Indiana State University LPN-BSN, Recommended or not??

Nursing Students Indiana (ISU)

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Can we please chime in as to whether indiana state is offering a viable program for LPNs to BSNs?

How about responses from current students?

Hi Riverside CA-LVN,

I am so glad to hear some positive feedback from you. Did you have any hard time enroll in any class with Indiana state? How long did it take you to complete phase II?

Thanks!

I am about to enroll with The college network. Since I complete most of prerequisites, just need to do the transitional courses before applying to Indiana State University. My questions is 'Has anyone challenged the actually transitional courses, so we can skip the college network" "Has someone successfully finished the phase 3 through Indiana State University and what's your experiences"

Thanks!

lvnmom you mentined you are about to sign up for TCN because you need to take the 4 challenge tests. As many have posted on AN you do not need the $2500-3000 TCN study guides to take the callenge courses. The decision is yours as you can study on your own using the free ISU challenge study guides.

If you need the prerequisite or gen ed courses for ISU, you can study using CLEP material at a fraction of the cost that TCN charges. If you do not understand what CLEP is, do a Google search on the word.

I note you are asking many of the same questions that others have asked and received answers. Check what others have written on the ISU allnurses college site, and you may have your questions answered.

The tuition is listed on ISU's website. It ends up being about $13,000 with all the fees. Clinicals are $500 each and total another $3,000. So about $16,000 without College Network materials or testing fees included. That would add on another $4-5,000. You can use financial aid to pay for ISU tuition only- such as Pell Grants, Cal Grants, or scholarships. Whatever the balance is you can also get a Stafford loan.

A local hospital where I did clinicals gave me a scholarship which will cover almost the entire amount of the challenge exam fees (about $1,000).

One way to keep costs down is to do the prereqs at a community college instead. In CA I get a tuition waiver and so all I have had to pay for is my books while attending LVN school and doing all my prereqs the past 2 years.

The TCN materials are helpful to prepare for the exams but you can find them used instead like I did. It is definitely a more focused way to study than buying and reading a lot of books covering each subject.

I used them to study for 2 weeks for the first 2 challenge exams and got A's in both.

Good luck!

I'm missing NURS 328 Nursing care of the Child and Family. Can you tell me where you found yours?

Thanks!

I'm missing NURS 328 Nursing care of the Child and Family. Can you tell me where you found yours?

Thanks!

Give me a bigger hint. Where I found what?

I was wondering where you found the used TCN books. I have 3 out of the 4 of them.

You were wondering where I got my used TCN books. I am unaware of any used TCN books. I have always suggested using your nursing books, a good comprehensive NCLEX, as well as a good lippincott subject study guide. I feel the TCN guides are far too expensive.

I'm doing ISU's lvn to BSN online program from California. Here's why. A little background info:

Ive been an LVN on a floor of an acute hospital in Southern California for 6 years now. As an LVN working on the floor, i pretty much work as an RN. The only thing different is that i don't do IVpush meds, but i do EVERYTHING else. Its rare to see LVNs in a hospital setting in SoCal...in fact, Orange County. Before being an LVN, I was a nursing staffing coordinator at the same hospital and i was working with the house supervisors. After I got my lvn, I transferred to the surgical floor. Hospitals now do not hire LVNs on the floor. I was lucky.

Moving to now...I have 2 kids now. The other day I ran in to an old coworker at a grocery store with her son, she was a house supervisor when I was in LVN school. She now works at St. Joesph and I'm still at the same hospital. I respect her a lot. Her son, who is also an LVN, is doing the LVN to BSN online program through the College Network then going to Indiana State University. They both did a lot of research before deciding to go to this school. He said it's tough and a lot of discipline to stay focused and doing online classes. The problem here in So Cal is that all the nursing programs are so impacted and wait lists are like 2 years. Even if i do my preqs at a community college, they are now limiting the number of transfers to Cal States, so now it will take even longer for me to get my BSN. I was considering going to go to West Coast University, but its just too expensive. $100k...are you kidding me!! Then i was going to go to Mt St Mary's in LA, but I live in Orange County and its like an hour and half drive. I have 2 kids 2 years and under. I was stressing bc of baby sitting issues and missing my boys growing up. Mt St Mary's is about $50k but you come out with an ASN, not BSN. I had done some research about ISU's program, but didn't really pursue it bc I dont know anyone who tried it. Talking with my ex coworker and her son made me realize I'm doing ISU. He said it will cost him about $26K . For that much money, I'll hit the pavement and look for clinical sites. Luckily i'm in So Cal so there are clinical sites for me, but if there wasn't, I'll do the leg work. I'll still do it if I have to! I want to do the traditional go to school and class type thing, but my situation has changed. I have kids now. My kids will be classmates and my desk is my classroom. Being with my kids will always out weigh wanting to be in a classroom.

