I am an RN so you have to ignore the spelling. I have worked in La. and Az. No difference in pay. I do have my BSN just because I had another degree and it was not much more time to get it over an asscociates. If you get tired of staff nurse and want to go into management then you need your BSN. So while you are in school, if you can afford it, I would say just go for the BSN at that time. I also know several nurses who went back later and got their BSN through online courses (a little scary) but one or 2 good online courses out there.