I am a recent BSN grad, with prior BS in Biology in 2000. I graduated from my college in May 2010 with 3.5 GPA and departmental honors. Have applied to Vet Admin and they responded that they got my resume but nothing else. Have applied to many other facilities and have received either no response or been told no available positions for new grads. Like many, I have spent a good deal of money getting through the program and now have no income and may become homeless if this drags on much longer. I am contemplating suing my college. We were informed in our last semester of school in an off-handed way by one professor that it costs $22,000 to train a new RN. i still have my notes from this class and it is right there in black and white. (In fact it was a test question on the first exam, so it must have been important information). Yet the college itself never informed us in a timely fashion about this. I remember when the teacher told us this info in class we all looked at each other in horror, knowing full well what this meant. As it stands now, of my graduating class of 47 students only about 10% have found positions and are working. Of those, all of them either had worked at the facility as a CNA during school or had parents who already worked there.
I have spoken to an attorney about this potential lawsuit and he claims it would go nowhere because colleges are not required to provide such info about costs of hiring on the other end. I don't believe this. And just because it has never happened in the past, that they are required, does not mean that it should not be required. That is what legal precedents are for. To establish things in law that have not been established before. I feel that, if the cost of hiring was important enough to put on an exam, then it should have been important enough for either nursing or university admin to provide us with up-front. Colleges do financial planning way in advance and do not wait til the last minute to figure out how much financial aide they can anticipate, how many students, etc. No one can tell me that the college was unaware of problems re: nurses getting hired.
I feel that colleges should properly DISCLOSE information to students that is relevant to their continuing in the program. Appropriate disclosure is something that everyone does by law. Why are colleges and universities exempt? Had we known this info as soon as possible at least some of us might have elected to either postpone nursing or find another career. The particular college I graduated from runs about $15,000 per semester for a full course load. That is $120,000 for a full 4 years. This, of course, is very good for the school in that they get loads of tuition money and get to keep THEIR JOBS. I would be interested to get some feedback from others on this forum. Most of the people I have talked to about this seem terrified to even approach the subject. I guess we are all so conditioned to think well of our schools or perhaps, by conditioning, we are all afraid to speak out.
Not to get into a brawl here, which was not the object of my post, but: (1) As I stated, I have been applying for work consistently. (2) In response to one of the last posters, she herself stated that there is scant info in the literature as to the cost of hiring. Believe me, I did spend time doing Internet searches while I was still in school trying to get to the bottom of what the reality was in hiring. I was not able to turn up any answers at the time I needed to have them. (3) In terms of my being broke and intiating a lawsuit: (a) in the county I live in, you can represent yourself. I have done so in the past. (b) I am poor enough, living on food stamps at this point, that I qualify for legal aide should it come to that. I am not adverse to taking any kind of job at all. In the area I live in, there are no jobs of any kind. Believe me, I would take anything I could find.
Sadly, I could easily move to Saudi Arabia and practice nursing there, having lived in the Middle East in the past and being able to speak Arabic. Unfortunately, I know they also want experience before they will hire you.
The best way to get hired by the VA is to contact the nursing recruiter directly for the facility. USAJOBS will accept your resume. Use USAJOBS to identify the facility and the contact person. Recruiters are still looking for the direct contact. In my experience the recruiters don't pull resumes from the website. Picking up the phone and contacting them directly shows a certain amount of initiative and responsibility for your own career development. Best of luck.
Sure, you could sue them...actually, you could sue anyone for any reason.
But would your lawsuit actually have a chance in court? I'm 99.9% certain that it would go nowhere because the school fulfilled its obligations: they gave you the education you paid for. Unless they specified in writing that they would guarantee you a job at graduation, they have no obligation to help you find work.
You're an adult (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), so welcome to the real world, where you need to take responsibility for yourself. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but that's what the reality is.
If you want to waste your time and money on the lawsuit, that your decision. Personally, I think that time and money would be better spent on the job search.
To the moderator: I did direct my resume directly to the person responsible for hiring at a local V.A. I had never heard of usajobs.gov until today. In fact, I called her to verify that she would accept a resume from a new grad before I emailed it over to her. She said to go ahead and send it, which I promptly did. I never heard anything after that.
Much more comes to mind...but I'll leave it at that. College education does NOT equal employment, and unless you signed some sort of contract with the school promising such, you have no legal leg to stand on.
I too graduated with honors from a BSN program. It took 7 months to get a job. It's frustrating, but it's hardly the schools fault.
The OP should do it for the principle of the matter: colleges and universities not disclosing information that would warrant potential students from enrolling in a program that would more than likely provide them with a degree in a field that is already oversaturated/not hiring.
I'm sorry, but it is not a college's responsibility to hold your hand and guarantee a job for you. Maybe you should sue the people who won't hire you instead, they probably have a lot more money than your school!
The state of the job market for nurses is a matter discussed in the media. For that matter, it is discussed on this nursing website. No secrets there, for someone who is aware enough to get beyond the "nursing shortage" myth. Discussed or not, no school that does not have a written contract calling for post-school employment, owes a student a job. If that were the case, all the medical assistant graduates who can't find a job would be rich from putting medical assistant schools out of business.
Why is it their place/obligation to inform you of what it costs a future employer to train you? The world is full of choices, most people arrive at their location in life by the choices that they made. I hope you find a job,however, blaming your school is not the answer.
Wow. Sue your school because the dynamics of the workplace have changed dramatically in the las few years. Interesting.
I can truly understand your frustration. But keep in mind that if you were to initiate such a suit, no one would ever want to hire you. You would make yourself persona non grata, and no manager would want to take a chance with the potential lawsuit you would always present.
I am truly sorry for your situation. Many of us are suffering in similar positions.
Tankweti
98 Posts
Not to get into a brawl here, which was not the object of my post, but: (1) As I stated, I have been applying for work consistently. (2) In response to one of the last posters, she herself stated that there is scant info in the literature as to the cost of hiring. Believe me, I did spend time doing Internet searches while I was still in school trying to get to the bottom of what the reality was in hiring. I was not able to turn up any answers at the time I needed to have them. (3) In terms of my being broke and intiating a lawsuit: (a) in the county I live in, you can represent yourself. I have done so in the past. (b) I am poor enough, living on food stamps at this point, that I qualify for legal aide should it come to that. I am not adverse to taking any kind of job at all. In the area I live in, there are no jobs of any kind. Believe me, I would take anything I could find.
Sadly, I could easily move to Saudi Arabia and practice nursing there, having lived in the Middle East in the past and being able to speak Arabic. Unfortunately, I know they also want experience before they will hire you.