To be honest with you, my director doesn't care where you got your BSN as long as you have it. When they hire you, its about that piece of paper and how you interview. My hospital even hires RNs from another countries who barely speak english. I am the only LVN on my floor. I'm lucky enough to have the my 6 years of experience on the floor and my RN colleagues as my resources. There are a couple of RNs now trying to get their BSN. My floor is a big family. I have confidence that they will help me anyway they can. The RNs on my floor are more than willing to help me get to my goal. I recommend doing this program if you have the help and support. If you're a new LVN with barely any experience on the floor, then doing a program like this is difficult. Also, if you dont have the self discipline to stay put and do online classes, it will be even more difficult. I will update how the program is going for me. Maybe even start a blog any of you can follow and see my progress with the program. I am starting from the beginning. I'm going to do my preqs through the college network. I'm meeting Brian Dodge wednesday May 23. I have applied for FAFSA already. I was going to go to a communty college but since my encounter with my old coworker....ISU is the way to go. So follow me on twitter @lilwhitehat and see if this journey is for you too. I'll say how my meeting went and everything. I believe that caring and supporting each other is what we all need when it comes to doing online nursing school. As nurses, we already care!!! So we're half way there! So follow me on my journey doing an online nursing program. @lilwhitehat on twitter. i just signed up so right now...no followers.

I'm doing ISU's lvn to BSN online program from California. Here's why. A little background info:

Ive been an LVN on a floor of an acute hospital in Southern California for 6 years now. As an LVN working on the floor, i pretty much work as an RN. The only thing different is that i don't do IVpush meds, but i do EVERYTHING else. Its rare to see LVNs in a hospital setting in SoCal...in fact, Orange County. Before being an LVN, I was a nursing staffing coordinator at the same hospital and i was working with the house supervisors. After I got my lvn, I transferred to the surgical floor. Hospitals now do not hire LVNs on the floor. I was lucky.

Moving to now...I have 2 kids now. The other day I ran in to an old coworker at a grocery store with her son, she was a house supervisor when I was in LVN school. She now works at St. Joesph and I'm still at the same hospital. I respect her a lot. Her son, who is also an LVN, is doing the LVN to BSN online program through the College Network then going to Indiana State University. They both did a lot of research before deciding to go to this school. He said it's tough and a lot of discipline to stay focused and doing online classes. The problem here in So Cal is that all the nursing programs are so impacted and wait lists are like 2 years. Even if i do my preqs at a community college, they are now limiting the number of transfers to Cal States, so now it will take even longer for me to get my BSN. I was considering going to go to West Coast University, but its just too expensive. $100k...are you kidding me!! Then i was going to go to Mt St Mary's in LA, but I live in Orange County and its like an hour and half drive. I have 2 kids 2 years and under. I was stressing bc of baby sitting issues and missing my boys growing up. Mt St Mary's is about $50k but you come out with an ASN, not BSN. I had done some research about ISU's program, but didn't really pursue it bc I dont know anyone who tried it. Talking with my ex coworker and her son made me realize I'm doing ISU. He said it will cost him about $26K . For that much money, I'll hit the pavement and look for clinical sites. Luckily i'm in So Cal so there are clinical sites for me, but if there wasn't, I'll do the leg work. I'll still do it if I have to! I want to do the traditional go to school and class type thing, but my situation has changed. I have kids now. My kids will be classmates and my desk is my classroom. Being with my kids will always out weigh wanting to be in a classroom.

