A new study has revealed that a significant number of nurses have been turning to side hustles in order to make ends meet under the weight of high tuition costs, student loan debt, and wages that barely stretch to cover the rising costs of living.
The study, conducted by St. Thomas University and released on November 18, found that four in five nurses have a side hustle outside of nursing, with nearly half having started theirs in the last one to three years.
Following the release of the study and the Department of Education’s exclusion of nursing as a “professional” degree, Newsweek spoke to a number of nurses with side hustles.
Why It Matters
The welfare and financial security of nurses have come into the spotlight in recent weeks after the Department of Education excluded nursing from the list of what it determined were “professional” degrees, meaning nurses will now receive significantly smaller loans for tuition and training than other medical professionals.
The move has outraged many nurses, as well as patients, and more than 200,000 Americans signed a petition started by the American Nurses Association to ask the department to modify the policy to include nursing.
What The Study Found
The study also found that nurses with side hustles earn 17 percent of their total income from these additional streams, and the most common side hustles include selling products (37 percent), travel nursing shifts (20 percent), rideshare or delivery (17 percent) and content creation (16 percent).
Some nurses also had more than one side hustle: 29 percent had 2, while 5 percent had three or more.
The study also found that 71 percent of nurses took on their side hustles due to concerns about inflation and rising costs of living, while 34 percent started them to cover their student loan debt.
Many more nurses have thought about starting a side hustle as well—just less than 80 percent considered starting one in the past year.
For those that didn’t have a side hustle, the main reported concerns were in relation to potential burnout, not having the time outside of nursing and not knowing how to start one. Only 28 percent said they felt their nursing income was sufficient.
The report was based on the findings of a survey of 182 nurses across the U.S. between August 25 to 28, 2025. The participants’ average age was 36, and the majority were female.
Speaking To Nurses With Side Hustles
Following the release of the study, and the Department of Education’s exclusion of nursing as a “professional” degree, Newsweek spoke to a number of nurses with side hustles.
Janine Kelbach, a nurse of 20 years and founder of WriteRN, an digital platform led by nurses who write to share trustworthy medical information online, told Newsweek that in nursing “your salary barely moves,” and while a nurse may get a small raise each year, they do not receive anything “life-changing.”
She said the most financial stress she’s ever experienced was during her pregnancy, as maternity leave was unpaid, and so she said she kept working “right up until labor so I could afford more time at home with my baby.”
“Side hustles weren’t optional—they were part of survival,” she said. “In 20 years, I never held just one job. I always had a [part time/PRN] role somewhere, or full-time plus home care, and later full-time nursing while building my writing agency.”
However, managing her writing agency alongside her full-time job was not easy. Kelbach said it required “extreme time awareness and a lot of sacrifice,” and she would wake up an hour earlier to work on her own business before heading to the hospital, while using days off to work for her own clients.
“I made it all happen, but it absolutely came at the expense of my own health and well-being,” she said. “It put me in a constant scarcity mindset—always hoping the next paycheck would be enough.”
With the rising cost of living, stagnant nursing wages, and massive student loan debt, she said, “it’s no surprise nurses are burning out or leaving. It’s heartbreaking but not surprising.”
She also said that this financial stress doesn’t just affect nurses; it also affects patient care. “When nurses are juggling multiple jobs and sacrificing their own health just to stay afloat, burnout isn’t far behind,” she said. “If we want safe, high-quality care and experienced nurses to stay in the profession, fair pay and better support aren’t optional—they’re essential.”
Jenn Plescia, a board-certified nurse practitioner who set up an intravenous hydration and aesthetics business in New Jersey, told Newsweek that “like many nurses, I found myself needing a side hustle to feel financially secure and to build a future with more stability and flexibility.”
Her first side hustle—performing rapid PCR COVID tests in 2020—afforded her full maternity leave when she had her second daughter.
Her current business—IVs by the Seas—began as “a way to create financial stability and autonomy that traditional nursing roles were no longer providing,” she added.
But again, managing a side hustle on top of a demanding full-time job, was not only hard financially, but also mentally, as she was left with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from working as a bedside nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I had to become extremely structured with my time, protect every hour, and remain laser-focused on my long-term goals. Even then, burnout was a very real risk,” Plescia said.
“Nurses shouldn’t have to work themselves into the ground or build businesses on the side just to make ends meet,” she added. “Restoring nursing as a viable, respected profession starts with investing in the people who hold the healthcare system together.”
However, not all nurses have had the same experience. Ida Adesina, a former working nurse and American Heart Association instructor and an accredited Nursing Continuing Education (CEU) Provider who runs her own mentoring program for nurses, told Newsweek her experience as a nurse has been “miraculous.”
“I haven’t experienced what many nurses have because I was strategic and got through four nursing programs debt-free,” she said.
Not having to cover student debt meant she could “save, invest, and afford the things I need.” She said that while she does have a side hustle, that business is “designed to help other nurses do what I’ve been able to do.”
Read the full article here
