CON withholding proof of graduation!!!!

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  1. Would you comply to school's month long study program to hopefully receive ATT for NCLEX?

    • 7
      Yes - I would just deal with it
    • 1
      Yes - but I would write a letter to the school BEFORE they send the AOG
    • 3
      Yes - but I would write a letter to the school AFTER they send the AOG
    • 0
      Yes - but I would write a letter school & BON BEFORE they send the AOG
    • 2
      Yes - but I would write a letter school & BON AFTER they send the AOG
    • 0
      Yes - I would be glad to complete another month of requirements after graduation
    • 2
      No - I would write a letter to the school before being forced to comply
    • 4
      No - I would seek legal action and/or immediately report them to the BON
    • 0
      Other (please do post your opinion!)

19 members have participated

Hello all! I am in a predicament and am not sure what to do. I graduated this month with my BSN. Now my college is forcing my class to take further NCLEX preparation and has told us they will not send my affidavit of graduation (AOG) to the BON until we do so and the earliest they will send it is in June. This new "requirement" was sprung on us right before graduation and not in the School handbook. In previous documents I have from the school, the college was supposed to send our AOG the next business day after graduating.

I passed the HESI exit exam as required... I really wanted to take the NCLEX at the end of this month and am furious that they would do this to their students. Their past published 5 years of NCLEX pass rates have been at or above the necessary 80%, so I'm unsure what the issue is.

Has anyone had a similar experience and if so what did you do? Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thank you in advance!!

- An angry future nurse

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Definitely make sure you have proof that you met the requirements to graduate without any ability for that to be altered then consider discussing with department chair and then Dean if no satisfaction? Heck how many rules are bent or broken because some little darling's Daddy calls the school to complain about a failed exam or clinical?

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Sounds like the school wants to raise their pass rates...at or above 80%...my ASN had a 98-100% pass rate running years strong.

I know it's got to be frustrating but there's a reason for the push. You're just not privy to the reason. Just wait until you actually pass the NCLEX and get a nursing job, you're gonna have to deal with management barraging you with constant change and expectations with a no questions asked mentality (for the most part).

Just focus on the things you can control and try to blow off the added stress of the things you can't. Good luck with the NCLEX!

Thanks for the encouragement. That is a great pass rate! Our average for the last 5 years is a little over 85% and last year was a few points higher.. I do understand the school wanting to do better, especially since I want our school to do better - even though I strongly disagree with how they've gone about it. But how much more should students have to put up with?

The whole program has been pretty unorganized and it does feel like they really only care about themselves when they scheduled all these extra tests and reviews right before/during finals! I would hope that reasoning is in the best interest of the students. Unfortunately it doesn't feel that way. The entire semester we were told to plan on taking NCLEX within 30 days of graduation AND they made us submit an in depth individualized study plan at the beginning of the semester for how we would be studying during the semester as well as after graduation.

I have put in my blood, sweat, and (lots of) tears lol. I just want to be an RN dang it! At this point I don't care if my future job does this crap to me, at least I will be getting paid 😂😜 Jk... but seriously money is an underlying factor too since I have to start paying off these loans soon (plus I gotta eat lol). I am confident I will survive and thrive, I am just tired of being pushed around. Anyway, thanks for your feedback and for listening to me vent 😆

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I wonder if some of the HESI scores for other students was low and the school did not want to be below the curve for NCLEX pass rates. You have stated that you passed the second HESI, but it is possible the other scores for other students does not paint a good picture of NCLEX prepared graduates.

Sorry you have to do it. Soon you will be an RN.

Indeed, that is probably the case. In my opinion, a better and less stressful route would have been to allow students that were successful on both exams to continue on their plans of study that we created at the beginning of the semester... And offered those with low scores/high risk students additional NCLEX preparation. Thank you for your support and input :)

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

Good grief, this school sounds like it has spent more time and energy making sure y'all were studying for NCLEX instead of just making sure they prepared you well for it. Making you submit study plans for how you plant to study for NCLEX after graduation?? This was a requirement? This just seems so absurd to me. My school didn't focus on that at all. In fact they said not to over study. Not to delay doing the NCLEX. That stated they prepared us well. Told us not to study at all the day before we took the test. My classmates waited 3 weeks to do NCLEX. I drove 3.5 hrs to do min the Monday after graduation. Literally graduated on Wednesday and by Tuesday of the next week my active RN license was on the states website. My logic was I either knew it or I didn't so lets get it done.

If your school spent the time to make sure they prepared you well, they wouldn't have to spend all this time doing these absurd things to try and make sure you pass. :sarcastic: What a nightmare to deal with right before boards. I am sorry you're going through all this.

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Good grief, this school sounds like it has spent more time and energy making sure y'all were studying for NCLEX instead of just making sure they prepared you well for it. Making you submit study plans for how you plant to study for NCLEX after graduation?? This was a requirement? This just seems so absurd to me. My school didn't focus on that at all. In fact they said not to over study. Not to delay doing the NCLEX. That stated they prepared us well. Told us not to study at all the day before we took the test. My classmates waited 3 weeks to do NCLEX. I drove 3.5 hrs to do min the Monday after graduation. Literally graduated on Wednesday and by Tuesday of the next week my active RN license was on the states website. My logic was I either knew it or I didn't so lets get it done.

