I know this has nothing to do with nursing, but I figured since you all have clinical and stuff there would be some relevance. I'm so supposed to be graduating in november and I'm about to start my externship sometime in september. School starts back on september 4th and we'll be a few weeks late starting our externship cause we have to wait for a site to be open. Well I found out a quarter or two ago that we don't get to pick our externship site, they pick a name randomly and we have to go wherever they send us. Their sending people to sites out of town, like Xenia, Cincinnati, Middletown, etc. Well at our meeting today I told the director of the surgical tech program that I don't have a car, I catch the bus and I won't be able to go to a site out of town. Basically in so many words she told me I'm out of luck. She asked me do the buses run early in the morning I told her yes and she said what if the bus break down. Well what if your own car breaks down. I've worked many jobs on the busline and was never late, always on time. Where in other cases I've seen people with cars that are always late. Then she asked if I could get someone to drive me. She said that's why they starting screening people to see if they had reliable transportation cause if they didn't have a car they would not have let them in the program. I am so pissed because how are you gonna stop someone from pursuing a degree because they don't have a car. I thought she would have been understanding of my situation. If that was the case, I guess a lot of people wouldn't be allowed in a program cause they have to catch the bus. I didn't go to school for two years, catching two buses across town everyday, taking four classes a night at times, making sacrifices, and paying out $20,000 just to be told to get to the clinical site the best way I can and I shouldn't have been allowed to pursue a degree in this field because I don't have a car. Now I don't know what's gonna happen, if I can't make it to whatever site they give me I will fail the program. I want to complain to someone about this, cause I don't think it's fair, and I think it's discrimination against people with no cars. Also I'm mad cause I let my nursing assistant certification expire thinking I'm be soon working as a scrub. Also I'm wondering should I just had went on I stuck with trying to go to school for nursing.
No..not "discriminate" but that shouldn't be the school's concern. By your terms they already discriminate against those who can't afford school. I worked my way through school...put $3000 into my van when it broke down last year because I knew i had to get to clinicals. I went into debt to buy a computer that was mandantory....added $60 a month to my monthly bills to get high speed internet because it was needed.
I'm just saying that other students shouldn't be made to go out of town just because she doesn't have a car. I completely sympathize with her...I just tend to look at the big picture...and the fact that there are many other students struggling as well. Why should she get special treatment? She should work it out with someone to either switch, carpool, or borrow something.
There are ALWAYS loans to pay for school, but someone shouldn't have to purchase something as expensive as a vehicle to have for only 3 or 4 months.
Did you know, that unless you have a traveling job that it's actually illegal to ask someone on an employment application if they have a car or not? Why should the SCHOOLS receive a special exemption? You can ask if they have reliable transportation, but you cannot ask them if they own a car...that is referencing socioeconomic status, and most states prevent discrimination on that basis. This used to be a common question on employment applications...ever noticed it hasn't appeared in years?
You are also assuming that everyone lives in the city, which I highly doubt. There is no reason why the school cannot ask a student, that lives OFF a bus-route, that may be closer to a hospital outside the city, to switch...in fact, they may prefer it...my issue is that the school won't even attempt to search for this option for the OP.
I don't consider that special treatment, I consider that a reasonable accomodation.
Someone shouldn't have to give up graduating from a program because of BS, ego-boosting policies like this...we all know that the nursing departments run very independently and make up their own rules as they go along.
Again, the PURPOSE of college is to prepare you for the working world, and the OP would never take a job that wasn't on her bus route.
At our nursing program we found out on the first day of class that one of the clinical areas was over an hour away. We had no idea that they had agreements this far away. They ASKED if anyone that was assigned to that section would have trouble making it, and three students raised their hands...two carpooled with other students and one had a husband that brought her to school everyday b/c her husband worked 45 minutes in the opposite direction.
They ASKED if anyone would be willing to switch with them...immediately, twice as many hands went up, because THEY lived closer to the far-away hospital than they did the school, and were all-too happy to change.
They drew names and the switch was made...and didn't cost anyone anything.
The OP's school, refuses to even give her options...which is WRONG.
Specializes in Day Surgery, Agency, Cath Lab, LTC/Psych.
