their ads promise a fast path to a high-paying future. come to our school — everest, keiser, or itt technical — and we'll train you for america's hottest jobs, whether your interests are air-conditioning repair, accounting or medical assistant.
the recession has been good for proprietary schools, for-profit postsecondary institutions that are seeing their enrollments spike as people look for second chances in a lifeless job market. while public universities are in a holding pattern with tighter budgets and bigger classes, the for-profit sector is spending lavishly on new branches and sophisticated marketing.
log onto everest university's web site and you don't get a catalog. you get a live chat with a sales rep. in just minutes, you too can become a student.
these schools say they provide critical job training without taxpayer subsidies, but there's a catch. they survive on a firehose of billions in federal and state student grants and loans, funneled through enrollees who need only be willing to sign now, pay later.
nimble at adjusting to the job market, schools that once scheduled classes in massage therapy and pastry arts are moving up the academic food chain to high-demand fields like nursing. florida, anxious to encourage such startups, last week relaxed the state board of nursing's oversight of new programs. now if benchmarks are met, a program is automatically approved, no site visit required.
meanwhile, the state agency that licenses all private postsecondary schools is coping with a 55 percent increase in new programs this year. whether an institution is training truck drivers, bartenders or trauma nurses, the state's paperwork is the same.
everest, formerly known as florida metropolitan university, is one of a number of for-profit schools getting into the nursing education business. on everest's brandon campus, students are put on the fast-track from novice to registered nurse in an intense, 21-month curriculum. similar associates programs at community colleges take two years.
but speed and access to an rn degree do not come cheap. everest's program costs about four times as much as programs at public institutions. some everest nursing students wonder if they are getting their money's worth.
they say instruction is poor and hands-on time with patients in clinical settings is limited.
they've found it impossible to transfer credits earned at everest to other nursing schools.
and the first class of everest graduates stumbled when it came to passing the nationwide licensing exam, the key to qualifying for an rn job.
of 14 graduates in the first class to take the test, 57 percent passed on the first try. the next group of four graduates all failed. statewide, about 87 percent of all nursing graduates pass the board on the first try.
everest officials say it's common for first classes at any school to do poorly on the test. the school said it has improved its curriculum and better results should follow. though five of the 18 students who graduated in october have yet to pass the boards, everest says all have jobs.
landing work is important because students at for-profit schools graduate with heftier debts than students at other schools. meanwhile, default rates by students at these schools have been twice the rate by students at public colleges and universities.
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here's why you can sell a $40,000 associates in nursing program when there's a $10,000 program in the same market: the less expensive programs, at public schools such as st. petersburg college and hillsborough community college, have four applicants for every seat.
for sedina pilav of tampa, everest's nursing course — $41,580 not including books and fees — was a last resort.
"i thought i wouldn't get into usf's program," said the 23-year-old, who had flunked organic chemistry at the university of south florida. "and there were waiting periods everywhere else. at everest, they called me back in about five minutes."
scheduled to graduate in the fall, pilav will start her nursing career with about $45,000 in educational loans. "i feel like we're being prepared very well," she said.
gareth nesbeth, a native of jamaica, may be the biggest debtor in his class of 23 at everest. by the time he graduates, including basic courses at a community college, he'll owe more than $100,000.
"everest was the only school i could get into," said nesbeth, a 32-year-old who needed student status to retain his visa. "but the classes have been excellent."
everest isn't the only for-profit school to recognize fertile expansion territory. keiser university has rolled out nine associates nursing programs in florida since 2002; a program will open in tampa next year. itt technical institute, better known for classes in criminal justice and information technology, also has planned a nursing program in tampa.
this surge of interest in training the next generation of nurses is bumping up against constraints. one is the limited number of clinical sites where students can get hands-on experience......
