I aM floored. I just received notice from GA Board of Nursing that they denied the endorsement of my MN RN license because I did not meet clinical practice requirements . When I called the board, they transferred me to a their Legal Nurse Consultant who stated that effective July 1, 2008 GA would no longer endorse RN license from Excelsior College students with no previous RN experience. She suggested that I go to my licensed state and work for a while then try again, but she could not give me a time frame.
Has anyone else experienced this. I thought we should at least have gotten some sort of notice/warning before this type of rule be adopted by the board. I am going to file a motion for reconsideration using an Attorney. Before I entered Excelsiors program I called GA Board to verify acceptance. I had been accepted to a traditional LPN to RN bridge program; I could have been almost finished their too. I am so sad right now. I have been crying for two days. I think I will need to see my doctor for Zoloft.
I have been an LPN for over 13 years doing Med/Surg for at least 10. I work on a hospital unit right now. THIS IS SO UNFAIR!!!:banghead:
I hope it doesn't take long either but in any event I'd just like to see the outcome lean in our favor. I'm praying, studying, and keeping my fingers crossed.
If you are reading this then you probably already know I live in GA, which means I am being effected by the State Board of Nursing no longer accepting Excelsior RN/ASN degree. I have paid the TCN $2000 so far, and still owe $2000 more. Since my program is no longer applicable, I want my money back... not some of the money.... all of it. TCN's respose to this entire mess is that because Sonny Purdue says "he wants to help distance learning nurses", TCN feels there is still hope that GA will change its mind... so I have been given the option of either continuing to wait for the next 10 yrs or so until they have a "final" decision for them to give all of my money back, or I can get half of my money back (by that I mean I have to pay them $2k, and they don't charge me the second $2k). Keep in mind... I HAVE NOT TAKEN ONE TEST WITHIN THIS TIME FRAME!!!!! I don't know what to do to get out of this, I am discouraged, and feel cheated. More than anything, I need that $2K to pay for school locally in GA if I can't finish my RN on line.
If anyone has any suggestion, at all, for how to proceed from here, please let me know. I feel backed into a corner, and my husband and myself are so upset.
I'm in the same boat. I am paying Distance Learning for a program that I only attended for 2 months. The name started out being DL then it went to another name and now it's Kaylim Career Center, so that shows you how awful it was. It was a new program trying to get off the ground but the turnover rate w/ instructors was ridiculous. I would like my money back too but I can't even get them to lower my monthly payments because I am no longer working. I talked w/ Universal Accts on yesterday which is who I pay DL through every month and they told me that there was nothing they could do to lower my monthly payments and that I would have to talk to DL. Well I have been corresponding w/ Aaron at DL and was supposed to get a return call from him today regarding lowering my monthly payments but I haven't as of yet. Universal Accts is only going to hold my acct off for another week or so before they send it to collections and I don't want that to happen. I wasn't even asking for all of my money back, just for them to lower my monthly payments and they act like I'm asking them to commit some type of fraud. I have been on time w/ all of my payments until last month, now I'm behind. I only owe a little over $800 out of $5000. They could just wipe that debt free if they wanted too. So for them to say that they would wipe your other $2000 free you're doing better than me. Do you mind sharing who it was you spoke with and where maybe I can get them to consider that for me?
I spoke with EC again today, same old story. Also if you guys do not already know, if you are on a repayment plan for yearly SSF or tutition, the payments should be on hold until Jan. I called FACTS and they stated that Nov. will not be charged but Dec. is scheduled, no note in system. I will F/U on this. So everyone please double check with FACTS because EC told me something different:heartbeat.
Ok forgive me but what is SSF and FACTS? I signed up w/ Distance Learning then they quickly became another name, then another but I've always sent my payments to Universal Accts. I paid Fannie Mae first, there were 2 different payments I made for DL, both totaling $13,000. I've paid $8000 off to Fannie Mae or Sallie Mae I think either one of those now I'm left paying Universal Accts Systems, and they told me that they can't lower my monthly payments it would have to come from DL. I feel that they shouldn't expect any money from us seeing as how we may not even be able to use the degree in the state of GA. So what are we paying for? Although I stopped going over 3 years ago I still continued to pay so that my credit wouldn't be destroyed, eventhough I was told it was not a loan, they just drafted the money out of my account each month. I'm sooooo confused...
If you are reading this then you probably already know I live in GA, which means I am being effected by the State Board of Nursing no longer accepting Excelsior RN/ASN degree. I have paid the TCN $2000 so far, and still owe $2000 more. Since my program is no longer applicable, I want my money back... not some of the money.... all of it. TCN's respose to this entire mess is that because Sonny Purdue says "he wants to help distance learning nurses", TCN feels there is still hope that GA will change its mind... so I have been given the option of either continuing to wait for the next 10 yrs or so until they have a "final" decision for them to give all of my money back, or I can get half of my money back (by that I mean I have to pay them $2k, and they don't charge me the second $2k). Keep in mind... I HAVE NOT TAKEN ONE TEST WITHIN THIS TIME FRAME!!!!! I don't know what to do to get out of this, I am discouraged, and feel cheated. More than anything, I need that $2K to pay for school locally in GA if I can't finish my RN on line.
If anyone has any suggestion, at all, for how to proceed from here, please let me know. I feel backed into a corner, and my husband and myself are so upset.
