This disgusts me. Found this on my local Craiglist in the "healthcare" jobs section.

If you are looking to move forward in your nursing career, The College Network® can help. We partner with leading universities to provide online degree programs for busy nurses. Indiana State University is rated one of the best colleges in the Midwest by The Princeton Review and offers the nation's ONLY Online LPN/LVN-to-BSN. Get started today to increase your pay, secure your position, and earn more respect by earning your RN License or your BSN. We also offer RN to BSN/MSN, MS programs.

THEY offer RN to BSN/MSN programs? How is that legal to make that claim?

Educate us. Are they not an accredited school?

Educate us. Are they not an accredited school?

roser13, surely you jest?

I guess there can be some people who have not yet been made aware. Do a search on this site and you will find post after post concerning TCN. They are a publishing company that sells study guides for thousands of dollars to unsuspecting people seeking nursing degrees online.

I'm sure that, if asked, they would clarify that they mean they offer assistance with RN-to-BSN and MSN programs. Earlier in the paragraph, they stated that they "partner with leading universities." How is this "fraud"? (Except for the "leading universities" part, haha) I'm sure their attorneys make sure they are not actually doing anything illegal.

I've never heard the name before. I know nothing about them. Apparently I should :)

The College Network should have been shut down a loooooong time ago. I think it is ridiculous that they are allowed to keep misleading people.

Educate us. Are they not an accredited school?

No, the College Network is not an accredited school. However, if you have read any of their misleading advertisements, unsuspecting consumers are often led to believe they are a school. I receive their flyers in the mail. They often advertise themselves as an "LVN to RN program."

Here's the nitty gritty. The College Network is not a school or a degree-granting entity of any type, and therefore, cannot offer the distance courses that it claims to offer. Their advertising is quite deceptive. They have been in legal turmoil as recently as this year.

The College Network provides the consumer with outrageously expensive study guides that cost an average of $600+ each. The 'student' uses these study guides to pass CLEP, DSST, and ECE exams and subsequently earn college credit without sitting in a classroom.

These consumers are blissfully unaware, until it is too late, that they're able to obtain the College Network's study guides off Ebay or Amazon secondhand for $10 to $50 each. Not too long ago I had paid $14.99 for a College Network study guide on Ebay that had originally cost more than $600.

The College Network requires the consumer to sign a legally binding contract that obligates them to repay in the $10,000 range for these very expensive study guides. Because the College Network is not a school or degree-granting entity, it is a private loan that is not subject to federal student loan program protections. The $10,000 does not even include the tuition and fees that Excelsior College or Indiana State will charge the consumer.

I've never heard the name before. I know nothing about them. Apparently I should :)

You have missed some of the most lively and interesting banter on allnurses! This is one subject that if you do a search and some reading, you will not be disappointed!

You might want to Google "Continental Training Services" and "Gary Eyler" in addition to searching for information on The College Network. It's very interesting...

"It was a hard sell in a Starbucks.

The woman from Indiana was a licensed practical nurse hoping to earn a bachelor's degree — and move on to a higher-paying nursing career. The salesman, from The College Network, had pitched the company as a relatively cheap and fast route to a degree from Indiana State University.

TCN sells online test preparation materials and academic support for customers...."

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014/08/09/test-preparation-predator-college-network-faces-complaints-lawsuit/13848511/?showmenu=true

I agree with everything TheCommuter said.

However, to add, College Network study guides are in no way necessary to pass Excelsior College or Indiana State University exams. Such exams can be passed with any number of textbooks, study guides, and free information on the Internet. Surely, some study guides are well organized and make the search for information easier. However, for self-driven students--as are most EC and ISU students--such organization is often not necessary and certainly not worth paying extortionate fees.

For what it's worth, here's a link to a number of free, well-organized, online textbooks. Common nursing prerequisites courses are represented including psychology, sociology, biology, chemistry, A&P, microbiology, and statistics.

TCN makes me angry! The company preys on people who just want to further their education. In the article linked by grandpaj, the supporting documents to the article are very telling! Especially the one detailing about one month of calls from upset students to Excelsior College, because those students had no idea that TCN was not afiliated with EC. People are wasting thousands of dollars! And on some of the EC-related Facebook groups, people who signed up with TCN complain that TCN is slow to send them checks that are supposed to cover testing fees, sometimes delayed by weeks and months - and these are people who have paid TCN on time! It's just horrible.