Am I doing the right thing?

Would I be sacrificing a quality education for a cheaper one? Anyone have any advice? Thank you!

Absolutely not! The state schools here in New York are some of the best schools anyone could wish to attend! (SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Binghamton...) You should be proud to have been accepted to a school with a better price tag, because I am sure the competition was fierce. Look at the pass/fail rates for a particular school, not at their price. That will show their quality.

Congrats; that is a great accomplishment. I think you're doing the right thing, for what it's worth!

NO!! Private schools do not necessarily have better programs - in many cases, they have worse programs!

I'd go to the state school. You will probably get just as good of an education, and it will be a whole lot cheaper.

I know the state schools in NYC have higher Nclex pass rates than the private ones. One is a private LPN to RN program with a 75 percents pass rate, which is LOW.

Cal State nursing programs are just fine. I've never heard of the private programs being considerably better.

Unless the private schools are nationally renown (e.g. Duke, Yale, etc.) then NO. In North Carolina, I have found that the private schools (save Duke) have a poorer quality of education than the state institutions. In many respects even the prestigious institutions (like Duke) are not worth their price with regard to quality education. They may have an edge, but their only edge is having a reputation which attracts more well-known faculty--and that is it.