Great Private School with Outstanding Financial Help

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My daughter will be a junior this fall and she wanted to be a nurse since she was a little kid. She is already working at a hospital as a volunteer every other Saturday and she loves it. She is a honor student and gets A's and B's in AP advance classes. Her aunt was a nurse was 20 years( now she a lawyer) and recommended San Francisco University which she visited and loved and she saw the SF State which she wasn't too thrilled about.

One of our best friends daughter goes to Sonoma College and pretty much got a free ride for nursing school. My daughter likes UCLA and I graduated from Azusa Pacific University in Psychology and I understand they have an amazing Nursing School program.

Question: Best Private school that offers outstanding financial help thru loans and scholarships

we are middle class folks and we would love for our daughter go to a private school and get a BA with a nursing credentials but the cost is extremely high-over 100-150 K and although we will help pay the loans we prefer that she wouldn't be burden with a high debt and the alternative route Cal State Schools and Community colleges are in such disarray with State cuts, waiting lists etc. that we don't want her to get discouraged.

Looking for advice and suggestions- have anyone gotten some killer scholarships or amazing financial help in some private schools. And if some went Cal State what suggestions would you have? Thanks in advance.

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Look at Dominican University in San Rafael. It is a very small school. They accept freshman as nursing majors, meaning you don't have a separate application once prereqs are done. Most students have some form of scholarship. My child had a generous $14K/per year for 4 years merit scholarship(is she maintianed a 3.0) over 3 years ago and her high school gpa was some where in the 3.3-3.5 range.

I would not however think you can do prereqs at a JC and transfer there after 2 years, they make you wait several semesters to start the nursing program and not sure you would get the scholarship then. They have wonderful school tours .

Search this forum for more info on this school, I know there are other threads about this.

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I feel I have to defend SFSU. As an alum, I had nothing but terrific experiences there. Why the prejudice against state schools? There are PLENTY of not-so-good private colleges in California. Just saying.

ETA: I saw after I posted about the wait lists, etc. You'll definitely want to look into scholarships and the like. You definitely pay for not having to wait at those private schools.

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The difficult thing about state schools is that they all have different admission requirements. Yes all probably require chemistry, anatomy and physiology but some required psychology, some nutrition, some require volunteer experience, some require essays.Most require the TEAS entrance exam. Some require all prereqs be done, some can be in progress and some can be completed the 1st semester of the nursing program.

If she does go the state school route with the exception of the few UC's with nursing programs she will do her prereqs then apply. If she does the state school route she should not put all her eggs in one basket. Most people appy to multiple schools which is where things get really crazy due to the different admission requirments. Trying to complete all the applications and documents gets to be crazy especially since most people are usually attending school at the same time and have homework to do as well. They also notify applicants of admissions at different times which makes planning difficult.

Again there is competition but private schools make it easier for a hefty price.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

As an outsider ... (I live in the U.S., but not California) ... it seems to me that the California education system is quite troubled and things are a little confusing there. Why not consider an out-of-state school? Why limit yourself to just California?

I attended college in a state different from where I grew up and my family lived. It was no big deal.

Expand your search to neighboring states and give your daughter more options.

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we are middle class folks and we would love for our daughter go to a private school and get a BA with a nursing credentials but the cost is extremely high-over 100-150 K and although we will help pay the loans we prefer that she wouldn't be burden with a high debt and the alternative route Cal State Schools and Community colleges are in such disarray with State cuts, waiting lists etc. that we don't want her to get discouraged.

Looking for advice and suggestions- have anyone gotten some killer scholarships or amazing financial help in some private schools. And if some went Cal State what suggestions would you have? Thanks in advance.

150k is beyond outrageous for nursing school. :twocents:She'll be paying over $1200 a month just in student loan payments.

I've seen a lot of posts about California nursing schools and the issues with waiting. If she's trying to avoid the lottery, it seems a lot of allnurses member have decided to become an LPN then do the LPN to RN bridge since they can skip the lottery system. Then she can do the RN-BSN bridge. It would take roughly the same amount of time as it would to do a straight BSN, plus she would get some nursing experience.

I'm in Ohio. We don't have a lottery. We have wait lists, but everyone (as long as they keep up with the requirements) gets in after a certain period of time and a clinical spot opens up. I'm getting an ADN at a community college, then I'll be doing an ADN-BSN bridge. It will take me 4 years. Total cost - $30K

Is she on fastweb.com? They have tons of scholarships for all kinds of different schools.

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I agree with llg. If you don't like California schools, look out of state. I'm not familiar with that area of the country, but schools that jump to mind from sports are University of Oregon ($7k/semester), Boise State ($5k/semester) and Washington State ($20k/year). Ok, so Washington State is less affordable, but these are big, name brand colleges. There are plenty of smaller public colleges that are still very good.

Oh, and don't believe it when colleges say "X% of students got aid." You'll see private schools brag about that. Federal loans count as aid.

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Oh, and don't believe it when colleges say "X% of students got aid." You'll see private schools brag about that. Federal loans count as aid.

I think that is a very important point. Everyone is eligible for certain Federal loans, but it does count as aid!

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I forgot to say, stingray_on, good for you for raising a smart, responsible daughter that gives her free time on a regular basis. Not many younger people would choose to spend a Saturday volunteering at a hospital. Bravo.

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If your daughter chooses a private school she will end up paying for it.

She should have no problem recieving at least a pell grant from California. As far as the Cal Grants are concered I'm not sure if she will meet those requirments.

I am attending Mt. Saint Mary's for my associates in Nursing. An associates degree will cost roughtly $42,000 at this private school. I had to choose this school because it's the only one that offeres nursing classes at night and on weekends. If I could go the CC route I certainly would!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I'm also not from California but it has been my experience that RNs from community colleges are every bit as competent and some even more so than some of the BSN new grads I have worked with. CCs are cheap, flexible and would allow her to work as a nurse while probably getting some reimbursement from her employer as she moved forward with her education. Having a fancy pedigree really isn't all that impressive in the nursing world, imo.

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Specializes in Health Information Management.

It sounds like she could make it out of school more cheaply by relocating to another state (like Ohio) and attending a state school there after establishing residency (it used to take one year; I'm not sure whether that has changed). Do you have family in any less congested states?

In reference to the general idea of enrolling a child at a private university for a higher price tag in the hope that the investment would eventually pay for itself: The New York Times did an interesting story on this lately. While a nursing degree has a more obvious application than the liberal arts degree the student in the story pursued, the end result may be similar due to the glut of new nurses in many areas of the country. I'm offering the story as another perspective. Best of luck to you and your daughter!

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