how can these schools get away with SCAMMING people?

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i am set to enter nursing school in august 2012, and i wanted to get some experiance as a cna or a tech. i saw an add in the paper for everest college, its a local trade school and they had a new program for a patient care tech.. i called to find out more info and the program was 9 months long and cost 16,000! *****??!!!!!:confused: where i live pct make 10.50 an hour!

no thanks, my rn degree will cost half of that!

Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.

Until they begin forcing people to attend these schools against their will, no one is being scammed. If you foolishly sign up to pay $146302 for a 37 month course for a job that pays a bit better than minimum wage...well, I don't know what to tell you.

I have to keep saying it around here for some reason, but here we go again: LIFE IS FULL OF CHOICES. MAKE GOOD ONES.

Jesus wept.

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Until they begin forcing people to attend these schools against their will, no one is being scammed. If you foolishly sign up to pay $146302 for a 37 month course for a job that pays a bit better than minimum wage...well, I don't know what to tell you.

I have to keep saying it around here for some reason, but here we go again: LIFE IS FULL OF CHOICES. MAKE GOOD ONES.

Jesus wept.

I sort of agree with you, however, many students finance these programs with federally backed student loans. Nearly half of all federal student loan defaults occur at for-profit schools, although the schools have only 10% of higher education students.

I think these predatory programs can degrade the industry by having lower admission standards and also saturating the market.

16k for a CNA? Wow.

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

This may seem a little far-fetched, but follow me here.

My secret addiction is watching Judge Judy and People's Court. I particularly love to watch the social situations play out. I noticed a few years ago that so many of the litigants that appeared to be of a lower socio-economic status particularly from urban areas would talk about being in "college". If these "colleges" were identified they were inevitably one of the well-known for-profit vocational schools. Many of the people were going for their CNA and I just couldn't understand how they could be going to "college" for months for the same course that took a matter of weeks at the CC where I got my RN.

I then figured out that public assistance as I had understood it had changed a lot in the last few years. Recipients can no longer get the benefits for years on end without either working or trying to get work. The whole welfare reform, "workfare". Part of the "work" that can be done is vocational training. Now, I've worked and I've gone to school and I can tell you (except for RN clinical courses) I would rather go to school 10 times more than keep a regular job. And this from someone who really does like what I do for a living. But still, school is much more pleasant.

Also, trying to be more sensitive, I'm sure it's much easier to get accepted into a private school than it is to get a job in any area of the country, particularly an economically stressed urban area. I feel fairly confidant that many of these students probably have much state and federal financial assistance to go to these private schools. If these students are getting loans then I can tell you if the litigants are any indication, then they already have horrible credit and don't pay their bills anyway.

And then there's those people that just aren't good at math, these folks are in every field. We see people on this board who claim to have spent $100,000 + on their RN education. I personally talked to a lady who paid thousands of dollars for vocational training to be an MA. To then find out she would be making 1-2$ above what my step-son makes at McD's. And she was currently working as an NA (for more money) which had no minimum requirements though you bet they scoop up all the extra MA's around here since they can't employ all of them.

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Specializes in Peds Medical Floor.

Wow count me as one of the people who got their CNA at a nursing home, where I was paid to go to class. I also had my books, testing, and uniform paid for.

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The Red Cross CNA class in my area is $1,200, which still isn't that bad. You can find places that will do free or paid training, but they can be competitive to get in to. One place has a looooong waiting list.

I'm not a fan of for-profit education, either.

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Specializes in OB (with a history of cardiac).

Some time ago before I was an RN, I was looking at Certified Medical Assistant versus LPN, and so I called one of these colleges that had an MA program, and I'm telling you, the recruiter just talked my ear off so hard I thought she was going to reach through the phone and shake the daylights out of me! OH Medical Assistants are the trend of the future! LPN's are being phased out and pushed into nursing homes and if you want to work in pediatrics and in a clinic you need to be a Medical Assistant!!!:yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah::yeah: she proceeded to tell me all about what MA's do, and as she talked, her voice got more and more rapid, and more and more frantic in tone about all the wonderful, magical things a CMA can do, she even said, in so many words (and to this day I really hope it was a misunderstanding) that CMA's can PRESCRIBE MEDS! :lol2::lol2:

Oh yeah- this college has commercials that are a staple of daytime tv, and they've gotten really dramatic since I first started seeing them- really artsy and dramatic "every day I'm faced with critical patient care...I have descisions to make...*action music, cue young 20 something walking briskly and determined through the halls of a clinic with a serious no nonsense look about her* I am...a Medical Assistant. *Switch to scene of said girl and doctor pouring over a chart with great intensity*

I'm not kidding, the commercial could win an Academy Award...

And the tuition is about par with a four year university.

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The seriously expensive schools exist because loans are given out like candy.

You cannot get out of paying student loans back even if you go bankrupt.

Most of these schools would not exist if students were working their way through or saving their money to attend part-time.

I guess it bothers me that carrying large amts of debt is treated like it is a normal part of life.

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Until they begin forcing people to attend these schools against their will, no one is being scammed. If you foolishly sign up to pay $146302 for a 37 month course for a job that pays a bit better than minimum wage...well, I don't know what to tell you.

I have to keep saying it around here for some reason, but here we go again: LIFE IS FULL OF CHOICES. MAKE GOOD ONES.

Jesus wept.

I sort of agree with you, however, many students finance these programs with federally backed student loans. Nearly half of all federal student loan defaults occur at for-profit schools, although the schools have only 10% of higher education students.

I think these predatory programs can degrade the industry by having lower admission standards and also saturating the market.

16k for a CNA? Wow.

I agree -- I wouldn't care, either, except that much of this is being funded with taxpayer dollars. Many of these "schools" are little more than a clever scheme for funnelling Federal $$$ into the pockets of the owners and shareholders. They "take the money and run" while the students and the taxpayers get left holding the bag.

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IMO they get away with it because people don't do their homework. If people looked for the legit places, the pigs would get run out of town. :o

Caveat emptor........

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The community college I'm currently attending for the RN program has a 13 day CNA course which let's u sit for the test and it is only 500 dollars.

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Caveat emptor........

Again, that's easy to say and I would agree if it were just the problem of the individuals who fall for the slick advertising and sales pitches of these sleazy operations, but we are all the "buyers" in this case.

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I have talked about for profits till I was blue in the face :spbox:. Recently though, I've noticed how certain individuals will proudly proclaim that the nursing program they attended was very competitive and how only a quarter of their original class graduated :icon_roll.

Well dahling, that doesn't necessarily make you smart. It could also mean that your school's admission standards are pretty much a free for all and half the people who sign up aren't serious or competent enough to begin with- classic for profit tactic. Another one is to fail people by a tiny margin, so they're forced to come back for another semester. It's not like these 'failures' can transfer their credits to another school and since they only failed by half a point, they'll just need to work harder next time and pay up another 10k worth of tuition. Chile please!!

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