ADN vs ABSN (cost vs job opportunity)

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Hi everyone,

Please help with some insights.

I got accepted into an RN program through our local cc (ADN) and should start in Fall 2016. I'm still waiting to hear from an ABSN program in two weeks or so.

If I got accepted into the ABSN program, the idea of one year program is very attractive to me since I'm in my mid 40's.

Cost: ADN ($7k) vs ABSN ($120k)

Job: does the ABSN grads have better chance than ADN grads to land a starting position, considering they both have no prior experience working at a medical facility.

How about the Bay Area? Is it worth it to spend $120k and then still fighting your way in to get a starting job?

Please help.

Thank you.

Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.

$120K for an ABSN is really high. Most ABSN programs I've see run $40-$50K, and I think it would be hard to justify spending much more than that. Funding for second bachelor's degrees is pretty low so you'd be paying most of that out of pocket. A new grad salary is not going to pay off that degree quickly if you have to take out substantial loans.

$7K for an ADN is a great deal (around here it would be $10-14K total) and would allow you to bridge to either BSN or MSN (if you have a prior bachelor's degree). I don't know the job market for the Bay area. In my area an ADN is still employable - maybe not in the hospital, but jobs can still be found.

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Specializes in Emergency, Tele, Med Surg, DOU, ICU.

My ADN cost me $3k and my BSN $14K. I got my current Hospital job with my ADN. I used my paycheck to pay for the BSN. So I'm a BSN RN with no loan.

Your mid 40's not mid 20's. A 120k loan will take you 5 years with a monthly of $2200 assuming a 4% interest to pay off. Unless you intend to loose half of your paycheck every month, I say go for the ADN

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I would never spend that kind of money! I am currently in an ASN program and its four semesters. Most of the ABSN programs I have seen are a fall, spring, and summer semester. I don't see what's the big deal over a few months

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Specializes in NICU.

My cost for my ABSN program was $20k. Even if you paid out-of-state tuition, it would be nowhere close to $120k.

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Thank you all for your replies. It really helps me to think through. Student loan at that staggering amount is really scared me.

The tuition itself is $71k.

The $119k budget total includes everything (i.e. estimated living costs, supplies, etc). Please see below.

[TABLE=width: 195]

[TR]

[TD]Budget Category[/TD]

[TD]Amount[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Tuition[/TD]

[TD]71,107[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]SBA[/TD]

[TD]50[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Lab Fees[/TD]

[TD]840[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]HESI[/TD]

[TD]718[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Graduation Fee[/TD]

[TD]130[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Books & Supplies[/TD]

[TD]2,055[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Personal[/TD]

[TD]4,200[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Room[/TD]

[TD]14,400[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Transportation[/TD]

[TD]9,000[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Board[/TD]

[TD]5,052[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Loan Fees[/TD]

[TD]188[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Health[/TD]

[TD]7,136[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Uniforms[/TD]

[TD]500[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Utilities[/TD]

[TD]3,000[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]PEXM[/TD]

[TD]500[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Other[/TD]

[TD]150[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Budget Totals[/TD]

[TD]119,026

[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Since I live in the area and I don't have to pay room, board, transportation - I'm not sure which items that I could cross out and came up with the $$ related to school.Any thoughts are welcomed.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Thank you all for your replies. It really helps me to think through. Student loan at that staggering amount is really scared me.

The tuition itself is $71k.

The $119k budget total includes everything (i.e. estimated living costs, supplies, etc). Please see below.

[TABLE=width: 195]

[TR]

[TD]Budget Category[/TD]

[TD]Amount[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Tuition[/TD]

[TD]71,107[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]SBA[/TD]

[TD]50[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Lab Fees[/TD]

[TD]840[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]HESI[/TD]

[TD]718[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Graduation Fee[/TD]

[TD]130[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Books & Supplies[/TD]

[TD]2,055[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Personal[/TD]

[TD]4,200[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Room[/TD]

[TD]14,400[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Transportation[/TD]

[TD]9,000[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Board[/TD]

[TD]5,052[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Loan Fees[/TD]

[TD]188[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Health[/TD]

[TD]7,136[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Uniforms[/TD]

[TD]500[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Utilities[/TD]

[TD]3,000[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]PEXM[/TD]

[TD]500[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Other[/TD]

[TD]150[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Budget Totals[/TD]

[TD]119,026

[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Since I live in the area and I don't have to pay room, board, transportation - I'm not sure which items that I could cross out and came up with the $$ related to school.Any thoughts are welcomed.

