hello, i'm new to the forum. i live in central ne and am an lpn. i recently lost my job due to "restructering" and have been offered a position with the va system. it is a tentative offering, waiting for my references. i'm hoping to start may 30, but if everything doesn't get turned in, it'll be june 12.

i am hoping to maybe renew interest in this forum, as it looks like it hasn't been used for awhile. i enjoy the other forums, too.

has anyone in ne gone from lpn - rn thru the college network or directly thru excelsior college? i've gotten info from both and the $$ thru the college network is considerably less and that doesn't seem right. i'm afraid i'm missing something. for me, i think the study material from the college network seems better, as it is all laid out for you and you don't have to wonder which recommended study book is best.

does anyone have any comments?

thanks

hi,

:welcome: . i'm fairly new to the board myself. i'm a lpn also. sorry to hear about the loss of your position. i hope that you will be happy in the new one.

there are a few nurses where i work that are going through the excelsior program, they seem to like it and one nurse that has completed the excelsior program. she has said that she liked it . although to take the clinical part of it, she had to go to another state for that and the test, if my memory serves me right. i know this probably don't help you much, but it's about all i have heard about it.

thanks, it's always nice to hear that people were satisfied with ec. i found some of the college network materials on ebay, so i think i might start with one of those just to see how i like it. they are much less expensive and i won't have to sign any contracts just yet.

I was looking over The College Network site after reading your post. I hadn't heard of them prior to that. It looked to me that some of the courses are tested out through EC, so I think they may be affilliated. I wonder why one is so much less expensive than the other?. I haven't sent for any additional info from either company, mainly because I don't want them calling me. I'm not sure if I want to continue on at this point or not. I'm quite happy where I'm at with my position at the moment .

i think i may have figured out why the college network is less expensive than straight thru excelsior college. the college network is a publishing company and not affiliated with ec. you can take your pre-requisites anywhere, provided they are accepted by ec. the college network offers the class modules for a flat fee, regardless of the # of credit hours. i have also found that i can purchase some of these modules on ebay for about $25-50 each. i think i'm going to try to bid on one to see what it's like.

when i called the college network, they called to schedule an appointment with a representative. this lady was the most low-keyed salesperson i've ever encountered. she explained everything, answered my questions and then left me with some info and her card for me to call if/when i decided to go thru them. i emailed her once with a question, which she promptly answered. i don't know if all of their sales people are like her, but, if so, i certainly wouldn't be afraid to at least call them to come and explain things to you. i had a copy of my transcript of classes i took for my lpn so she knew what classes i had already taken.