Income potential is among the lures of travel nursing. But you may not realize that hourly rate is only a part of the money-making equation. These are some of the many ways travel nurses boost their take-home pay:

Turn unused benefits/perks into cash.
Some travel companies, including Onward Healthcare, offer flexible option benefit packages, allowing travelers to pick and choose those benefits they need, while getting cash credit for those they don’t. Travelers who don’t need the housing, health insurance or travel reimbursement offered by their travel company, can turn these benefits into pay raises. Some travelers find less expensive housing and pocket what’s left of the travel company’s allowable housing expense.

Don’t leave home without your car.
Better yet, have you ever considered a motor home? Despite high gas prices, it’s still usually cheaper to drive your car to your travel destination, rather than relying on public transportation. This is true especially given the amount of site seeing you might want to do. Taking that thought a giant leap further, how about traveling from your very own RV? Many of today’s nurse travelers tow their cars or motorcycles and pocket much of the cost associated with housing.

Consider off-the-beaten path locations.
Travelers find the highest paying locations are generally in places that have difficulty attracting traveling nurses. Destination type places, as well as attractive academic institutions, aren’t as hungry for travelers as those out-of-the-way rural or inner city hospitals, so, it makes sense, that the “hungriest” hospitals are more willing to pay higher hourly rates.

Ask about Onward’s Rapid Response Nursing program.
Rapid Response is Onward’s way of paying extra for those travel nurses who can leave for their assignment on the drop of a dime. Nurses who have their paperwork in order and can leave for their next travel assignment with only two to three weeks notice, command high pay—with the highest hourly pay rates in the industry for assignments across the U.S.

If maximizing your pay as a traveler is one of your top goals, speak up and ask your recruiter about these and other money-making options.

By Lisette Hilton, Featured Contributor