s a economy crisid and the most affected field is the construction, theres no job. And i feel so streess because i feel i choose a carrer that it depends a lot of the economy. My husband is a Doctor, works in a Hospital, also his brother and his wife. So im around doctors. Right now here, Nurse and Doctors have a lot of job oportunities, and good paid. That why im considering to go back to school and becaume a nurse. This one’s happend to a uncle who today is a Doctor, he was a engeener who didn’t find a job so he started Medicine School with already a family. And today he is happy for his decision, this gave me hope that i can do it and im not too late. Im 27 years old and i want kids soon or later, so in his case hi already had two kids. But the thing is that this story of your wife gives me more hope that i can do this. Thank a lot for sharing this.
Thanks for writing in. Good luck!
These words went straight to my heart. I am an interior designer with a masters degree in interior architecture and I work at a large hospitality design firm. Sounds so pretty and glamorous and it is anything but…I am so tired of sitting at a desk all day trying to meet unrealistic (and unnecessary) deadlines day in day out, putting in hours and hours of unpaid overtime to get presentations done that will then get torn up in one hour long meeting with the client sending all that hard work down the drain and having to start all over again. Not to mention the fact that it’s a truly vicious industry…I was fired during my first year working for not “being a good fit” (they hired me as an entry level and knew I only had internship experience). They did this two weeks after I lost my uncle and my grandmother and two months after my youngest cousin got killed in a car crash. That’s the kind of people they were. They made fun of overweight people and laughed at homeless people, they were clicky, fake, superficial, judgmental…they were just truly awful people so yeah, I didn’t fit in. Unfortunately that’s the kind of people I keep running into in my industry and I’ve just had enough of everything.
All this has made me consider going into nursing for about 8 months now. I’m kind, I like helping people, I’m organized, and I like a job that keeps me moving. Nursing is fast paced in a different way than architecture. It’s also very stressful, that I know, but again in a very different way than architecture. In nursing you’re stressed for legit reasons whereas in architecture you’re stressed because of pressure from boses to meet unrealistic deadlines that, let’s face it, mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. It’s meaningless. I keep thinking it’s a phase that it’s going to pass, that I’m just disillusioned with my profession and maybe it’ll be different somewhere else but so far, nope. This article has given me the courage to do more than just think about it. I’m looking into doing the pre-requisite classes while still working as a designer and also I wonder if there are any nursing related volunteer opportunities I could do to get to know the field more and figure out if it really is for me before I jump ship (I’m a cautious person…) I’d love to read a follow up article on how she’s doing now that it’s been a couple of years.
Thank you again!
Thanks for the comment!
I’ll try my best to speak for her for now and try to convince her to write a follow-up. ;-)
Nursing is no cake walk – you typically have to start out on a night shift for at least a few months and there is a learning curve before you feel comfortable (as w/ any job, but when people’s health is at stake it’s magnified).
However, she has adjusted and I’d say she is a lot more satisfied/rewarded than she was at her desk job. Nurses are in high demand, so if you don’t like your spot, you can typically move around pretty quickly and get out of bad situations. She doesn’t have any regrets, making the leap.
There are nursing volunteer/shadow opportunities, and you should definitely take advantage of those to get a feel for it.
Another tip: try to find an employer w/ a lower nurse:patient ratio (typically unionized hospitals). My wife went from 6:1 (non-union, job 1) to 3:1 (union, job 2) on the same type of floor. Better experience for nurse and patient.
NURSING FIELD IS GLUTTED IN MOST OF THE USA UNLESS YOU KNOW SOMEBODY YOU’LL NEVER GET A HOSPITAL JOB> MOST NURSING HOMES DON’T EVEN KEEP STAFF NURSES,CNAs or DIRECTOR OF NURSING IT IS A RACKET. AlSO MOST NURSING HOMES WILL NOT TAKE NEW GRADS. ONCE YOU LOOSE A HOSPITAL JOB AND CAN’T RECOVER A NEW HOSPITAL POSITION YOU ARE SCREWED.
Nadia can you upate me on your situation now?im on the same “superficial,clicky ” field like you and now thinking a shift in career into nursing.how did it all work for you?
Hi Lianne, unfortunately I’m still in the same situation…the hours keep getting worse and nothing changes. I think about becoming a nurse every day but I’m so afraid that I’ll go through all of the years of school and everything and end up hating it…I want to start volunteering at a hospital somehow but all my overtime work prevents me from doing pretty much anything after work. My boyfriend and I might also be moving states soon so now is not the time…but I think about it every day. Sorry this isn’t more helpful! If you want I can give you my email and we can correspond, maybe you’ll make the jump before I do! Naeruve@gmail.com
Wondering how your wife feels about her nursing decision now. I am a BSN prepared RN of over 25 years ago, when BSNs were just getting into hospitals, mainstream. There was “a nursing shortage” back then too, only to find out upon graduating with honors from the largest medical center in the world, that I could not get a good job; every single job was a nightmare, and I resorted to solo travel nursing, crossing all USA time zones and had nine active licenses. Had I not met the man online I would eventually marry 13 years ago, I don’t know what I would have done; I never worked another shift after we were engaged to be married (his proposal). Every once in awhile I check back to see if I missed anything by not sticking with a career that my heart went after (only to loathe it in the end). From what I read, nothing has changed, not even the wages! If you are considering a career in nursing based on all the hype, don’t do it; it is trickery of the worst kind by deceit. Nursing shortages are a line used to keep the schools open, nothing more. Hospitals send nurses home to keep their numbers where they need to be; they are in it for the money only. Nursing was the worst career decision I ever made….I am 61 now and though I am glad I had an out that served me well financially, I still regret I did not do something else that I could have really enjoyed while still earning the same money with a whole lot less stress.
She gets stressed at times, but she does seem fulfilled by the work. Nursing is not for everyone (I certainly would not like it). I’m sorry that it did not work out for you.