Can I afford West Coast university??

anie10 · Mar 21, 2010

The thing about WCU is that there isnt a history of their graduates passing the NCLEX with stellar rates.

Additionally, I consided WCU (just last year) would have been 2 or months into the BSN program, but the kicker was that the Army (my ultimate goal) WOULD NOT accept the RN/BSN and that would have been my way of paying back the $126K (Army pays 120K). So, I am finishing my prereqs at LACCD (yup any of them that has my open class) and then I will transfer to APU for Spring 2011.

Consider this decision carefully, as you are embarking on a decision that could leave you with a degree that "costs" too much.

MiahMSN, MSN, RN · Mar 22, 2010

I want to go there so bad because it is not a huge competition for straight A's. im a solid B student and i push myself sooo hard. i know for a fact that i will not make it into those nursing programs at cal states after i complete the prerequsities there. its a huge annoying point system. i mean with west coast all you have to do is pass your hard classes and pass the exam at the end and you graduate. it sounds awsome to me because there is no waiting list on classes and maybe you'll get in and maybe you won't lets just see.. maybe your classes will transfer to other nursing programs of your choice or maybe they wont. all that stuff is soooo stressfull in my opinion. and yess paying back loans for a couple years sounds like a pretty good trade off for all that stress and crying. i know that im kind of ignorant towards it all and you guys probably have better insight than me so thank you for all of your feedback. im not dedicated to the school im just keeping it a high option for now

I completely understand your feelings but if you want something bad enough, you can do it. Just because you are a B student now doesn't mean you will always be. Sometimes, it takes a little change in your study habits/the way you study and how much you put into studying, to find what works for you and get you the grades you want. Also, while As are ideal, do not count yourself out because you generally make Bs. You seem like a determined young person who comes from a not so ideal background, yet you are set on accomplishing your goals regardless of the environment or obstacles that you have faced, and that is to be admired and many schools will definitely see that. Why not see if you can set up a few informational interviews with nursing schools at a few of the Cal States or other schools, and just get there feedback on what it will take should you start off as a freshman with intentions of applying to the nursing program for your BSN?

Just be smart and do not make any irrational decisions until you have weighed all of your options - and you do have options. Best of luck - I'm sure you will do fine on whatever path you take in nursing!

skandy · Apr 3, 2010

@ Annie How come the Army didnt accept the RN/BSN?!? Because I'm transferring to WCU and joining the the army for their loan repayment program. This was my ultimate goal LOL. Dannng I'm screwed..

CeLLz · Apr 23, 2010

does wcu offer private loan?

lolasmomma2bLVN · Apr 23, 2010

I want to go there so bad because it is not a huge competition for straight A's. im a solid B student and i push myself sooo hard. i know for a fact that i will not make it into those nursing programs at cal states after i complete the prerequsities there. its a huge annoying point system. i mean with west coast all you have to do is pass your hard classes and pass the exam at the end and you graduate. it sounds awsome to me because there is no waiting list on classes and maybe you'll get in and maybe you won't lets just see.. maybe your classes will transfer to other nursing programs of your choice or maybe they wont. all that stuff is soooo stressfull in my opinion. and yess paying back loans for a couple years sounds like a pretty good trade off for all that stress and crying. i know that im kind of ignorant towards it all and you guys probably have better insight than me so thank you for all of your feedback. im not dedicated to the school im just keeping it a high option for now

With a student loan size of 132k, you won't be paying for a couple of years. I am not that much older than you (25) but I feel maybe you should meet some mid-twenty, RN's and let them "Big Sister" (sounds cheesy) you and mentor you, so you can really see and determine that being a nurse is really for you. Say you go to WCU, and do decide that nursing isnt for you (and there would be no shame in that, its not for everyone) you would still be stuck with that debt. I go to highly regarded cc in socal, and couldnt be prouder to say I am a graduate of my college, and I plan on my bsn someday. Just think things VERY SLOWLY! If I was 18 and 132k in debt, I would make myself sick (10k of credit card debt, makes me sick in uncertain economic times.:redbeathe

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Apr 25, 2010

I'm going to give my opinion as I have gone to two trade schools.

#1 Typical the education is far inferior, that is not to say all trade schools are that bad, but it often is. My LVN program was actually MUCH better than my RN program. My LVN was private, but I did learn a lot. The RN program was private and rather useless.

#2 The student loan payments are INSANE. In order to get 132, 000 in student loans you will have to pay some money up front, some during the program, and then take out private and federal loans.

The federal student loans will be around 6.8% The private student loans can be 8-10%, some of them are variable loans. So your payments would actually be much more than the 1500$/month people are quoting you.

Additionally, to get the private student loans, they require collateral. If you somehow do not complete the program, you are STILL required to pay them back, regardless of the reasoning. If you don't have a nice car, a good income or parents with a good income or house they are probably not going to approve you.

#3 In this uncertain economy, there is no guaranteed jobs for nurses. There used to be it seemed, but now, many hospitals are not even hiring new nurses. That would really suck to get through the program and then not be able to pay the 1500 dollar loan payments because you can't find work.

You may go ahead and talk to the advisors and see if they can even get you the financial aid you need in order to complete it, otherwise I wouldnt' recommend it. I have 40k in student loans, I have trouble making the payments on those and I am an RN. Life happens and taking on huge amount of unneccesary debt can be devastating.

Honestly, I would take prerequisites at a local community college, even if you can't get into a program then, at least you will get a tuition break with that. And I would definitely do a ADN private school if you are going to do it, it's less than half the cost, and many local universities will do an RN to BSN program that's online or mostly online for about 10k total. That's what I did. It takes a while longer, but in this economy and at your age you can afford the time. Good luck to you.

jwannab · Apr 26, 2010

I know you're young and as a Highschool student you're not thinking about the debt of $132k, but take the advice from us elders, you do not want to walk into that much debt at 18 years old. You'd literally be screwed for life. It happened to my dad, he went to ITT, took a 30k Associates degree program, failed to pay his loans, now uncle sam taxes his butt by garnishing his wages.