:angryfireI am going through the same thing that you are, with the whole excelsior thing. But I've already paid distance learning and kaylim career center 2 grand each, not to mention tuition for EC, and fees for testing and practice test, lets not let me forget about additional text books. I'm so upset. I'm just going to finish EC. Get my RN degree, and sue the HE_L out of GEORGIA, if they don't endorse me. If the governor of the state said he doesn't agree with the board, and he said he hope that this doesn't discourage student from continuing their education with the institution, then there you have it, law suite. How is this a law? If your own Boss ( the GBON consists of 8 members appointed by the Governor ) said there is no evidence to prove the RN's who graduate from this program are unsafe, where do you get off??? Again can somebody say law suite!!!!!!!!!!!!:angryfire
I'm in the same boat. I am paying Distance Learning for a program that I only attended for 2 months. The name started out being DL then it went to another name and now it's Kaylim Career Center, so that shows you how awful it was. It was a new program trying to get off the ground but the turnover rate w/ instructors was ridiculous. I would like my money back too but I can't even get them to lower my monthly payments because I am no longer working. I talked w/ Universal Accts on yesterday which is who I pay DL through every month and they told me that there was nothing they could do to lower my monthly payments and that I would have to talk to DL. Well I have been corresponding w/ Aaron at DL and was supposed to get a return call from him today regarding lowering my monthly payments but I haven't as of yet. Universal Accts is only going to hold my acct off for another week or so before they send it to collections and I don't want that to happen. I wasn't even asking for all of my money back, just for them to lower my monthly payments and they act like I'm asking them to commit some type of fraud. I have been on time w/ all of my payments until last month, now I'm behind. I only owe a little over $800 out of $5000. They could just wipe that debt free if they wanted too. So for them to say that they would wipe your other $2000 free you're doing better than me. Do you mind sharing who it was you spoke with and where maybe I can get them to consider that for me?
kaylem career center is where i went to the total rip-off cpne workshop. it's not a real school. they simply "teach" excelsior material.
i, myself, am not giving up on excelsior. i do believe the governer will come thru for us...and if not, i'll just move. i've invested too much time and money to throw in the towel.
Ok forgive me but what is SSF and FACTS? I signed up w/ Distance Learning then they quickly became another name, then another but I've always sent my payments to Universal Accts. I paid Fannie Mae first, there were 2 different payments I made for DL, both totaling $13,000. I've paid $8000 off to Fannie Mae or Sallie Mae I think either one of those now I'm left paying Universal Accts Systems, and they told me that they can't lower my monthly payments it would have to come from DL. I feel that they shouldn't expect any money from us seeing as how we may not even be able to use the degree in the state of GA. So what are we paying for? Although I stopped going over 3 years ago I still continued to pay so that my credit wouldn't be destroyed, eventhough I was told it was not a loan, they just drafted the money out of my account each month. I'm sooooo confused...
If you only go through Excelsior then you can use FACTS to break up your annual tution fees, exam fees and CPNE fees into smaller monthly payments. I was fortunate enough to just go straight through Excelsior without the publishing companies such as Distance Learning, RUE and The College network.
Specializes in ER and family advanced nursing practice.
i am currently practicing nurse in the state of ga and was wondering how many clinical hours as a generic rn student are you required to complete?
i would like to know so that i can make an informed decision on this legislation.
i can understand the frustartion you have when you have spene so much money on your education.
it is not quite that simple. excelsior college (ec) overwhelming come from three backgrounds. they are lpns, paramedics, and respiratory therapists (rts). ec requires that now. so your clinical time comes from two places: clinicals you did in school (as an lpn, paramedic, rt) and your time on the job. ec requires that you have all the same prerequisites (science, english, pysch, etc) and then provides you with the didactic portion of associates level rn training. the assumption is that between your previous clinicals and life experiences you will be able to meet or exceed (and this is important) the minimum standard expectation of a new graduate associate level rn.
so to answer your question the additional clinical hours required by ec is none. zero. nada. say what?
now in all fairness, it might seem with a quick glance that ec students are getting over. i can assure you they are not. i am a paramedic so i will start there. paramedics receive waaaaaaay more clinical hours than rn students do. the hours, by the way, are chocked full of patient contact goodness. paramedic students spend their training doing hands on patient care, iv skills, ekg skills, acls/pals training, patient assessment, intubation, iv/im/po/sq/pr medication administration, triage, trauma, cardiac arrest, ob/gyn. paramedics do many hours of clinicals in the hospital setting. guess what. many of our preceptors are nurses! take it from someone who is a nurse and a paramedic, the difference in training between rn and paramedic is one full semester of diadatic info reguarding subjects such as nursing history, the nursing process, nursing diagnoses, and care plans....you know all that stuff that we so frequently use at the bedside....(sorry about the sarcasm...really).
i know and have worked with several lpns. they recieve many hours of clinical and because of their time on the job, many are quite sharp. i have seen many a new rn get "saved" by an lpn, and it always brings a smile to my face.
what is important to remember is this: how capable should a new grad associate level rn be? the fact is the vast vast majority of rns learned their trade and skills in their new grad program with their first employer. every ec grad i have worked with has done very well. at least as well as their brick and mortar counterpart. i think a big part of it is we don't get "stage fright" because of our backgrounds.
Paramedics do many hours of clinicals in the hospital setting. Guess what. Many of our preceptors are nurses!
All of my in-hospital clinicals were with an RN. (She was the one that actually got me thinking about becoming a nurse, too. :)) The only time I was precepted with a medic was when I was actually out on a medic unit -- we had to have 50 calls as the lead ALS provider before we could test.
In any case, my clinicals in the hospital were great, and went way beyond the ED.
. When I called the board, they transferred me to a their Legal Nurse Consultant who stated that effective July 1, 2008 GA would no longer endorse RN license from Excelsior College students with no previous RN experience. She suggested that I go to my licensed state and work for a while then try again, but she could not give me a time frame.
nikpik27
84 Posts
boy, another 8 months of waiting to hear the verdit of this outcome is crazy. i surely do hope it doesn't take that long for all of this.....