I've been an LPN for 2 years now and also work agency with General Healthcare Resources. I want to get my RN but my husband is in school also for his RN so I have little choice but to do it online if I'm going to do it at all. I went to EC's website and created my EC account. Now what do I do ? How do I know what and how many classes/courses I must take to get my degree? Do I have to pay the $75 fee to apply just to find out if I have to take too many courses? I took a lot of prerequisites at local community college for the RN already.
Also, I cannot find out on my state board of nursing (PA) if they even accept EC degrees- do you know if they do?? I don't want to get into anything I cannot get out of (ie: TCN). Thanks
Lunah spelled it out for you! Also I wanted to add that EC has a great special if you super motiviated and can finish you nursing test in 12 months. Its called the "ADN option" Call the nursing department and they will give you more details. It cost $1550 dollars and can be split into 12 payments. Its a reall bargain when you break it down. Good luck and pay the $75 and send your transcripts sent!
So you're saying it only costs about $1600 total? I just read through a bunch of these threads and visited excelsiors website and I'm more confused than before. From my quick calculations, it will cost around $8500, but I'm not sure what classes will transfer yet as I have my LPN and I took some of the RN prereq's already. Then there is the last post of the lady taking 2-3 years to get through it. My ex-gf is in it and it looks like it will only take her about 1.5 years. My main concern is the cost and the clinicals. If there is a way I could defer my current loans and pay $100 a month max than maybe, but I don't know. My ex also said she does'nt have to do the clinicals, something about the fact she works in the rehab department of a hospital. Anybody know anything about that? I only work in assisted living right now, so I don't have experience in a lot of the procedures. I'm also already worried about how I'm supposed to pass the clinical component in one weekend without any practice beforehand. Maybe I should apply to the "real" school for the LPN to RN, but I work 3rd shift and that would make it very difficult. Plus I have some downtime most nights that I could study at work now, but I don't know what to do about the clinicals as I just can't afford to fail them and have to retake them if they are really $2 or so each time.
so you're saying it only costs about $1600 total? i just read through a bunch of these threads and visited excelsiors website and i'm more confused than before. from my quick calculations, it will cost around $8500, but i'm not sure what classes will transfer yet as i have my lpn and i took some of the rn prereq's already. then there is the last post of the lady taking 2-3 years to get through it. my ex-gf is in it and it looks like it will only take her about 1.5 years. my main concern is the cost and the clinicals. if there is a way i could defer my current loans and pay $100 a month max than maybe, but i don't know. my ex also said she does'nt have to do the clinicals, something about the fact she works in the rehab department of a hospital. anybody know anything about that? i only work in assisted living right now, so i don't have experience in a lot of the procedures. i'm also already worried about how i'm supposed to pass the clinical component in one weekend without any practice beforehand. maybe i should apply to the "real" school for the lpn to rn, but i work 3rd shift and that would make it very difficult. plus i have some downtime most nights that i could study at work now, but i don't know what to do about the clinicals as i just can't afford to fail them and have to retake them if they are really $2 or so each time.
they no longer offer the adn package option of $1600 if you finish in less than a year. i think they stopped it last october. i am in that package option. in any case, even with the regular tuition & exam fee, it is comparable or less than brick and mortar nursing school. everyone has to do the the 3-day clinical so your ex was mistaken.
yes the clinical is $2,000 plus hotel and travel fee and plus all the pre-clinical preparations that is why you have to try your very best to pass the first time. but even if you have to repeat it again and spend another $3,000, you can earn that back in a month with your rn job/title. so why not? also, you don't just come in and do the clinical without any practice and preparation. it takes several months to get a clinical date so you have to prepare and practice as soon as you finish your last nursing exam and become cpne eligible. i am cpne eligible now so i am preparing now. i am hoping for a cancellation date in july/august. so you certainly don't need to wait and wait for a date if you are flexible and willing to be on the cancellation date.
you need to have a lot of motivation to do this program because you learn on your own and no teacher to explain things to you. i enrolled last week of september 2009 and became cpne eligible this month. i failed one exam and repeated it. i would be done in less than a year if everything, scratch that if i mean when everything goes according to plan.
by my estimate it cost me total of:
1600 - package option plan, graduation fee included
2000 - cpne (clinical)
500 - travel and hotel expenses for the cpne
700 - cpne workshop
500 - cpne preparation kits from various sources and study guides for nursing exams
total of $5,300. that is my projected total price but i added way more dollars on some of them for cushion so it will be lower (hopefully). of course i am not counting the pre-requisites/general ed classes as i have taken them (most from my previous degree) before i enrolled in this program.
if you have more questions, just post away as everybody here is nice and responds to questions when they can.
The actual total you will end up paying is probably closer to 11,000 if you pass clinicals the first time
I spent far less. Here's a breakdown of my Excelsior-related expenses; bear in mind that tuition goes up every July, so some of these prices are older.
Info Lit..........$260
Enrollment......$895
Annual Fee.....$440
Exams.........$2,645
CLEP tests.....$160
CPNE..........$1,825
Grad fee........$480
Total...........$6705
I took Info Lit in 2006, so it was a little less expensive then. "Classes" includes NC1 through NC7 (including NC2), A&P, Micro, AND all the practice exams for each of those exams. The CLEP tests were Human Growth & Development (accepted in place of Lifespan Dev. Psych.) and Introductory Sociology. Each CLEP test was $65 plus a $15 site fee at the university where I took the exams.
