If you are a nurse or a nursing graduate, then you are probably already aware of the vast advantages career-wise in continuing your education and achieving new nurse practitioner qualifications. Nurses who hold a master of science in nursing – family nurse practitioner (MSN-FNP) are very much in demand, with a very high rate of employment upon graduation and an average salary of over $100k per year.
If you want to undertake the training to upgrade your own qualifications and become a family nurse practitioner, then you may be put off by the idea of the cost of the study, and the fact that doing post-graduate study may mean having to relocate somewhere for the duration of the program or commute to a college campus. You may also be reluctant to take on the course due to your personal life, with commitments like a family meaning that you may not be able to structure your days around lectures and coursework as you may have been able to do with your first degree.
Fortunately, there is now the alternative of doing your BSN to MSN FNP training online. This can offer a huge number of advantages for busy people who want to get credible, high-quality training without the disruption to their lives that can often come with going to college the conventional way.
Here we look at some of the reasons to consider using an online course to get your MSN MFP qualification:
Study Remotely
Studying online means that you will be able to access courses run by colleges in different cities or states to you without relocating or traveling. Many online courses do require a short residential portion to the course where you can meet the faculty and the other people you will be studying alongside, and do any practical assessments that need to be done in person or using equipment you won’t have at home, but this will generally just be a stay of a few days during the whole masters course. It also represents an interesting experience and a good networking opportunity, so most people see these required trips as a benefit rather than an inconvenience. Other than that, you will be able to work remotely and communicate with the faculty using online methods, as well as being able to access all of your course materials from wherever you like.
This is not only good for allowing you more flexibility – meaning you can even study and keep up with lectures while traveling if you want to – but it also helps keep costs down. Which brings us to another benefit.
Qualify for Less
For many nurses, there is already the concern about student debt from their original degree to contend with, and while there is a lucrative career at the end of the FNP qualification route, you probably want to keep the costs of qualifying as low as you can so that you won’t have a large debt burden to deal with once you get there. Giving yourself new opportunities and advancing your career is always an investment, however, you shouldn’t need to make the decision about whether to take the course or not based on whether you can afford it.
With an online course, expenses are naturally kept to a minimum because you don’t need to pay for relocation, commuting, or even things like childcare as you study from home, but you will also find that generally, tuition costs a lot less too. This has nothing to do with the quality of the teaching you’ll receive, but the fact that the teachers can also work more flexibly and without the same overheads as when a school holds all of its teaching activities on a bricks and mortar campus. This can definitely make online study the budget-friendly option, and when you combine this with the flexibility – which means you can work while you study if you want to – you may well find a way to do your MSN FNP course without accruing student debt.
Learn the Way that Suits You Best
There is no denying that an MSN is a challenging course, with a lot of interesting things for you to learn that can build on your existing nursing knowledge and experience. Of course, everyone learns in different ways and responds best to certain styles of teaching, and with an online course, you have a lot more freedom to make good use of the study style that suits you best. You don’t have to furiously take down notes in lectures if that doesn’t help you because you will have recordings of your lectures that you can watch as many times as you like, as well as written materials to review if that suits you best, and exercises that enable you to learn by doing. With an online degree, you can personalize the way you interact with the resources available to you to make sure you feel completely confident that you are taking in everything you need from your MSN FNP program.
Credible Qualifications
While there may have been a time when online degrees were seen as inferior, this is definitely no longer the case, and as the way that courses are delivered and students and teachers can interact have evolved, there is really no question now that you can get an equivalent education by studying at home. When you study online with a reputable school with a good faculty and well-designed online program, you can rest assured that not only will your study be high quality, but that employers will know this.
If you are starting to think about taking the next step into furthering your nursing career, then why not look into the online options available, and begin to plan how you might be able to work an online MSN FNP course around your life. You may be pleasantly surprised by the cost involved, and the variety of colleges that offer high-quality FNP courses you can do from home.