Gloria works as an Inpatient Psychiatry Staff Nurse, part of an interdisciplinary team for individuals with acute mental health crisis. Working toward her BSN is the next step in realizing her goal to become a family nurse practitioner and a certified Psychiatric NP.
Challenges
It isn’t easy, especially balancing her time and finances. Going to school at least half-time has enabled Gloria to qualify for financial aid, and she receives tuition reimbursement from her employer. She has had to give up some social time, in addition to reducing her hours at work, in order to juggle her responsibilities as a single parent, employee, and student. Gloria relies on financial aid to supplement her income since decreasing her hours at work, and says she couldn’t have gone back to school without that financial help.
Success
Sometimes our greatest challenges give rise to our greatest success. In returning to school for her BSN, Gloria says her greatest success has been learning to juggle life and the many demands on her time. She feels good about the skills she has developed around setting priorities and finds school is easier for her this time around. She’s also proud of how savvy she has become in navigating the financial aid system.
Advice
Gloria offers this advice to RNs considering a return to school for their BSN: Apply for financial aid and go part time, taking 6-9 credits. She wishes she had known sooner that she could qualify for grant funding by increasing her enrollment from 6 credits to 9. Gloria also encourages people to take advantage of opportunities like travel study if they possibly can. She says, “Going back to school is a big task, but it’s a great opportunity to switch things up!”