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Archives for May 2025

Report: Nursing Ranked No. 3 Among Top 10 Occupations to Earn $100,000

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If you’re looking for an opportunity to earn a six-figure salary right out of college and you enjoy helping others, now is a great time to pursue a career in nursing. 

Nursing has been ranked No. 3 of the top 10 jobs in which Gen Z graduates have the potential to earn six-figure salaries. The ranking, released by ZipRecruiter, also listed nursing as one of the most “useful” majors for Gen Z. 

Gen Z graduates expect to make $101,000 per year in their first job, according to the ZipRecruiter report. However, most grads make $68,000 out of school, the report estimates. In contrast, the 2024 median pay for registered nurses was $93,600 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with some states like Washington and California paying well over $100,000 per year.

In addition to stable pay, healthcare careers like nursing are also essentially AI-proof, according to a recent Fortune article. Industry experts anticipate that many U.S. businesses will experience significant disruption throughout the next decade – amounting to roughly “12 million occupational transitions” – due to AI in the workplace. Some roles, like administrative work and customer service, could be phased out, while jobs in healthcare will remain stable. For example, nurse practitioners are expected to be in serious demand through 2033, with an anticipated growth rate of 46% through the next decade. 

One of the many benefits of becoming a nurse is the ability to specialize in different areas of healthcare and change roles or departments. Because there are so many job openings in nursing right now, you can easily move up to management and higher level nursing roles, in addition to different facilities or hospitals throughout the course of your career. 

Some of the “happiest” or most rewarding nursing roles out there include pediatrics, oncology, and education, according to Nurse.org. Other specialties in which nurses report high job satisfaction include travel nursing, public health, and research. 

Jill Saxton, a nurse and educator who started her career at the age of 18, encourages those interested in helping others to consider a career in nursing. One of the greatest things about nursing, according to Jill, is that there are so many job options and ways to make a difference, whether it’s in direct patient care or helping others learn the vocation of nursing. 

Not all nursing jobs require working directly with patients – and you can move around to other positions since there are so many openings. There are also nurse management jobs, where you can “work for your workers” Jill says, helping with things like scheduling and administrative work. 

“Even if you’re not doing the direct care, there’s so many ways that we can gain fulfillment in our career versus just going in and punching a clock 9 to 5. There are many jobs that don’t use medical skills.”

While there are a number of ways to enter the nursing field, if you’re interested in becoming a nurse, you may want to first consider earning your associate  degree in nursing (ADN), through a two year nursing program. From there, you can enroll in the UW-Milwaukee RN-to-BSN bachelor’s degree through UW Flexible Option, which is 100 percent online and can be completed at your own pace. Students with an ADN will be awarded a minimum of 60 credits toward their bachelor’s degree. Hospitals and healthcare facilities prefer to hire nurses with bachelor’s degrees, as data has shown higher levels of education have been proven to lower patient mortality, improve patient outcomes, and better tackle the growing complexities of healthcare. Having a bachelor’s degree in nursing will also lay the foundation should you choose to pursue a graduate nursing degree as your career progresses. 

For more information about UW Flexible Option, contact an enrollment adviser.

 

High-Paying Jobs for Business Majors in 2025

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If you’re looking for a field with a wide range of lucrative opportunities, you might want to consider a career in business. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 911,400 projected new job openings per year in business and financial occupations. In these roles, you can expect to be involved in the day-to-day activities of running a business or with matters related to money. The BLS also reports that the demand for financial managers is expected to increase 17 percent through 2033. 

Last month, Indeed.com released a list of high-paying jobs for business majors (with salaries ranging from $80,000 to more than $100,000), including:

  • Financial advisor. Financial advisors support clients and individuals by taking a look at their assets and salaries to set long-term financial goals. They also engage in estate planning and debt management. Financial advising usually requires a bachelor’s degree, and most advisors can expect to make roughly $82,059 per year, according to Indeed.
  • Business analyst. Business analysts look at data to inform business strategy or improve an organization’s processes. They must be able to communicate well and manage large projects. Indeed reports that business analysts generally have a bachelor’s degree and earn an average annual salary of $83,763.
  • Project Manager. Project manager openings are projected to grow 7 percent in the next 10 years, faster than average for all occupations, with 77,000 openings projected each year. Nationally, project managers can expect salaries of about $103,000, according to ZipRecruiter.
  • Product manager. This role requires working with a team to ensure the success of a product or good. Many technology companies hire product managers with an average salary of $105,434, Indeed says. If you’re interested in becoming a product manager, consider upskilling in project management in addition to a bachelor’s degree in business to maximize your career opportunities.
  • Controller. Controllers are responsible for an organization’s accounting functions and can expect an average salary of $106,123, according to Indeed. While most controllers have a master’s degree in business administration, some only have a bachelor’s degree.

To find the right business role for you, consider attending a job fair or a networking event. Many universities offer these events in addition to other career resources for students enrolled in their degree programs.

UW Flexible Option currently offers the UW-Parkside Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration (BSBA) with two concentrations: General Business or Business Analytics. You can also enroll in the Business Analytics or Agile Project Management certificates to learn specialized and practical business skills you can immediately apply on the job.

With UW Flexible Option, you’ll benefit from competency-based online learning programs that can be completed on your own schedule. For recent business administration graduate Antwuan Sanders, UW Flexible Option’s versatility was appealing because it gave him control over his education.

“I think the biggest incentive for me was that I could take as many classes as I could handle without someone trying to cap how many I should take,” Antwuan says. “It was up to me to decide what level, how many courses, how many hours per week to study. It gave me power over my education, and that felt good. I like being in control of my own life, and the Flex program gave me that.”

Antwaun also went straight from his bachelor’s degree program into the online MBA program at UW-Parkside with no breaks.

“What I learned in the BSBA program set me up for the MBA program,” he adds. “I had no issues in a lot of courses because of what I learned in the BSBA program. Even if I had decided not to pursue my MBA, I could have gone out into the workforce and pursued other opportunities with the knowledge I gained in the Flex BSBA program.”

Are you interested in a business career? Whether you’ve never attended college or have taken a few courses, UW Flexible Option can offer you a chance to learn on your own time. Check out some Frequently Asked Questions about our bachelor’s degree program in business administration to learn more.