WCU, might look nice with the new campus, and all of that, but honestly a BSN in two years sounds scary. The amount of information you will need to consume as a nurse will need to be properly digested, therefore take your time your young. Dude, if you go the traditional route you will be a registered nurse by 21, not many people can say that.

This is what you need to do. Go to your local Community/Junior college. Start taking some of the general ed's needed to get into 99% of nursing schools (psych,soc., speech,english, etc..) apply for fafsa, and do that. If you do it at a full time rate you can finish the pre-reqs in a year and a half, and then apply to programs of your choice. but, atleast at this rate you will be able to maybe get 2-3k in your pocket for living expenses a semester, and get the work you need to get into a program done. I honestly am a 29 year old male, who have been unemployed since 2007. I didn't do a thing to progress my life until jan. of 2009 when i decided I wanted to be a nurse. A little over a year later I am 5 classes away from being done with pre-reqs, and applying to nursing school. Am I broke? yup! Do I wish I was nursing now? yup. Can I easily go get into debt at WCU? yup. But I'd rather not. I'm patient with getting there. I know I will be in school for the next 5 years, so why rush it. As long as i make it to the top of my goal I'm cool.

Think twice about setting yourself up. I wish you the best.

jwannab · Apr 26, 2010

so you can really see and determine that being a nurse is really for you.:redbeathe

You hit this one on the head girl! Woo Hoo, This is so true. Your young, and like I said take some classes at a jc/cc in the fall, but this summer(I advise you start researching now) take a cna program. most of the programs are geared towards geriatrics, but there are some(depending where you live) that do train in the hospital setting vs. ltc facility setting. I did this last summer, and boy did I learn alot! Funny thing, is at the time I was still partying and not serious so I made it 9 weeks out of 11 and missed a day and got dropped, so I didn't sit for my board :mad: - but all of the knowledge I got, and doing clinicals, my gosh - it was all a rush. I love it.

So, yeah dude explore your options. You can volunteer also, but get a feel of what goes on because it isn't for everyone, and say you decide to go the WCU route and get stuck, you will never forgive yourself.

newnurse6152 · Aug 20, 2010

jokes and jokes

besmercortez · Nov 23, 2010

I want to go there so bad because it is not a huge competition for straight A's. im a solid B student and i push myself sooo hard. i know for a fact that i will not make it into those nursing programs at cal states after i complete the prerequsities there. its a huge annoying point system. i mean with west coast all you have to do is pass your hard classes and pass the exam at the end and you graduate. it sounds awsome to me because there is no waiting list on classes and maybe you'll get in and maybe you won't lets just see.. maybe your classes will transfer to other nursing programs of your choice or maybe they wont. all that stuff is soooo stressfull in my opinion. and yess paying back loans for a couple years sounds like a pretty good trade off for all that stress and crying. i know that im kind of ignorant towards it all and you guys probably have better insight than me so thank you for all of your feedback. im not dedicated to the school im just keeping it a high option for now

I have been doing my research for awhile regarding where to go for my BSN, RN, or LVN Education. I have visited different schools, different options and here is what I got out of it.

I am the type of person that wants to get it done yesterday no matter the cost. I have a 3 year old and want to make sure I get my education but at the same time that I will be ok tomorrow.

I love the idea that WEst Coast University offers the posibility of graduating in 3 years it sounds great; however, if I look at the salary that I would be making after I graduate it is not different than an RN graduated from a Community College. 3 or 4 dollaras difference is not going to help with the debt that I would acquire at west coast university.

I have little time to study so I find it very tempting to go to a private school however, I knew it was not the solution because I dont want the easy way out so I started taking the CNA course first to see if that is something that I could do because to acquire a debt of 132000 I got to make sure I stick to it.

Bottomline, after i m done with my CNA in January i will continue my education at the ROP. They have an awesome LVN program which cost only 4,200 and you finish in 13 months compared to 33,500 at CNI and American career College and you finish and 13 months as well. The requirements are the following, high school diploma, or GED, Entrance Exam(TABE i think is called) if you have your CNA license great if you don't it doesn't matter the more education you have the better; however you can still get it if you do good on your test. While taking the LVN program at the ROP I will take 2 classes per semester at a CC so by the time I graduate from the ROP I will have my prereqs done to get into the nursing program.

The LVN to RN program is a lot easier to get into because a lot of people drop out on the second year so that is were you take the opportunity to get in to it. Even if I have to wait 1 year or 2 i will be ok becasue I can work as an LVN making anywhere from 20 to 25 an hour so i will be acquiring experience and won't be dissapointed or stressed out.

This is a quicker way to do it, my goal is to get my MSN and I was really tempted to go to West coast university but after making the math it didn't make sense. An LVN makes 20 to 25 an hour. 36 hours @ 20hour = 2880 A New RN makes 30 to 35 an hour 36 hours @30hour= 4320..... the difference is $1440 this is more or less what you would be paying for your loans every month so in reality an LVN graduated from the ROP will be happier with no debt load vs someone with a BSN with that amount of Debt.

I will be so happy after I graduate from a Community College as an RN because I will make good money and won't have so much debt to pay. I am not an A student I get B's and A's but even at private schools you have to study hard so don't rush and don't get the misconseption that you won't get in, yes I thought like that at first but after doing my research I found out that for me this is the best way to do it.... Everyone is different and I understand your point.

Good Luck