When I was in nursing school I had to drive miles and miles to get to my clinical sites. Part of this was my choice (I lived an hour from the school) and part of it was the location of the clinical sites. I remember some of my classmates lived so far from one clinical site that they had to stay overnight in a hotel. I hate to say it but, "Welcome to nursing school." Unfortunately life is not always fair and that is definitely true of nursing school. Hope you are able to make the best out of your situation.
The problem is that once you make an exception then more people expect there issue to be an exception which makes scheduling a nightmare for the school. If we have an issue other than the clinical time conflicts with a course we are expected to trade. Personally, I will trade if the person has a good reason.
Thank you for explaining tactfully what I've been trying to say...only to succeed in irritating everyone. This was my point. Nothing against the OP...I just see the school's side and the complications it can cause.
4. Sell car. Since it was already a cheap used car, it should not depreciate much over the course of 1 semester. Your sale price should not be much less than your purchase price.
5. Repay the loan with the money you make off of selling the car.
I knew a guy who did that because he traveled a lot in his work. He didn't own a car. But when he would find himself not traveling much for an extended time (3-6 months), he would buy an old clunker and then sell it when he would get his next extended assignment out of town.
There will be some overall expense here -- insurance, gas, registration, parking fees, etc. -- but if you consider the money you'll be saving in bus fares and the added convenience of having your own transportation, it might be well worth that expense in the long run. After selling the car, the remaining left to repay on your loan will be very small.
When I was in nursing school I had to drive miles and miles to get to my clinical sites. Part of this was my choice (I lived an hour from the school) and part of it was the location of the clinical sites. I remember some of my classmates lived so far from one clinical site that they had to stay overnight in a hotel. I hate to say it but, "Welcome to nursing school." Unfortunately life is not always fair and that is definitely true of nursing school. Hope you are able to make the best out of your situation.
Exactly. They couldn't say "well I don't own a house there...or I don't own a hotel in that town"...no. It's NS. Sometimes it stinks. Often you just aren't treated like the reasonable adult you are. However...we all go through it..and it's life.
And...to who said she wouldn't take a job out of her bus route..no..but that doesn't mean she wouldn't end up with training out of her bus route. It happens.
My school allows us to rank our options - although with 3 different programs options are limited - and then to write down any special circumstances or reasons why we want our first choice, as well as anyone we carpool with regularly. They also make no guarantees, but they do at least make the effort to assign people to somewhere they can get. I own a car now and it wasn't a big deal for me where I went, but I requested and received the hospital that's significantly closer to my house than to campus. Hopefully that freed up spots closer to school for non-driving students. Also, we filled out our forms a in the morning one day - we had to come in for a special meeting - went to lunch, and came back to find 96 students all assigned. It didn't take long, and most people got their first or second choices. Good luck to the OP!
April u keep saying I should switch with someone, but that's the thing. We are not allowed to switch or anything.
That is ridiculous. Man, I thought my school had issues, but after reading how some other schools are run I feel so fortunate to be where I am. We are always allowed to choose our clinical sites out of the five or so that are offered each semester. They tell us that they will do their best to accomodate us, and can't guarantee anything, but they always manage to fit 80 students into their chosen clinical sites. If you want to switch, you can, as long as it's done before the first clinical day. It's simply not a big deal. I don't know why any school would try to make it so difficult for a student to succeed! It's not like she's asking for special treatment during her clinical - she just wants to be able to get to her clinical site, for Pete's sake! NS is hard enough without these kind of nit-picky rules. Lashon, I hope you are able to resolve this - the only thing you can do (short of buying a used clunker) in speak with a higher authority about your predicament. Good Luck - and don't give up!!
Do you have a contract with this school? Does it say anything in it about a REQUIREMENT to have a vehicle?
I'd go through that thing with a fine-toothed comb and if it didn't, be sure to point it out to this instructor, their boss, the folks who run/own this school/company, and then possibly an attorney. What a bunch of hooey.
In this day and age of pollution, exorbitant gas prices, etc., I don't believe anyone should be required to own a vehicle if that's their choice. I don't care if they live in NYC or Timbuktu.
Furthermore, with the nursing shortage as it is, it continues to amaze me when I read some of the demands nursing schools make on their students. I'm not expecting anyone to do any coddling, and my school makes some fairly high demands of us, but we are treated as human beings. We are expected to be at school and clinicals when/where assigned, but when they created a night clinical group this semester and some folks balked -- for childcare, employment, or whatever the heck kind of reason, they allowed these folks to find someone to switch with them and did so. When two gals ended up pregnant, they worked with them to allow them to continue their education without losing out on a semester. Geeez, isn't that what most EMPLOYERS do??!?! At least the decent ones?!?!?
