Kaiser 1

Calie Kaiser

Composition 1

Professor Lohmeyer

12/10/17

Why You Will Benefit More by Obtaining a Bachelors Degree

During my college search for a nursing degree program, I have run into many problems

consisting of different colleges offering different curriculums and degrees. To become a

Registered Nurse an associates or bachelors degree can be obtained. While both have been

commonly accepted in the past, the research I have found leads me to believe the degree with the

best return rate is a bachelors degree.

Research has shown with the price of college steadily increasing, many people consider

going for an associates degree, which will require less time and in turn less tuition. When

talking in terms of tuition there are many factors to take into account. One is the total costs

without any scholarships or grants, called the sticker price. Another term is the net price

which is the average cost people actually end up paying for college, taking into account all

scholarships and other financial aid given. While the average sticker price of an associates

degree is anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000, the actual net tuition is close to zero (Abel and Deitz

5). This tuition looks a lot better than a bachelors degree, the sticker price being $14,750 and the

net price $6,550 (Abel and Deitz 5). While the associates degree tuition seems small, there are a

lot of hidden costs to be considered in both degrees. In the time spent going to college for an

associates degree, approximately $46,000 in wages could have been earned (Abel and Deitz 5).

This is compared to the $96,000 that could have been potentially earned while completing a
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bachelors degree (Abel and Deitz 5). When you put both the tuition costs and the wages

forgone, an associates degree the costs amounted to roughly $46,700, while a bachelors

amounted to $122,000 (Abel and Deitz 5). Although an associates degree may seem like a better

choice, the saying, you get what you pay for definitely applies to a nursing degree in college.

After considering the prices of colleges, going through with a plan, and graduating the

whole point is to actually use the degree. I interviewed Melanie Kaiser to explain to me about the

differences in hiring between the two. She is in a management position at Bowdle Healthcare

Center, and helps hire new nurses. She went to school for an associates degree in nursing, then

worked as a nurse while completing her bachelors degree. I asked her if she thought the

bachelors degree education was beneficial and improved her nursing skills and she responded,

Yes, because you learned about all the different specialties of nursing and you were able to get

more clinical hands-on experience in those different areas, (Kaiser). In her time in nursing, she

has been promoted to a department head position, which she believes she would have never

gotten promoted to this with an associates degree. When hiring, the first thing Melanie looks at

is the applicants education and past experience. When asked if she would hire a bachelors

degree over an associates degree holder, she responded Yes, I feel they have a better education

and better management skills, (Kaiser). Although she believes an associates degree is a good

degree to have and that associates degree holders are definitely capable, she believes a

bachelors degree is superior because it offers more in-depth schooling of the different areas of

nursing and also incorporates management classes. She pointed out some states do not even hire

someone with an associates degree in nursing, and if they do, the person hired has to sign a

contract, stating they will complete their bachelors degree in a set number of years. I then asked

Melanie about her interpretation on why hospitals are leaning towards only hiring nurses with
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bachelors degrees. She said she believes that they are leaning towards this because they have

better management and leadership skills. Since there are so many different specialties in

nursing, she says, a bachelors degree helps further explore these specialties and become

knowledgeable on them, (Kaiser). She believes that this can give nurses an advantage over

nurses with an associate degree.

While finding a job can be hard for some registered nurses with an associates degree, as

Melanie pointed out, they also dont have as much mobility with their careers in terms of raises,

promotions, other certifications. An associates nursing degree has not been around long, only

about 50 years, and since its introduction was a result of the nursing shortage, the shorter

education had significantly increased the numbers of registered nurses (Mahaffey). Although the

education and costs are significantly cheater and shorter, cheaper isnt necessarily better,

(Boyington). In a competitive job market, someone with a higher education may look more

qualified on a resume because more than likely they have had to take more classes to complete

their degree. This means that employers may feel more comfortable hiring fill-time employees

that come from well-known institutions, even when other candidates may have sufficient work

experience, (Boyington). Boyington also warns, the perceptions about the quality of an

associate degree still exist. An associates nursing degree has been sufficient in the past for

many nursing jobs; however, more hospitals are employing nurses with at least a bachelors

degree to maintain magnet status. Associates degree holders also earn a lesser salary on

average than a registered nurse with a bachelors degree. Their number of jobs in the United

States is below half of what the number of jobs for nurses with a bachelors degree, according

the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On top of that, the number of bachelor degree nurses jobs are

expected to increase by 15% by 2026, where an associates degree is projected to grow by 12%
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(Bureau of Labor Statistics). Not only does an associates fall under a bachelors for the number

of jobs, but it also falls short of it for pay. The median pay of a nurse with an associates degree

is $21.20 per hour, which adds up to around $44,090 per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics). By

adding two years of college to earn a bachelors degree, a nurse earns $32.91 per hour on

average, which adds up to about $68,450 per year (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

By taking both factors into account, the cost of the degree and the average salary, you

will find the rate of return on the investment made in the education. While an associates degree

costs less, you will also earn less, while a bachelors degree is the opposite. In nursing there is

quite a gap between your earnings. While some may think that since the associates degree cost

less so the pay being less evens out with the bachelors degree tuition because you will not have

as many loans. While this may be true for the first part of your career, in the long run you will

make more money with a bachelors degree because of your capability to earn more raises and

higher paying management positions that associate degree holders do not quality for. There are

also more advantages in having a bachelors degree rather than an associates degree, such as job

security, which I talked about previously.

Between all the advantages and disadvantages between the two degrees, I believe that a

bachelors degree for nursing is the smarter choice. By obtaining a bachelors degree nurses will

have greater job security in the sense that there are many job openings and they have a better

chance of being hired over someone with an associates degree. Melanie Kaiser, who obtained

both, pointed out that she would have not moved up to a higher paying job without a bachelors

degree. She also believes that nurses with bachelors degrees have a better rounded education of

all of the different specialties in the nursing field. Even though the cost of education is higher,

the salary of a nurse with a bachelors degree in turn is higher, and they are more likely to
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receive raises over an associates degree nurse. I urge for anyone going into nursing to obtain a

bachelors degree in nursing. The return rate of a bachelors degree will be greater than that of an

associates degree.
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Works Cited
Abel, Jaison R. and Richard Deitz. "Current Issues in Economics and Finance." Federal Reserve Bank of
New York. 2014.
https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/research/current_issues/ci20-3.pdf. 20
November 2017.

Boyington, Briana. "How Employers View an Associate Degree." U.S. News and World Reports. 2014.
https://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2014/08/04/how-employers-view-an-associate-
degree. 20 November 2017.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2017. https://stats.bls.gov/ooh/. 20 November 2017.

Goedde, Brian. "Talk to Us, Mr. President." The New York Times. 2016.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/opinion/talk-to-us-mr-president.html?_r=1. 20
November 2017.

Kaiser, Melanie. Interview. Calie Kaiser. 20 November 2017.

Mahaffery, Elizabeth. The Relevance of Associate Degree Nursing Education: Past, Present, and Future.
2002.
http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Ta
bleofContents/Volume72002/No2May2002/RelevanceofAssociateDegree.html. 20 November
2017.

Schneider, Mark. "The Hidden Costs of Community Colleges." October 2011. 20 November 2017.