Wondering if my plan is good...

[cookderosa]

It's inspiring to hear this.. and helpful beyond words. No need for apologies ; it happens often. I choose acupuncture because it can be blended into many many types of businesses ( like into a spa or rehab retreat for example ). Your all good and your intention was good so no worries.

My family and I live on limited income ; so I have to be extremely careful about the cost of college and the investment since many of it will be out of pocket. Like you said... I don't want to waste steps. I want to spend as little time and money as possible on the undergrad degree and spend a ton on grad school.

SO please! Help with anything you can ... I don't want to make the wrong choice and end up having to start all over just to get into grad school... that would be depressing. I really appreciate your offer and your experience. Thank you again.

PS. Love the fan page you made about free colleges /looking forward to your book too.

Ok, so strictly from a mathematical perspective, nursing will give you a zillion times better return on investment than any of the options you outlined (the nurses are going to freak out because they'll tell you not to go into nursing for the money, and I agree, but you can pick what you want to do-I'm not going to influence you there, I'm just going to show you the math!)

A lot of this you probably already know because of your mom, but...here's what I would do if it were me:

You can earn your RN by completing an associate degree. Almost every community college offers a nursing program leading to RN. Average community college tuition is around $100/credit, average associate degree in nursing is around 65 credits. There are always science requirements, and they are almost always on top of that, so lets round up to 75. So, rack rate for this option is $7500 for a 2 yearish degree. If you have a child and if money is tight, there is an excellent chance that you'll qualify for a Pell Grant which is $5500/year - the overage pays for books and uniforms, stethoscope, etc. In short, no out of pocket. Now, you can't shave much time off of this because nursing classes require sequencing that will take 4 semesters, but you can shave class load. You can do this by using CLEP to take all the gen eds (not science) and get them off your plate. English, Sociology, Math, etc are all easily done via CLEP. Taking 1 class per semester OFF YOUR PLATE makes life a little more manageable, even if it means you're paying cash for the CLEP while the class might otherwise be paid for by Pell.

Also, I would apply for the NURSE Corps Scholarship Program. http://www.hrsa.gov
You'll get 100% of everything completely paid, plus a monthly stipend $ for living expenses.

**all of this** can be done very inexpensively, and qualifies you for work as an RN. Starting salary is up close to $25/hour, you can work flexible shifts, and you'll get benefits. I'd also suggest picking a hospital that provides tuition reimbursement for your BSN.

Your BSN, when you're ready to start (might need to work 1 year first) can be 100% online and 100% free through tuition reimbursement. These take 2 or less years.

Some, not all, hospitals also pay for MSN or NP school, but that's for another day. Too many variables there, but you can get into nursing for very very low cost and earn a living in the $50,000 range with no student loan debt.

Cost to earn RN (under $10,000) return on investment at 10 years from today: $50,000 year x 8 years = $400,000 - $10,000 education = $390,000 (takes 2 years to get credential)
Cost to earn X degree (input here) return on investment at 10 years from today: $salary year x __ years = _______ - $edu cost = ____________


You can run those numbers in any other plan, but nursing is almost always the winner because you can earn the credential for next to nothing and the income rocks. Doctors don't break even for a long time, so you'd have to be a doctor LONGER than 15 years before you'd have a better return on investment. There is no data in the govt occupational handbook for Chinese Medicine, so I couldn't run the numbers, but since they don't get insurance reimbursement, you'll have some issues with finding people who can pay cash for treatment. My estimation is that it won't profit as well as nursing, but that's just a guess.