To be honest with you, my director doesn't care where you got your BSN as long as you have it. When they hire you, its about that piece of paper and how you interview. My hospital even hires RNs from another countries who barely speak english. I am the only LVN on my floor. I'm lucky enough to have the my 6 years of experience on the floor and my RN colleagues as my resources. There are a couple of RNs now trying to get their BSN. My floor is a big family. I have confidence that they will help me anyway they can. The RNs on my floor are more than willing to help me get to my goal. I recommend doing this program if you have the help and support. If you're a new LVN with barely any experience on the floor, then doing a program like this is difficult. Also, if you dont have the self discipline to stay put and do online classes, it will be even more difficult. I will update how the program is going for me. Maybe even start a blog any of you can follow and see my progress with the program. I am starting from the beginning. I'm going to do my preqs through the college network. I'm meeting Brian Dodge wednesday May 23. I have applied for FAFSA already. I was going to go to a communty college but since my encounter with my old coworker....ISU is the way to go. So follow me on twitter @lilwhitehat and see if this journey is for you too. I'll say how my meeting went and everything. I believe that caring and supporting each other is what we all need when it comes to doing online nursing school. As nurses, we already care!!! So we're half way there! So follow me on my journey doing an online nursing program. @lilwhitehat on twitter. i just signed up so right now...no followers.

Lilwhitehat - have you started??? I don't know if you're still active on Allnurses. If you have started, how is it for you so far?

Okay I just had to make sure this was a current thread. I am looking into this because I am finding that getting my LPN and then ADN is one step extra I am not willing to take now. I have decided to pursue LPN to BSN and Indiana State University is the one I am finding out about that is probably the only one in the country. Unless there are others that I do not know about.

Thank you all for your information. It really helped me understand the program very well.

First things first though: CNA then LPN, then become an RN weather through BSN or ADN. BSN is my preference.

I could just go straight to BSN, but I honestly need to work, and LPN is cheaper and shorter. So the best choice is what I just mentioned, for me.

LilWhiteHat, if you are still doing the ISP program I would love to hear about your experience with it. You mentioned that your ex-coworker's son had a tuition of 26k, is that the true cost? Do you have to pay anything while attending the ISP/College Network program or do you pay after like a Sallie Mae loan? I am considering going to American Career College in Anaheim, CA for LVN. Does ISP accept ACC graduates?! This would be an amazing opportunity to get my BSN at a cheaper cost than WCU(now 133k for LVN-BSN). I will probably use TCN to get my prerequisites, but just to know, how much extra is it to use TCN? If anyone has any info on this it would be greatly appreciated!

On Sept 25th ISU lost any future prospects of continuing partership with SSU, so no CA clinical sites. That is because CSU Chancellor advised SSU not to continue their contract with ISU. Also on the CA BRN meeting that took place in San Diego on 9/27 CA BRN found that ISU is in non-compliance with BRN requirements. You can read the materials starting on page 208 http://www.rn.ca.gov/pdfs/meetings/brd/brd_materials_sep12.pdf

On Sept 25th ISU lost any future prospects of continuing partership with SSU, so no CA clinical sites. That is because CSU Chancellor advised SSU not to continue their contract with ISU. Also on the CA BRN meeting that took place in San Diego on 9/27 CA BRN found that ISU is in non-compliance with BRN requirements. You can read the materials starting on page 208 http://www.rn.ca.gov/pdfs/meetings/brd/brd_materials_sep12.pdf

Do I recommend the program. Well, poppy93 is very correct: the LVN to BSN distant learning program in California that was offered as a partnership with Sonona State and Indiana State University has dissolved. There are some very good reasons:

The program was out of compliance in 6 area (which took student complaints to initiate an investigation). Note that not in compliance means that the nursing school had either broken state laws the California BRN rules/laws. There should not be on area of non compliance but there were SIX! The ISU program was able to fix 4 areas but the most imporant areas were not fixed.

Whether the California State University Chancellor dissolved the program because of the noncompliance issues, because ISU failed to address student complaints of noncompliance issues, or because (as the CA BRN stated during the Sept 27th Board meeting) ISU lied to the California BRN investigators when they investigated the program, is unknown. What we know is the LVN to BSN program was very profitable for both ISU and SSU. For the Chancellor to dissolve the program, well, he must have had a very good reason.

For those of you seeking further information about what went on during the CA BRN Board meeting and what ISU and SSU stated to the Board, go to the Califoria Board of Registered Nursing's website, click on meetings, and then clinck on Board meetings. The meeting was September 27, 2012 and the agenda item 9.4

DO I RECOMMEND ISU? I would never recommed a nursing program who lied to the consumer protection agency -- the state's board of nursing. ISU lied to the California Board of Registered Nursing about its program when the Board investigated complaints. I DO NOT RECOMMEND ISU.

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