I'm really sorry to hear you're going through this. Buying a crummy car is definitely a last-ditch option, but not without its own possible consequences. I would be much more concerned about its reliability than I would that of a public transportation system.
April u keep saying I should switch with someone, but that's the thing. We are not allowed to switch or anything.
Then with THAT I would definately go to someone further up. While I disagreed with special assignments...I think there should be a way to accomodate you. You should be able to switch if it would work out for 2 parties. I hope you figure this out.
I know this has nothing to do with nursing, but I figured since you all have clinical and stuff there would be some relevance. I'm so supposed to be graduating in november and I'm about to start my externship sometime in september. School starts back on september 4th and we'll be a few weeks late starting our externship cause we have to wait for a site to be open. Well I found out a quarter or two ago that we don't get to pick our externship site, they pick a name randomly and we have to go wherever they send us. Their sending people to sites out of town, like Xenia, Cincinnati, Middletown, etc. Well at our meeting today I told the director of the surgical tech program that I don't have a car, I catch the bus and I won't be able to go to a site out of town. Basically in so many words she told me I'm out of luck. She asked me do the buses run early in the morning I told her yes and she said what if the bus break down. Well what if your own car breaks down. I've worked many jobs on the busline and was never late, always on time. Where in other cases I've seen people with cars that are always late. Then she asked if I could get someone to drive me. She said that's why they starting screening people to see if they had reliable transportation cause if they didn't have a car they would not have let them in the program. I am so pissed because how are you gonna stop someone from pursuing a degree because they don't have a car. I thought she would have been understanding of my situation. If that was the case, I guess a lot of people wouldn't be allowed in a program cause they have to catch the bus. I didn't go to school for two years, catching two buses across town everyday, taking four classes a night at times, making sacrifices, and paying out $20,000 just to be told to get to the clinical site the best way I can and I shouldn't have been allowed to pursue a degree in this field because I don't have a car. Now I don't know what's gonna happen, if I can't make it to whatever site they give me I will fail the program. I want to complain to someone about this, cause I don't think it's fair, and I think it's discrimination against people with no cars. Also I'm mad cause I let my nursing assistant certification expire thinking I'm be soon working as a scrub. Also I'm wondering should I just had went on I stuck with trying to go to school for nursing.
dont let anyone make you feel upset, thats how they get to you, life is to short, just pursue your goals and you wont be wrong. I always say when there is a will there is a way.
justme1972
2,441 Posts
There are ALWAYS loans to pay for school, but someone shouldn't have to purchase something as expensive as a vehicle to have for only 3 or 4 months.
Did you know, that unless you have a traveling job that it's actually illegal to ask someone on an employment application if they have a car or not? Why should the SCHOOLS receive a special exemption? You can ask if they have reliable transportation, but you cannot ask them if they own a car...that is referencing socioeconomic status, and most states prevent discrimination on that basis. This used to be a common question on employment applications...ever noticed it hasn't appeared in years?
You are also assuming that everyone lives in the city, which I highly doubt. There is no reason why the school cannot ask a student, that lives OFF a bus-route, that may be closer to a hospital outside the city, to switch...in fact, they may prefer it...my issue is that the school won't even attempt to search for this option for the OP.
I don't consider that special treatment, I consider that a reasonable accomodation.
Someone shouldn't have to give up graduating from a program because of BS, ego-boosting policies like this...we all know that the nursing departments run very independently and make up their own rules as they go along.
Again, the PURPOSE of college is to prepare you for the working world, and the OP would never take a job that wasn't on her bus route.
At our nursing program we found out on the first day of class that one of the clinical areas was over an hour away. We had no idea that they had agreements this far away. They ASKED if anyone that was assigned to that section would have trouble making it, and three students raised their hands...two carpooled with other students and one had a husband that brought her to school everyday b/c her husband worked 45 minutes in the opposite direction.
They ASKED if anyone would be willing to switch with them...immediately, twice as many hands went up, because THEY lived closer to the far-away hospital than they did the school, and were all-too happy to change.
They drew names and the switch was made...and didn't cost anyone anything.
The OP's school, refuses to even give her options...which is WRONG.