Yah, so if room is approximately $14k, that should be about the cost for one year in many areas, just to gauge the duration of the program. 71k for one year is incredibly expensive. Just to give you an idea of how expensive that is, ABSN program tuition from private schools, like George Washington and Miami University, cost roughly $55k (including other fees) and $40k (not including fees). Utica College charges ~$51k total for tuition, which is roughly the same for the ABSN tuition at Loyola University in Chicago. University ABSN tuition is around $45k total for the four semester plan. The cost for ABSN tuition back 2012-2013 at UNC out-of- state (in-state is way cheaper) is roughly $50k. This should give you an idea of what some of the prices for the more expensive colleges generally are. Based on my brief research on ABSN costs, there are a few programs that are close to $70k if not more, such as NYU SON. But for most, the price is much lower, especially if you are paying in-state.

Remember you have a bachelor's degree all ready, so you have to be smart about paying for college. Because of that degree, you DO NOT qualify for federal grants or work-study. Many scholarships will also exclude post-bac students, in favor of freshman, transfer, etc. students. In some states, nursing salary is incredibly low, which could make paying back that debt take roughly 10 years or longer, impossible, meaning lifetime or filling bankruptcy, or requiring some abnormally large generation of funds. I would carefully review ADN and BSN programs in your area before making a decision.

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Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.

If you have been admitted already, go talk to the school and find as many recent grads of the ABSN program as possible. Ask them about how they are doing on finding jobs and ask the school about employment information and what they are doing to help new grads find jobs. Go on the "California" page in All Nurses and ask what the job environment is like for ADN and BSN.

$71k really is a lot and personally I would not spend that much. But if you can find a job right away in the Bay Area, the pay level in that area should make this doable (San Francisco has the highest pay in the country). It seems that today's job market is better than a year or two ago, but you should still consider worst-case scenario and what happens if you cannot find a job and have $71k debt.

Good luck!

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Specializes in ICU.

What kind of school is this? Have you investigated it thoroughly? Is it accredited? Does it have a good rep? Have you checked out your job market? Will you even be able to get a job after graduation?

I ask this because you are in your mid-forties, will be starting a brand new career over, and taking on additional debt. Im not saying it's necessarily too late to start over, I am 40 and am graduating soon, but I am graduating with no debt and already have a job. You live in CA where the job market is much tighter.

Look at the big picture and make a solid plan here before taking on new debt. i hope this one year program gives you all the required clinical hours. I thought the whole point of ABSN programs was that since you already have a bachelors, the prereqs were knocked out for you, giving you the accelerated part. One year is putting a lot a credit hours on you each semester. Do you currently have a job?

How are you financing this degree? Do you have any aid left? It's going to be hard to find aid already having a bachelors.

Just st some questions I thought you might not have thought of.

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Specializes in Inpatient Psychiatry.

I'm in a similar situation, so I weighed out what I need/what I can afford (backstory, I have a bachelor's and a master's; these are also the best possible outcomes):

With the ADN, I study for two years while still being able to work, sit for the NCLEX, presumably pass and go on to an RN-MSN program

With an ABSN, I would not be able to work, I'd be struggling for clinical hours, and I would try to cram four years of textbook nursing into fifteen months. I would also accrue more loans, and at my advanced age of 34, I really don't want that.

On the east coast, the ADN program I applied to (and hear back about in a week, eeeek!) has a 98% NCLEX pass rate. The nearest ABSN has an 82%.

For me, the ADN was the obvious choice.

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