If you were a pre-nursing student in Oregon, what schools would you be looking at?

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Hey! Pre-nursing student here with a 4.0 pre-req GPA (everything but A&P, which I'm taking now thru Spring 2016) and ~3.5 cumulative. Have about 2000 hours of work as a physical therapy aide (direct patient contact), and I am not tied down to Oregon. I am willing to go anywhere in the country that will prepare me to be a great nurse and won't cost gobs of money (below $50k for the program). Ultimately I want to be a family nurse practitioner; I'll be applying to BSN programs for a Fall 2016 start date.

I could really use some input on programs outside of Oregon that I should be considering! I'm really familiar with Oregon's programs, but want to find other programs elsewhere too. For context, I'm a 26 yo fit male, with additional experience in working as the HR manager in a non-profit homelessness and addiction shelter (Portland Rescue Mission), and am volunteering at OHSU Hospital in their Emergency Surgery unit as well...less than 100 hours currently.

Any ideas on programs around the country with good clinical sites that would cost me less than $50k, or at least ones that I might be able to get significant financial aid for? Out-of-state tuition is killer!

THANKS!!!

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Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.

Look at the other western states - particularly those that are part of the western undergraduate exchange program. Most public institutions in the exchange will allow a non-resident student to pay 150% resident tuition when attending a school in the exchange compact. This is typically quite a bit cheaper than paying full non-resident tuition, and should hopefully help in making an out-of-state public schools affordable.

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Thanks for this! I'll definitely look into WUE more. I was looking at it yesterday actually, just before you wrote in, but with my first look it seemed like they don't generally accept nursing students for WUE. Could be wrong though, I'll dig a bit deeper into their site. Thanks again!

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Specializes in ICU.

Have you looked into OHSU? I don't know their undergrad tuition rate, but they seem to prepare excellent nurses! The ones I work with that went to school there are all very smart and catch on quickly when they start. I've precepted one of their students too and she seemed to like the program.

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Hey MallysMama, thanks for the input! That's really good to hear! Yeah actually OHSU is the one I'm absolutely most interested, in part because I have yet to hear a single bad thing about graduates of their program, and because they're the cheapest BSN program in the state...every other school is private and some cost upward of $100k for a BSN (I'm looking at you, U of P).

Still, OHSU costs $44-49k not including additionally required non-nursing courses, living costs or books/supplies (http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/schools/school-of-nursing/admissions/tuition-fees/upload/tuition-sheet-2015-16-9-2-15.pdf) and so for that reason I'm actually trying to crowdfund my education, hopefully toward OHSU's program, to begin nursing school either next Fall or the following. I'm doing 3 hours of studying for my PSU classes every day on a downtown Portland street corner for the next 365 days or more to try to get my story shared and to raise the funds (www.gofundme.com/streetcornernurse) for nursing school.To that end though, I'd feel disingenuous if I didn't search for other, cheaper, well-reputed programs around the country, but so far I'm not finding much since they all either charge expensive out-of-state tuition or they're private schools, so equally expensive.

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Specializes in ICU.

Wouldn't the costs of moving to another state pretty much make up the difference? Southern Utah University is a good school to look into if you can afford the move. The cost of living is still quite cheap (especially compared to Portland). The only problem is the small number of clinical placements around there.

I think your way of funding nursing school is very creative. Good luck!

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Yeah I'm HOPING that I can find a decent school away from the West coast at a significantly lower cost that would make it worth it to move there...but right now I'm only paying $200 a month in rent (living w/ parents) so even if my rent only went up to $450 elsewhere in the country, that alone would cost me an extra $6k ($250*24 months) for a 2-year program.

I've heard rumor of programs that are 2-years for under $25k in some tucked away spots in the country, but so far I've yet to find any, especially any with good clinical sites.

Doing some quick math from SUU's data on their site, it looks like their program would run me about $38k considering out-of-state tuition. That's still cheaper, but I'm wondering if it's worth it to move and go to a school with a smaller number of clinical sites for a $6k total difference in cost (OHSU is $44+k)... *sigh*

Anyway thank you for helping me look at all the options! Someday I'll find my school :)

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Specializes in ICU.

Oh no. If you can live at home and not pay to move somewhere- do that! If you can get into OHSU- I'd say that's your best option!

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