Excelsior student-questions!

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Hello. I am enrolled with Excelsior but have not started yet because I am always up in the air about whether or not I want to proceed with them. I work 12 hr night shifts Mon-Thurs (4pm-4am) and classroom time will not work for my schedule. I did the last of my research today and found that Excelsior is the only on-line bridge program that suits my needs. If you can possibly help with the following questions, I would greatly appreciate it.

1. I have read it and had it explained to me by the school but I am still not understanding. What is the difference between the $495 annual fee or the quick test route? I forget what the latter is exactly called but it eliminates the annual fee and if I remember correctly, you can test quicker for the course, getting you through school quicker. (Which would you reccomend?)

2. I have 6 hours each night to devote my time to school. How long will the bridge program take?

3. Is the website user friendly? Is there a navigation course I can take?

Thank you for any help you can offer!

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

I have moved your post to the Excelsior forum to encourage feedback. :)

Cost information is on Excelsior's website here: Excelsior College Costs & Financing for Nurses - Excelsior College - excelsior.edu

You pay an annual fee ($495) if you do competency exams (testing out) rather than doing the required number of full online courses per year (I think the threshold is 12 credits per year to waive the annual fee). It is much faster and less expensive to do the exam option (see the cost link above). The three ways to complete the nursing theory requirements are the exam, the course, and what they call a "nursing conference" which is the exam plus some guided study; the cost for that is somewhere between a plain exam and a course. The three options are discussed here: Nursing Theory Completion Options - Excelsior College - excelsior.edu

How long this takes is up to you, there really isn't a formula to calculate how long it will take. Most students seem to take about 2-3 years if they don't put it on pause too much. Be aware that the current wait time for the Clinical Performance in Nursing Examination (CPNE), the clinical capstone exam, is about 12-14 months right now, so you have to factor that in as well.

I believe the college is transitioning from Blackboard to Canvas for its online courses, but I haven't been a student there for a while so I am not sure. But like most online course software, it just takes a little getting used to.

I hope some of that was helpful! Feel free to ask for clarification, or if you have other questions. There are quite a few students and grads around. :)

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Hi,

I am in the Excelsior LPN-RN program. If you want to see how the website works there is a course demo: http://www.excelsior.edu/course-demo .

As far as the course options, if you take the course option at $510/credit hour for 12 credits they waive the $495 fee. It also allows you to use federal financial aid.

The exam option is the least expensive, but no financial aid. It is completely up to you to set a time frame for completion.

The conference is a hybrid of the above two, costing about half of the courses and twice the exam only. The confrence is testing out and you can use financial aid. Also, there is a specific week you are required to test, which lends some accountability. There are weekly dicussions and a short quiz each week, both of which I have found helpful.

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I talked to someone at EC today and they didn't tell me about the conference hybrid. How do you go about stuff like IVs, starting and maintaining? I work in Psych so we don't do "hands on". I am so confused right now. How many classes can you take in a 12 month period? Thanks for any advise.

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