Arizona or Colorado for Nursing School?

[Niquolea26]

Hello everyone, my name is Niquole and I am having a tough time deciding which state I should do the program in. I have been going to Yavapai College since 2010 completing the prerequisites for their nursing program. I have been able to fund my schooling through Pell grants with little problems but the community college says I have hit their maximum time frame for financial aid (have attempted 96 credit hours) even though the vast majority of my studies have been for nursing.

This leaves me with a $550 bill for the CNA program that is a requirement for the nursing program. I've been caught off guard by this (the college not letting me use my aid) and have been re-thinking Yavapai College even though I've heard they are "one of the best". Yavapai College has really been a nightmare as far as administration and financial aid goes.

At the same time I am pretty much done with Arizona, originally from Oregon, I moved here 15 years ago with my dad and try as I might I just can't take the heat anymore. My fiance who is going for law enforcement (he was born here) has also gotten to the point where he wants out of the state. We have looked at Oregon and while I would love to go back he is less than thrilled about the amount of rain there, so Colorado came up.

Thing is, I never even considered a program outside of Arizona so I am very lost when looking at ones in Colorado and comparing them to Arizona programs. In 2016 AZ will be changing to a 4 year program just to get to RN and if I can get into a program before 2016 I will be grandfathered, so no later than Fall 2015.

I plan on doing the CNA in the spring as I just did not have the money for it to go this semester, and will be working to save up money until then.

Can someone please give me some pointers and info about various Colorado programs? We haven't decided on a location yet so the state is open, although it would be nice to not be in Boulder.