I was fortunate to receive a $3K scholarship in May 2007 from the Ladies Board at the hospital where I work, and my employer reimbursed me for the CPNE. I took A&P as my first exam, before I got my scholarship, and my employer reimbursed me for that as well. So out of my pocket, I only paid for Info Lit, enrollment, the A&P practice test, and the CLEPs. Total for me: $1375. When I finished, I actually had a $260 credit with EC -- a small surplus from my scholarship -- so my graduation cost $220 (program completion fee of $480 minus the $260).
That figure does not include books/study guide costs, which I estimate at $300 ... and I re-sold many of my study guides on eBay, so I largely recouped that cost. I kept all the textbooks I bought, though. I love textbooks. :)
(I also took a couple of CPNE workshops, so you can tack on about another $1000 to the bottom line for those, including hotel. But those weren't mandatory, so I don't include them in the above costs.)
so you're saying it only costs about $1600 total? i just read through a bunch of these threads and visited excelsiors website and i'm more confused than before. from my quick calculations, it will cost around $8500, but i'm not sure what classes will transfer yet as i have my lpn and i took some of the rn prereq's already. then there is the last post of the lady taking 2-3 years to get through it. my ex-gf is in it and it looks like it will only take her about 1.5 years. my main concern is the cost and the clinicals. if there is a way i could defer my current loans and pay $100 a month max than maybe, but i don't know. my ex also said she does'nt have to do the clinicals, something about the fact she works in the rehab department of a hospital. anybody know anything about that? i only work in assisted living right now, so i don't have experience in a lot of the procedures. i'm also already worried about how i'm supposed to pass the clinical component in one weekend without any practice beforehand. maybe i should apply to the "real" school for the lpn to rn, but i work 3rd shift and that would make it very difficult. plus i have some downtime most nights that i could study at work now, but i don't know what to do about the clinicals as i just can't afford to fail them and have to retake them if they are really $2 or so each time.
you ex is totally misleading you if she told you she doesn't have to do the clinicals. everyone has to the cpne. you can totally pass the cpne with little experience. i started ec 2 months after getting my lpn license and was working at a nursing home. it took me 12 months to complete the program. there are several workshops that you can take to help you pass the cpne. there are lot of videos and ec offers resources. i practiced the assessments on my husband and a dummy i made out of old clothes. i bought the practice wound from ec and all supplies off the internet. it is a doable task with little experience.
the cost that i quoted above was a short lived promo. it no longer exist. i spent about $8500 total. but that included the cpne, travel for my me and my husband. workshops, online test etc.i also had to take 2 test over. so that is why i paid so much. i also had a previous degree and only needed 2 prerequiste classes. without all the frills. the total cost could range from $5k-7k. imo. below is a breakdown of the cost. add it up and see what you get.
cost for excelsior college
application --------------------$75
enrollement -------------------$895
test and exams--------------$235 each
practice test(opt)------------$65 each
cpne----------------------------$1950
annual fee---------------------$495(pay at the end of 12 months)
Thanks for the info guys. I wrote my ex to clarify some things and found out she does have to take the CPNE after all, but her "practice" clinicals can be done at work since she works at a rehab and has RN's to help her. I wish I had something like that or at least some kind of preceptor we could train with. I thought one of the programs had that, but I'm not sure which one. She also said she was using Chancellor and not Excelsior like she told me before therefore she only has to buy study guides and not books and uses her old books from LPN school as reference. It sounds like it saves a lot of money that way and she is doing fine passing so far. I keep getting pamphlets from RUE too and I'm not sure how there program is different yet. It does sound doable, depending on what the payments would be. It sure would be nice to find a job that would help pay for it too.
I'd like to hear from some people who have actually got through it already and found an RN job. I don't know I got a call for an interview at that veterans place again yesterday for a LPN job through the state. Its about a 2 hour drive so I keep going back and forth as to whether its even worth pursuing having a house that I'd need to sell and it needs some work before I can do that. Plus I have a leased car and can't put a ton of miles on it. I probably hesitated too long though as I just tried calling (after sleeping because of 3rd shift) and she already left and will be out of the office until Monday. Who knows, it might still be available next week.
I am a excelsior Graduate class of 2009. My advise is to read the books and study guides. Study extea hard for the test over mental health it was hard the CPNE is not the bad I would encourage a workshop. I passed it first time no repeats. Stay focused u can DOit Good luck:nurse:
so I have little choice but to do it online if I'm going to do it at all. I went to EC's website and created my EC account. Now what do I do 
? How do I know what and how many classes/courses I must take to get my degree? Do I have to pay the $75 fee to apply just to find out if I have to take too many courses? I took a lot of prerequisites at local community college for the RN already. 
Medsport, LPN
352 Posts
So you're saying it only costs about $1600 total? I just read through a bunch of these threads and visited excelsiors website and I'm more confused than before. From my quick calculations, it will cost around $8500, but I'm not sure what classes will transfer yet as I have my LPN and I took some of the RN prereq's already. Then there is the last post of the lady taking 2-3 years to get through it. My ex-gf is in it and it looks like it will only take her about 1.5 years. My main concern is the cost and the clinicals. If there is a way I could defer my current loans and pay $100 a month max than maybe, but I don't know. My ex also said she does'nt have to do the clinicals, something about the fact she works in the rehab department of a hospital. Anybody know anything about that? I only work in assisted living right now, so I don't have experience in a lot of the procedures. I'm also already worried about how I'm supposed to pass the clinical component in one weekend without any practice beforehand. Maybe I should apply to the "real" school for the LPN to RN, but I work 3rd shift and that would make it very difficult. Plus I have some downtime most nights that I could study at work now, but I don't know what to do about the clinicals as I just can't afford to fail them and have to retake them if they are really $2 or so each time.