$57,000 for an ADN at Kaplan?!!!!!!

Nursing Students School Programs

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  1. Which Route Should I Take For The ADN?

    • 10
      Grossmont Community College
    • 0
      Kaplan aka Brightwood College

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I currently got to Kaplan (now renamed Brightwood) for their Patient Care Tech program. It was the only way for me to pursue my CNA at night while working my regular 9 to 5 during the day. My goal is to become an RN but I have two kids ( one which is only 2 months) and I'm 28 years old so time is not on my side. I want to take the fastest route possible so that I can improve my family's financial position. The fastest route is to go through Kaplan (aka Brightwood) b/c there is no wait list and the odds are I'll get accepted on my first try (not a good chance but better odds than the community college). Problem is they charge a ridiculous $57K for the ADN program. $57K for an Associates!!!! I work in Financial Aid for a living so I know better but its still a hard decision. If I go the community college route, it will be almost 2 years before I can even apply due to the prereqs that I still need. And even then Grossmont College doesn't have a waitlist, its very hard to get in so who knows how long it will take for me to be accepted. By the time I could even apply to Grossmont, I could be done with my ADN at Kaplan. However Grossmont's program only cost roughly $5-6K and I currently qualify for tuition waiver so there is a chance I wouldn't have to pay at all.

$57K for an ADN and be done two years from now and working or go the community college route and it be almost 5 years before I finish,assuming I get accepted on the 1st try. Please provide any advice you have.

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I am right there with you. I have a wife and ten month old daughter that I am supporting while I go to school full time. I am going the community college route. I will be applying to Saddleback college nursing program tomorrow. I have the tuition waver as well, I am also getting the pell grant and I have employment reimbursement.

I have been going at this thing since summer of 2014. To me not going into debt is what makes this whole program so appealing.

If you take the core classes like anatomy, phys, micro one at a time and focus on getting an A in each class you will have great chance of getting into Grossmont on your first application.

This is a marathon adventure! There are no two ways about it. In the end you dont want to be in the same financial rut you were in when you started. To me it is like the old tale of the tortoise and the the hare. Slow and steady wins the race. Live in the moment and take it day by day and enjoy your family as much as you can whIle you are doing this.

One more point I would like to make is in regards to your current location. No two ways about it California will REQUIRE BSN by the time you graduate no matter what route you go. This means that that $57,000.00 of debt you will owe will not guarantee a nursing job at your current location.

You will have to enroll into a bsn program to even be looked at for a new grad position. This means. .....more debt!

Best of luck to you. These are difficult times that require much resolve. God bless you and your family.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

PLEASE do not make this terrible, expensive mistake!

10 years of crushing debt vs. a year or two wait for a community college program?

PLEASE read the thread about ITT shutting down. Kaplan is a for-profit school that faces a potentially similar fate.

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Slow down and have patience. i stress this over and over...so many people get these loans and sign up to a job you may not like in the future. You want to quit you want to get out but your loans will be due. PLUS you have your lifestyle robbed from you for a few years just because you wanted to hurry up and finish. whats the difference : go to a community college with a two year wait and graduate debt free or graduate in debt and slave to a job for two years and have your lifestyle robbed from you..cant go out for a while....no new car....budget etc,....for two years? look at these forums...many new grads want to quit, dislike the job, etc....but guess what your loans are still due . Age is nothing but a number. Do not let society say you are too old so hurry up....that mindset only leads you deeper in debt. Think about it

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Slow down and have patience. i stress this over and over...so many people get these loans and sign up to a job you may not like in the future. You want to quit you want to get out but your loans will be due. PLUS you have your lifestyle robbed from you for a few years just because you wanted to hurry up and finish. whats the difference two year wait debt free or graduate in debt and slave to a job for two years and have your lifestyle robbed from you..cant go out for a while....no new car....budget etc,....for two years? look at these forums...many new grads want to quit, dislike the job, etc....but guess what your loans are still due

This is some great advice! I am doing this now as well. I'm able to go to school like it's a second job. I get grants and I use them as paychecks along with work.

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Specializes in GENERAL.

