[PMFB-RN]

Originally Posted by Tweety

Good reasons all.

But just to clarify that in a lot of parts of the country it's not a "free BSN". Employers usually have a cap on what they pay. My employer pays $2300/year tuition reimbursement. Most other folks in my class have a similar cap. Depending on the school it may indeed be "free" but usually there's some out of pocket expenses, especially if you go the online route.

*** Yes, you make a good point. My hospital will pay $10,500 one time scholarship AND $1500/year in tuition. The $10,500 comes with a contract that you will work for them for 2.5 years, the $1500/year for tuition is an employment benefit without further obligation.
That comes to $13,500 in the two years, that's about $6,500 more than some RN to BSN programs like University of Wyoming.
I was more thinking about the person not currently in nursing and wanting to get into it and the options open to them who can pick and choose the hospital they will work for.
The fly in the ointment is that it would be hard to find a CC without a waiting list of several years. Here in Wisconsin you really can do an ADN in two years but most, if not all the technical colleges (what Wisconsin calls CC) have waiting lists from 1-5 years. It's a shame because the cost is very, very reasonable.
The exception is for those with an LPN license, no waiting list and can complete the ADN in two, 4 month semesters, I did.
I challenged the LVN boards in Ca based on my army medic experience then moved to Wisconsin with my license in hand and was able to enter the technical college without a wait and graduate in 9 months with a total of 32 earned college credits to my name. I have now found an online RN to BSN program that accepts an ADN from an accredited college as meeting all it's gen ed requirements regardless of what classes I actually took ,and an active RN license satisfies all the natural science requirements. It's an 18 month (3 semesters) program at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. Not cheap but between my GI Bill, Army College Fund and the hospital's scholership program it won't cost me anything out of pocket. Nova is NLN accredited. So I should get my RN and BSN in a total of 5 semesters of college, three of them online.
I have been considering doing an RN to MSN progam that does not award a BSN instead. I could do it in 5 semesters online for family nurse practitioner through Frontier School of Nursing in Ky.
Lots and lots of exciting options out there for nurses these days.

[mtruland]

I totally agree with that pricepoint. UNH, where I am not to try and get a BSN, will cost me something like 80 grand to complete. That's on top of the 20 I spent this semester!

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by Hopefull2009

I am planning to go this route as well...my ADN will cost me about $5,000 total, and to get a BSN for free? You can't beat it!

See post #8, hospitals don't go around supplying ADN's with free BSNs. It's a great way to go, I'm doing it myself, but most places supplement to a point, but don't pay 100% of unlimited books and tuition.

[arciedee]

mtruland, another thing to keep in mind as an option is that UNH's nursing department has started a bunch of "3+1" articulation agreements with the NHCTC schools (not all of them, though, I believe they're in Stratham, Manchester, NHTI, Nashua, and Colebrook) where you get your associate's degree from the Tech while completing your gen eds (so it takes 3 years) and then you transfer to UNH for the final year to get the BS. Though keep in mind, too, that the NH has the highest community college tuition in the country.

[Sweetooth EMT-P, RN]

I am currently a paramedic and a nursing student at NHTI, Concord. I decided to go with my ADN first becuse 1) I want to make sure I like nursing before I invest a lot more money and time into it 2) I would rather work as an RN for an extra 2 years or so while obtaining my BSN 3) I can always go back.


Sweetooth

[mtruland]

Excellent. Thanks for the help.

[LaborNurse1]

Originally Posted by mtruland

Hello,

I'm a student at UNH in Durham, NH. I am currently on a pre-nursing track to get a BSN. This is going to take me five years, as I had some trouble finding what I truly wanted to do.

Through my work on my local ambulance as an EMT, I have decided that I want to work somewhere in the medical field (Most likely flight Nurse or Paramedic). I was wondering if getting a BSN is totally worth it. I realize that I have the option to get it later, which I would plan to do anyways. What is your opinion on this topic. What should I do? 5 years and get BSN, or 2 and get ADN? Also, how are those online RN-BSN programs, and are they worth it???

I'm not sure if flight nursing requires a 4 year degree, but I would guess that they do given that it is a competetive field. However, I did the ADN, began working as an RN while continuing on for my BS. I highly recommend that route, so long as people really do go through for the 4 year degree. I found that working as an RN with the ADN while going to school for the BS was highly beneficial. I made good money (the same amount as the 4 year degree RN's) that paid my way through school.

I think the online programs are great for the RN to BS/N. Basically, you are just fulfilling pre-req's and do some community stuff. Much less intensive, in my opinion, and therefore less intimadating to do online.

[mtruland]

I know quite a few people with ADNs who work as flight nurses. All they needed are RN certs and all of the other ALS certs.

[fairytattoo]

I'm an ADN and had only 12,000 in student loans to pay back as opposed to the 100,000+ alot of the BSN nurses I work with have to pay back, and we make the same wage. I work in a NICU and there are varying levels of experience in the staff, but the pay scale is exactly the same for everyone. The hospital I work at has a tuition reimbursement program, but it definately would'nt pay for the whole BSN program, although they are looking into full reimbursement in our area.

As far as the flight nurse thing, from what I understand, there are waiting lists and you have to have so many years critical care/ED experience before they will even consider you. At least that' s the way it is around here.

[Blove86]

WOW, I feel like the cheesy one, lol. Since I just got accepted to A BSN program, once I graduate I will will start str8 out as an RN with a BSN. But I do have a question: What is a Nurse Tech and when is a nursing student able to apply for a position?