National University Accelerated BSN

I think you are overlooking the fact that you paid $2000 for an Associate degree and the National Program is a BSN program. I don't know when you got your RN but there is a 2 year waiting list for the program at SDCCD plus another 2 years in the program. If you want to go into the military or work for the VA they will not hire you without a Bachelors. The cost of the ABSN program (40-50k) is lower than the entry level pay grade for a bachelor prepared nurse (60k). I for one, plan to apply because I have a kid and it is costing me more to wait on a state school than borrowing the money. If I wait to get into a cheaper school for 2 years I have lost 120k . I am open to other options and state schools but SDSU wont even talk to you if you already have a bachelors degree and they favor their own students over transfer students so if you take your prereq's at a Jr college and try to apply, the students that took their prereq's at that college have priority even if you are more qualified (I found that out the REALLY HARD way!). I am not dependent on my parents so I will need the loans and I don't think I can get loans to pursue an associate degree since I already hold a bachelors. It shouldn't be a problem to pay the money back. Most hospitals will arrange to forgive 10k of loans for each year you commit to them and the military will forgive even more and you go in as an officer.
National University has more accreditation than any other I have researched and they have a 100% NCLEX pass rate. It is not like Kaplan that only has CA BRN accreditation and no one will accept the classes if you want to transfer.

Hello Everyone,

Name is Charles, sorry I did not get to personal meet everyone at the orientation. I would like to formally say hello to everyone. Since we a small group and will be spending the next 22 months together, I would like to get to know everyone and hopefully we can help each other succeed and pass all of our classes.

Hi everyone,

I'm actually starting the ABSN program at National University in Fresno next month. The total cost of our program is about $37,000. I actually think that's reasonable seeing as how Samuel Merrit in Oakland (a private school affiliated with Sutter Health) costs $50,000 for their ABSN program.

As someone mentioned earlier, the nursing program at National is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, as well as the California Board of Registered Nurses...Thus you will be able to use the BSN from NU to apply to any graduate program at a CSU or UC (which is my plan in the future ).

Anyway, I just wanted to share that information about the school. I did a lot of research before I applied to National, and I wouldn't have went through with my application if the school wasn't 100% legit. NU is also a non-profit university, unlike University of Phoenix and West Coast University.

Plus, the $37,000 in loans won't be so bad in terms of repayment when you're making an average of $80,000 a year (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291111.htm) in California. Yay for being the top-paid state for RN's!

Hi Charles & Pinky687!

Hmmm, I dunno about new grads making 80K/yr (though that would be extremely nice ). 50K-65K sounds like the ballpark range for new grads in CA, but it may be a little higher up in NorCal. It's kind of a bummer while perusing these boards you read about limited job availability for new grads because of a) the saturation of new grads and b) hiring freezes in hospitals. I'm hoping when we graduate in the next 22 months the job climate will be of a more positive outlook. Keeping my fingers crossed!!! At present, I'm so happy to begin a new chapter of my life as an NU nursing student!

Sorry, I don't have the faintest idea. On SOAR, the class location still says "TBA". Have you purchased your textbooks yet?

Hi guys,

I am in cohort 2 with you, and unfortunately I don't know about our class either. I keep checking SOAR to see if it is updated, and not too much has changed on mine.
About books, I bought the required text and lab manual a week or so ago, and just got them. I didn't get any of the optional ones though.

Also, I am confused about our tuition. Does anyone know how we pay it and when?

Thanks!

Hi Michelle,

I've got all my books as well & have already started w/ the readings. The only book I didn't get was Mosby's (optional book), but I'm still debating if I should get it or not. If I'm not mistaken, we pay our tuition via SOAR & I think we're able to start paying on October 26?

Oh ok, that makes sense. I was trying to figure out why I am enrolled in all the classes, but still have a balance of zero. Thanks.