DomoniqueH: Please don't spend 57K for an AD. It's too much money and for-profit schools have miserable graduation and retention rates. Just look at what happened to the students recently when the dreaded ITT tech shuttered like thieves in the night.

No matter what you think, you are still young.

Wait, go to a community college or even a public four year school. So much more inexpensive and condusive to having a life after you finish school.

Don't put a financial noose around your neck for anybody. Be the mistress of your own ship and don't let the sweet talkers sell you a bill of goods.

And while nursing pays a living wage, don't reduce that wage to fast-food status by getting involved with the loan mill predators. (loans are expensive)

Have patience, be careful with these smile in your face recruiters and you will achieve your goals in time and by methods that will not send you to the poor house before you even get a foot-hold in life.

Good luck to you.

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Thanks Noctor_Durse..Its the truth! :)

Right I stress that to people too that getting good grades is a job...get high scores = grants= money. so you get paid for getting good grades? where did they do that at? lol.....patience is key :)

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Thanks Noctor_Durse..Its the truth! :)

Right I stress that to people too that getting good grades is a job...get high scores = grants= money. so you get paid for getting good grades? where did they do that at? lol.....patience is key :)

I just applied to my community college nursing program on the first of this month. I have been getting a pell grant of $2k per semester it comes out to between $500 and $700 extra a month. I am also getting the board of governors fee waver because I go to school in California so I am not paying for tuition. I rent my books online for pennies on the dollar and take as many online classes that I can. This has allowed me to work full time and go to school full time. I also get $2k reimbursement from my work because I work for an amazing hospital. I will be getting this first degree debt free. Bsn will be almost half paid for by my work God willing.

I am always an advocate for less debt is all aspects of life.

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Thank you all for the advice. I'm going to stick with the community college route. Long term is what matters most and I already have student loans so no need to hit the aggregate limit and not even have a BSN. Now I have to prepare for this phlebotomy license exam and then I'll be done with Kaplan aka Brightwood.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
Thank you all for the advice. I'm going to stick with the community college route. Long term is what matters most and I already have student loans so no need to hit the aggregate limit and not even have a BSN. Now I have to prepare for this phlebotomy license exam and then I'll be done with Kaplan aka Brightwood.

Wise decision! Best wishes to you.

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I was sort of in your position. I messed up when I was fresh out of highschool so had a low gpa. It would take a couple years to get all my pre reqs done and get high enough grades to be competitive on the point system. So I tried for two years, but I never could register for all the classes that I needed because they would fill up. It was going to take another year or two to do so. I also had a hard time staying motivated to continue and felt hopeless and like it was a lifetime away and I was not getting any younger. I originally walked into Kaplan in 2012, once I saw the price tag I said HELL NO and left.

2 years later after trying the community college route and building up my gpa and pre reqs, I gave up and was depressed. I could only be patient for so long. I talked to my husband and my sister who is very financially savvy. I was lucky enough to get a military discount so it shaved a little off tuition.

After weighing the pros and cons, I applied. I got in and I excelled. I have now graduated with my ADN at 28 years old. If I would have just applied back in 2012 when I first walked in, I would have saved myself two years of wasted time. Some of my classmates already had hospital jobs before they graduated just with their ADN. You make connections at clinicals or get a job as a cna at a hospital during school and make connections there. Getting hired is about selling yourself and having connections. Nurses get hired with ADNs all the time still.

However, I eventually want to be an NP one day so I have started a BSN program at Point Loma Nazarene University just to get it out of the way.

Everybodys different and I guarantee that you will not find anyone that tells you to go to a school like Brightwood, it was honestly my last resort, but I am glad I did what is best for me regardless of others.

As for the ITT tech thing, that is very scary. They are cracking down on for profit schools, so that's something to talk to the people at Brightwood about. But other for profit schools like West Coast University and Grand Canyon University are still going strong.

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I'm banking on getting the BOG as well. I currently get it so if I can use it for nursing school that would be perfect. Then I can apply for financial aid and if I get it, I can use that to supplement my income so I dont have to work as many hours. Which school do you attend?

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