For Profit Colleges?

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I was seriously considering getting an LPN diploma from a for-profit college and was wondering if this will make it harder to find a job and what HR thinks of such schools. According to the NY Dept. of Nursing, the school in question, Monroe Colelge, has a NCLEX passage rate of 90%, which seems to be a bit higher than most community colleges.

Also, as a business, are for profit colleges easier to get into?

I understand and respect your point of view. However, I will be frank: My mother makes just shy of $90k and has essentially reached the top of the pay scale, all with just an ASN. Unless a BSN would put her over $100k, I doubt it would ever pay for itself. The only job she has ever been denied for not having a BSN is a school nurse, and she did not care about that since they make a fraction of what she makes as a hospice nurse.

I am not at all trying to argue with you or take anything away from your mother's accomplishments. We've had people make this case here before -- my (mother/grandmother/aunt/whatever) has been a nurse forever, she's a big wheel at her place of employment and has gotten to the top of her field with just basic licensure, and she says no one needs an extra degree. I would just point out that nursing has been changing quite a bit for some time now, and it's rapidly becoming less and less likely that anyone new, starting out, is going to be able to do what your mother and plenty of older nurses have done in the past -- work their way up with basic licensure and no additional education or credentials. Again, not trying to argue or discount your or your mother's opinions -- just something to consider. Once you are in the field and working for a while, you'll be able to see what opportunities you will or won't have with one degree or another, and can make your own decisions at that time. Best wishes!

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When I meet with the admissions counselor on Monday, I am definitely going to ask some tough questions, mainly what their graduation and NCLEX passage rates are. I will also ask whether I can do the prerequs online before I start in January.

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When I meet with the admissions counselor on Monday, I am definitely going to ask some tough questions, mainly what their graduation and NCLEX passage rates are. I will also ask whether I can do the prerequs online before I start in January.

I wish you good luck in all this! But, when asking them questions, please keep in mind that for profit schools are also famous for telling you exactly what you want to hear in order to get you enrolled.

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I wish you good luck in all this! But, when asking them questions, please keep in mind that for profit schools are also famous for telling you exactly what you want to hear in order to get you enrolled.

Exactly -- keep in mind that the "admissions counselors" at the proprietary schools are basically salespeople; in many cases, they are getting paid on a commission basis for however many people they can get to sign up. Many will say whatever they need to in order to get someone to sign up. (There was quite a bit about this documented in the "College, Inc." Frontline episode.)

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Exactly -- keep in mind that the "admissions counselors" at the proprietary schools are basically salespeople; in many cases, they are getting paid on a commission basis for however many people they can get to sign up. Many will say whatever they need to in order to get someone to sign up. (There was quite a bit about this documented in the "College, Inc." Frontline episode.)

There is also a very interesting article in Newsweek magazine. It focuses more on online classes but the enrollment process is all the same.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical/Addiction/Mental Health.

Donald,

If you don’t mind, I would like to share my experience with you when I attended a for-profit school. I have an undergraduate degree in Business and decided I wanted to be a nurse. I started the program and completed two quarters until I realized the importance of accreditation. The school I attended had not received their accreditation by NLNAC because it was a newer program. They did not have enough graduating classes to apply for consideration. I became a little nervous about not being able to secure a job because of the accreditation. So, I withdrew from the program. I did not have any negative experiences during my time there. Yes, the price tag was hefty, but I knew that when signing up for the program. I am now in an Accelerated BSN program. None of my courses transferred. However, many of the state schools also will not transfer credits between themselves. For example, when I transferred from Purdue University to Indiana University, some of my credits did not transfer. So, this doesn’t only happen to for-profit schools.

I know people on the site will say that your degree may not mean anything because it is from a for-profit school, but I find that isn’t true. If your school has not earned its’ accreditation, you may find it difficult to further your education, but not impossible. Each school has its’ own requirements for an RN to BSN. It is hard for me to believe that a person would have to “start over”. That just doesn’t make any sense. Generally the requirement will be to have an active RN license.

Good luck to you! Again, just ask about accreditation during your interview. If it is an ASN program, ask if the program is NLNAC or seeking candidacy for such accreditation.

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Thank you for the post. Although my situation will invovle going from a non NLN accredited LPN to an RN (associates degree). I know the best thing to do is to call up schools with LPN-RN briedge programs (something I will definitely do ths week) but wanted to get perspectves from those who have "been there, done that" so to speak.

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There are a few threads in the NY section about the Monroe College LPN program From what I can see it's not that easy to get into as you have to take two exams, of course this was last year so things may have changed.

https://allnurses.com/new-york-nurses/monroe-college-lpn-307358.html

https://allnurses.com/ny-nursing-programs/monroe-college-405584.html

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You may also want to check with area hospitals since in many areas, in order to reach or maintain magnet status, hospitals are preferentially hiring BSN's for their new grad positions. We've seen quite a few posts from ADN new grads who were going directly back for their bacheors so they could get a job.

This wouldn't impact RN's with lots of experience like your Mom, but it can make life difficult for new grads.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I completed a for-profit LVN/LPN program at a trade school 5 years ago and recently earned my RN license at an LPN-to-RN bridge associate degree program. All of my classmates were already LPNs, and none of them graduated from programs that were NLN accredited.

I am rather certain that the vast majority LPNs attended programs that were not NLN-accredited. This is because there are not many LPN programs in existence that are accredited by the NLN these days.

For example, there are several hundred LPN/LVN programs in California at the present time, and not a single one is accredited by the NLN. There are numerous LPN/LVN programs in Texas, but only 3 of them are NLN-accredited.

NLN accreditation is not a big deal in LPN programs. It is ideal that any RN programs you attend be accredited, but the LPN program only needs to be approved to operate by your state's board of nursing.

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There are huge problems with the for profit nursing programs in my area. They all have been kicked out of the hospitals. They can only do clinicals at nursing homes.

Anyways...

Make sure you can afford the loan payment after you graduate. Also, typically if you go to a for profit and do an LPN-RN bridge, you will have to re-take gen ed courses, which means more money. There are 6 LPN's in my A&P classes who already took A&P at for profit schools. They had to retake them, along with a few other gen ed classes. On another note, all of them except 1 are failing A&P.

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Specializes in LTC, ALF.

The biggest concern with doing a for profit RN program like ITT tech, seems to be that if you want a BSN, your credits won't transfer to another school. However, University of Phoenix will accept credits from ITT and you can even get your MSN from their school. Although of course its also another EXPENSIVE school, some people don't have the luxury to wait around for years to get into a RN program and ITT Tech provides a solution for them. I do think everyone has provided great insight on the schools, but not everyone is the same situation as others (some have families, time constraints, the list goes on...)

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