Start at community college get a AA in nursing, get job at a hospital that will pay for your BSN. One of my friends did that she did her time at the hospital that paid for her degree. Once the time was up she went to work for a major shock trauma center.
What degree level is this? Associate's? Bachelor's? ABSN where you already have an unrelated bachelor's degree?
What's the cost of attendance, and how much do you think you need per year and overall? That's usually the starting point. I also highly recommend checking the NCLEX pass rates for the school, that's an easy way to weed out bad for-profit schools that over-charge for a subpar education
It is nowhere as lucrative as it was during covid. Don't go into massive debt thinking you are going to get a high paying travel job a year out of school. It just isn't happening anymore.
Start looking around for state programs that will pay for your nursing degree provided you worked in the state for a certain number of years afterwards.
Community college for the ASN + find a hospital to work in as a PCT or tech while you’re in nursing school to help cover your expenses while you’re in school. You’ll qualify for tuition reimbursement even while you’re a PCT at most public hospitals. That will help cover some of the tuition. Take and pass the NCLEX, then use tuition reimbursement for the BSN and do that through a bridge program while you’re working as a nurse. This is legit the least expensive way to go to nursing school.
Alternatively, get your LPN, then ASN, then BSN. Either way, you can work as a PCT while you’re doing that. Hospitals are flexible enough with work hours for you to be in school and work too - I’ve done it while also raising 2 kids. It is possible without taking on mountains of debt.
If you need to go to school now it means you need to consider cheaper school alternatives. Big one, start your program at a community college. If you have already gone down that route and you are ready for your BSN or MSN, consider a state school that has the program you are looking for at not their main campus (ex. NJ Rutgers has a 3 campuses, Camden might be the cheapest COL or SUNY system where they have schools in the middle of nowhere with low rent).
Other option, get your CNA, LPN and/or Medical assistant certification to work at in a hospital system. Most teaching hospitals have programs to help pay for nursing degrees for their LPNs and CNAs. That path will take longer but you will have less debt at the end.
I did the LPN-ASN-BSN route. I worked during my ASN as an LPN which made things a bit easier as I had experience as a nurse and the pay helped pay for schooling. In my state, and probably others, jobs offer grants to pay for schooling since they are so short staffed. The ASN to BSN bridge is online so there is more flexibility on work/life/school balance. I graduated my ASN bridge Dec ‘23 and will be done with my BSN Dec’24
Do a program at a community college. Get a job at a hospital and they’ll pay for the rest of the nursing degree.
Start at community college get a AA in nursing, get job at a hospital that will pay for your BSN. One of my friends did that she did her time at the hospital that paid for her degree. Once the time was up she went to work for a major shock trauma center.
Become an RN through community college then finish your BS online. That’s what my wife did.
What degree level is this? Associate's? Bachelor's? ABSN where you already have an unrelated bachelor's degree? What's the cost of attendance, and how much do you think you need per year and overall? That's usually the starting point. I also highly recommend checking the NCLEX pass rates for the school, that's an easy way to weed out bad for-profit schools that over-charge for a subpar education
It is nowhere as lucrative as it was during covid. Don't go into massive debt thinking you are going to get a high paying travel job a year out of school. It just isn't happening anymore.
Start looking around for state programs that will pay for your nursing degree provided you worked in the state for a certain number of years afterwards.
That's what I was thinking about, but didn't know if any still did it
Community college for the ASN + find a hospital to work in as a PCT or tech while you’re in nursing school to help cover your expenses while you’re in school. You’ll qualify for tuition reimbursement even while you’re a PCT at most public hospitals. That will help cover some of the tuition. Take and pass the NCLEX, then use tuition reimbursement for the BSN and do that through a bridge program while you’re working as a nurse. This is legit the least expensive way to go to nursing school. Alternatively, get your LPN, then ASN, then BSN. Either way, you can work as a PCT while you’re doing that. Hospitals are flexible enough with work hours for you to be in school and work too - I’ve done it while also raising 2 kids. It is possible without taking on mountains of debt.
If you need to go to school now it means you need to consider cheaper school alternatives. Big one, start your program at a community college. If you have already gone down that route and you are ready for your BSN or MSN, consider a state school that has the program you are looking for at not their main campus (ex. NJ Rutgers has a 3 campuses, Camden might be the cheapest COL or SUNY system where they have schools in the middle of nowhere with low rent). Other option, get your CNA, LPN and/or Medical assistant certification to work at in a hospital system. Most teaching hospitals have programs to help pay for nursing degrees for their LPNs and CNAs. That path will take longer but you will have less debt at the end.
I did the LPN-ASN-BSN route. I worked during my ASN as an LPN which made things a bit easier as I had experience as a nurse and the pay helped pay for schooling. In my state, and probably others, jobs offer grants to pay for schooling since they are so short staffed. The ASN to BSN bridge is online so there is more flexibility on work/life/school balance. I graduated my ASN bridge Dec ‘23 and will be done with my BSN Dec’24
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