I was recently accepted to George Washington's ABSN program for summer 2018. I was also accepted to Jefferson College of Health Sciences in southern va with a 5k/year scholarship. I'm in a big predicament and would love advice or opinions from anyone, really.
GW is a great school. It's reputable, has a good program, and great networking opportunities. The big con is the debt. The program fee (w/o fees) is $66k. I'm paying for my ABSN on my own, so i'll have to take out loans. I am also not interested in doing the W2 program (working three years in DC post-grad for 50% of tuition covered), as I am planning on moving elsewhere immediately after graduation.
JCHS isn't as reputable but I have heard it's decent. However with the scholarship, the tuition would be around $43k. However, I also am already in school in southern VA and would like to get out of the area.
This is my predicament: is it worth 23k to go to GW over JCHS? GW is, academically, the better choice. However, i've read some stuff online saying "it doesn't matter where you go for your bsn because you'll find a job anywhere." If this is true, shouldn't I just go to the cheapest school?
With JCHS--I would also have to pay for rent or staying on campus and food in addition to tuition. With GW I could live at home rent/food free, so JCHS would end up being a more than 43k but GW would likely stay around 66k.
I'd eventually like to go back to school after 5-7 years of working to get my DNP so I would ideally like to have my loans paid off by then. AHHH help. I'd rather go to GW but I'm not sure if its worth the extra 23k if it is true that the BSN university doesn't matter as much. Help!
