WWYD? Use some retirement to pay for school? - Page 2

[happysmileylady]

Gosh, I am sure that adjusting to this new life, with your disability, will be rough. I can't really imagine how isolating is must be. Perhaps, at this point, rather than trying to go to school, you might be better off taking some time just to adjust. Trying to adjust AND go to school at the same time would be really stressful.

As far as jobs you can do without hearing....

What about a school nurse at a deaf school? Or education at a deaf school? An interpreter for a hospital?

[phathui5]

Have you checked to see what you would qualify for in terms in financial aid?

[mumkimum]

Good luck with whatever's ahead.

I wanted to think about this with my dh for a bit, after reading a few days ago (he's an RN in an ICU too, and just got his BSN and wants to go on to a CRNA hopefully, so there you go ).
He took his schooling doing an RN to BSN programslowly, to save money and minimize loans. So, lots of pre-reqs in advance of starting the RN-to-BSN program, taking it through a community college that had a partnership with the larger college (so their classes were cheaper), stuff like that. Personally, I think you're better off NOT taking out retirement money and doing loans, even in light of your dh's plans for schooling.

I think, if you look around, there's probably jobs in teaching or research, or even doing things like audits, etc. that you could still do being HOH and would be great to have an experienced RN doing - and if you fit in personality-wise, you might be able to do without a BSN or do while you were in school, possibly. You might find that some places are willing to be flexible about that. There might be support jobs that would be better done by an experienced RN that might work out for you too (so possibly less than RN pay, but still being involved with the field you're used to working in). There are so many online RN to BSN programs these days too - possibly being involved with something like that would fit well? Working with development of medical software or as a legal consultant is also something that might work out being HOH too.

[confustication]

You have a disability that means you can no longer effectively work in the field you had been working in.

You will continue to have this disability, and you need to change direction in your life and career to reassess and move forward.

Those changes will take additional training and education, as well as support.

You need to contact your local vocational rehabilitation folks, as I am sure you will qualify for mostly funded education and training. They can make wonderful things happen for people in situations like yours, please make use of them.

Here is the link to your state voc rehab page http://dvr.dhhs.state.nc.us/

[Bethanydear]

Don't forget, too, that the new Public Service Loan forgiveness program is in effect! Take out your loans, work as a nurse full time for 10 years and pay into those loans for 10 years, and the rest is forgiven.

Could you do tele monitoring, I wonder?

[Sharon, RN]

Thank you all again so much for your ideas.

I would qualify for some financial aid. I had forgotten about VR, thank you for reminding me. :-) I was actually able to get the name of the rep who works with deaf/hoh in my area, and I'm going to call/e-mail tomorrow.

I just e-mailed the assistant dean of the nursing school where I'm interested in getting my RN to BSN, and she says she's not sure if I can go back to school. There is a nursing assessment course and a clinical component, which would require hearing, I guess. The irony of this whole thing is that I want to go back to nursing school, because I can't work at the bedside anymore, but because I can't hear at the bedside in clinical, I can't go to school! Go figure!

Ahh... well. I'm going to meet with the disability services department at the school I'm interested in to see if there's anything we can do. Otherwise, we'll just have to wait and see where my hearing is at maybe next year.

Bummer.

And for those who suggested- yes, I have thought about being a school nurse, but it requires a bachelor's degree. And there's my problem.

While I really would like to go back to school (and feel like I'm doing something for my and my family's future), I have a feeling I'm going to need to wait and see if we can use a hearing aid on my left ear after my surgery. If not, here's looking towards a new career.

Which is kind of sad.

[SC_Jan]

I honestly would not use retirement money to pay for school. Nursing jobs are really hard to get right now, so I don't think you would get a return on your investment. I am a nurse with a BSN and years of experience and I am a little freaked out but the reduction in available jobs. Lots of hospitals have hiring freezes in place, mine even has an in-house transfer freeze.