Published Jun 23, 2007
ashemson
373 Posts
I am looking into NAU and was wondering if anyone was going thru that program right now and what you thought about it. I am just really nervous about returning to school!
queenjean
951 Posts
It seems awfully expensive! A patient was telling me that her daughter just finished her RN with them (I assume she meant a BSN), and has 80 grand in loans. There are way too many programs in this geographical area for ANYONE to pay that much for a program. There are community colleges in several counties, and three university programs that are not nearly so expensive where one can get their nursing education.
I'd look around. While looking into different programs, at the local universities and community colleges, my tutition and books were approximately 3000 to 4500 a year for two years. I am paying cash, but even if I took out loans to cover everything, and had to start from scratch taking all the prerequisites, there is NO WAY my costs would be 80,000!
Prerequisite classes can be taken on line or at a community college, to lower costs. Most community colleges in my area affiliate with the local universities (they are basically "feeders" as in they feed most of their students into a four year college at some point), and so the acceptance of credits is not an issue.
I would explore your options extensively before enrolling in their program. I would not enroll in a private college unless I were getting a full ride scholarship or grant. There are just too many other options out there (in my area, at least). Hell, I'd move to a different area to get a cheaper (but not inferior) education than pay 20 grand a year or more for school. But that's just me.
I just realized we are within 100 miles of each other (I'm in NE Kansas). I would definitely check out your community college options, and then segue into KU med center if you want your BSN (incidentally, KU offers an RN to BSN and an RN to MSN program, almost exculsively on-line). I suspect you will find more reasonable options on the MO side of the state line, too.
I do actually have all of my pre-reqs done, except I have to retake college algebra. And yes, it is very expensive, but my problem is that I took all of my general ed classes many, many years ago, and alot of the schools I have checked with won't accept them. And honestly, I don't think I could handle taking all of those again! I got my LPN from Penn Valley, and when I called recently I couldn't even get in until 2008, and that's IF I got in. I am nearing 40, and I really don't want to wait any longer!
Have you heard if NAU is a good school? Or have you heard anything negative about the school? I am just so freaked out about returning to school, that I don't want to get into something that isn't a good situation.
Thanks!
I haven't heard good or bad; just pricey.
An LPN from our hospital was going there, she has since quit, I'll try to contact her and ask her what her opinion on it is.
Will they not accept ALL your credits, or just your sciences? I ran into the same thing--a couple of my sciences were too old, so I just took them on line to refresh them.
Maybe you should post this on the general student forum, or the general nursing forum. More people will see it, and then you might get a wider range of responses.
Good luck!!!!
J