If your school spent the time to make sure they prepared you well, they wouldn't have to spend all this time doing these absurd things to try and make sure you pass. :sarcastic: What a nightmare to deal with right before boards. I am sorry you're going through all this.

Yes! You hit the nail on the head! It's frustrating having evidence that shows high probability of passing and still being treated similarly to a rebellious teenager that doesn't want to do their homework - absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention feeling a bit of betrayal and disappointment that the school doesn't have faith in its students that have dedicated their past almost 3 years of incredibly hard work. Thanks for the kind words!!

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My school also had a pass rate of upper 90s to 100. We were offered the Kaplan class for free. I attended about 1/2 of it because I thought it was useless. It's all test taking strategy and I am good at tests. I would have found a brush up on knowledge more useful. We also had to turn in a detailed study plan. I didn't use a bit of it. I finished class in mid to late December and tested in mid to late January. I passed at 75 and was fairly confident I passed when I walked out of the test.

I'm not sure how legal your schools actions are and that likely varies by state. They may have some legal clause written in somewhere that gives them this loophole. I would take the review because it is likely quicker than fighting it legally but I would follow up with a legal consult and a letter to the BON. If they want to require a review that's their right but it shouldn't be announced at the end of your schooling. It should be written up as a requirement of the school.

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Hello all! I am in a predicament and am not sure what to do. I graduated this month with my BSN. Now my college is forcing my class to take further NCLEX preparation and has told us they will not send my affidavit of graduation (AOG) to the BON until we do so and the earliest they will send it is in June.

To be more clear -- said NCLEX preparation is not a course. We are being required to submit practice exams nearly every other day AND submit DAILY 75 question tests... must pass all tests and show proof of remediation. Then at the beginning of June take an exam to see where we are. The following week we must take yet another 4 day prep course (on top of the ones we have already done). After the 4 day course, we take the final test and (assuming we pass) then we get a recommendation on when to take the NCLEX.

Sigh.

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My school also had a pass rate of upper 90s to 100. We were offered the Kaplan class for free. I attended about 1/2 of it because I thought it was useless. It's all test taking strategy and I am good at tests. I would have found a brush up on knowledge more useful. We also had to turn in a detailed study plan. I didn't use a bit of it. I finished class in mid to late December and tested in mid to late January. I passed at 75 and was fairly confident I passed when I walked out of the test.

I'm not sure how legal your schools actions are and that likely varies by state. They may have some legal clause written in somewhere that gives them this loophole. I would take the review because it is likely quicker than fighting it legally but I would follow up with a legal consult and a letter to the BON. If they want to require a review that's their right but it shouldn't be announced at the end of your schooling. It should be written up as a requirement of the school.

Congratulations on passing!! I agree with you. The Kaplan review was a huge waste of time. I think it would be more logical to provide a course on test taking strategies at the beginning of the program... I tried to make Kaplan work for me. I used it a lot independently in my first two semesters. But I have found better resources to use for studying that fit my learning style.

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Unbelievable and really sad that a majority of us feel it is best to just comply.

That's exactly what I thought too. And sadly I feel that it says a lot about us as nurses. Just comply, because there's nothing you can do about it... (Perhaps working in hospitals where many of us feel powerless has left us drained of the will to fight? :-/ )

My advice: don't comply if you know it's wrong! Stand up for yourself. Make the points you made here regarding the student handbook. If you have documents that clearly state that you would receive your AOG the next business day, bring those up. Ask why students weren't made aware of this change earlier. Demand answers and keep the school accountable. (And keep written records!) Do this all in a friendly, matter-of-fact manner, and take it from there. No need to jump to lawyers if they say you're right. We as nurses tend to be great for advocating for our patients, but often forget to look out for ourselves. Nurses must start standing up for ourselves more often...so why not start now? :) Good luck to you!

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

My simple advice is this: comply, meet their requirements to release your transcripts, then once those transcripts have actually been released (don't forget to order a copy for yourself), take the NCLEX, pass it, and then write a letter to your BON and perhaps to your State Department of Education or equivalent entity that oversees your school. In short, you'll need to actually be wronged to get "standing" as this is important later on. Civil suits can be tossed out if there's a lack of "standing" to sue (or for that matter, be able to lodge a very legitimate complaint to said regulatory bodies).

You can certainly ask why the school has suddenly added a new requirement to the process. You might not get a coherent answer. Don't forget to closely read the handbook and any other "rules" thing you and the school agreed to abide by when you were accepted. I suspect there's literally a line or two that says the program may change requirements with little to no notification. Keep records of EVERYTHING you write. They may know they'll be challenged on this at some point so they very well may have done their "homework" on this ahead of time.

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Specializes in PICU.

OP:

Yikes. So sorry. It sounds like you are well-prepared. I am getting the sense some others may not be as prepared, especially with your follow-up comments. Especially with your last comment about taking another test, something must have happened. It does seem a bit excessive. I wonder if this may also have come from the BON or another accreditation organization to prove that students are prepared. In a sense your school needs to prove that all of its graduates are ready.

I remember taking a four day review course, exam questions, and content. After that I just used Kaplan for question style reasoning. I really just needed question styles.

I completely sense your frustration and it is a shame for those of you who are prepared and ready.

I wish there was a way around it for those that are prepared.

Good Luck!!

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presuming this is a for profit school, I would complain to the AG and the better business bureau

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