Nurse or Social Worker?

The first STEAM course in my senior year is called Economics. In this class we discussed opportunity cost, learned how to calculate interest, and learned how to work with matrices. We also looked at supply and demand, and saw how that works on a graph. The FE for this unit was really interesting. We went to the Federal Reserve Bank to talk about what they do there, and what they do for the economy. For the first action project, the class was assigned to choose a career we could see ourselves getting into, and figure out the cost of our college tuition, salary, and how long it would take us to pay off students loans. For my project, I did research on two careers that I have though about going into. As you read my essay and look at my graphs, you'll figure out which occupation I end up choosing. I hope you enjoy reading!

To continue my education next year, I can go either go to Illinois State University for nursing, or I can attend University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign for social work. Nurses have the duty of taking and planning medical care for mentally or physically ill patients. Social workers have the role of helping people get through and cope with problems they go through everyday. Nurses can work in hospitals, clinics, and even homes. Social workers can also be found in hospitals, as well as in schools, mental health clinics, and child welfare and human services agencies.

Something that these two career paths have in common is that they involve helping other people, and making sure others are feeling their best,which is why I chose them. My aunt is a nurse, and I love hearing her heart warming stories, as well as her scary ones. Social work interests me because I think something needs to be done about how mentally ill patients are treated, and it would be cool to be apart of that change. To be a nurse, I must go to college for 4 years to get my bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree. In order to become a social worker, I have to go to college for 4 years and get a bachelors degree in social work (BSW).

Pursuing my education also means spending some more money. In 2015-2016 the cost of tuition at Illinois State was $13,664. The cost for 2016-2017 comes out to be $14,062. That means the tuition percent increase comes out to 3%. At the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, tuition for 2015-2016 was $12,036. For 2016-2017, it comes out to be $15,698. The tuition percent increase comes to 30%. If I were to go to ISU for 4 years, my cost would be $60,464.98. For the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, the total for 4 years would come out to be $127,430.67.

(Nursing)

(Social Work)

If I choose to go to nursing school, it would take me 9 years to pay my student loans, and the true cost of college would be $75,574,11. The amount of interest I would pay would be $15,109.13. The true cost of college for social work comes out to be $188,561.58. The interest I would pay is $61,130.91. If I choose to go to school for social work, it would take me 17 years to pay off student loans.

The minimum salary for nursing is $44,70, the median is $83,291, and the maximum is $104,276. For a social worker, the minimum is $46,836, the median is $52,945, and the max comes out to $59,340. For nursing I would make $3,888,269 by the time I retire. If I were to become a social worker, I would make $2,458,152. Going to school to become a social worker cost more, yet I would be making less. In the United States there are 3,129,452 registered nurses (RN). The total amount of social workers in the U.S comes out to be 650,000. Nursing and social work both are expected to grow 19%, and are considered to be one of the most fastest growing careers.

(Salary for Nursing)

(Salary for Social Work)

People will always be getting sick, and there will always be problems that are taking over people’s lives, so the demand for both occupations would be set high. Below I have a supply and demand chart for both occupations.

Supply and demand chart (Nursing)

Supply and Demand chart (Social Work)

At the end, I realized that it would be best for me to go to school for nursing. Like I stated before, tuition would cost me less, and I would be making more money at the end, whereas going to school for social work, would cost me more, and I’d be making less. It would also take me more time to pay off my student loans if I were to choose social work. So my incentive would be the amount of money I would be making for nursing. I talked to my mom about all this because I wanted to hear about her college experience, as well as some advice. She talked about how it was hard, and how she did pull many all nighters, but at the end it’s totally worth it, because now she actually enjoys going to work because she loves what she’s doing. I really liked what she said, because although I know it’s going to be hard, I know it’ll be worth it when I’m at work and I’m actually enjoying what I’m doing.

I made 3 assumptions about my decision to go to nursing school:

• I’ll be a productive member of my community
• It’ll be easy to find a job, because I’ll have a BSN.
• I’ll find a job in the hospital that I want to work in.

Citations:
"Total Number of Professionally Active Nurses." The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. N.p., Apr. 2016. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

"Social Work Profession." Social Work Profession. National Association of Social Workers, n.d. Web. Sept. 2016.

"Tuition." , Illinois Admissions. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2016

"Tuition Rates." Home. Illinois State University, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.