Only 8 courses, $9K??

ScarletFire · Oct 16, 2013

Hi RnsRWe,

The real story is: it depends. Everyone who responds here will tell you something different with regard to what transferred and what didn't. Here is what is true for all of us:

Everyone must take: Prof Nurs A/B, Holistic Care of the Older Adult, Health Assessment, Vulnerable Populations, Health Promotion, Research, Leadership/Management, and Capstone Plus 2 nursing electives. If you have a national certification such as CCRN, or PCCN, that can sub for one of your electives. Some people can use a previous science class such as chemistry or biology to sub for the 2nd elective. You can take Legacy of the family as one elective or Cooperative Work Experience for the other, OR a 3-unit Medical Terminology class will work for one elective. The cost per credit of each of nursing classes is $257; thus a 3 unit class will be $771.

Regarding the gen courses, well, this is where it become less defined and will vary from student to student. There is a list on the web site of all the general classes required, so I won't mention them here. If you haven't taken it already, you will be required to take Texas Gov as a 3- credit class, no matter what other gov classes you've had before. The only way to find out exactly what YOU have to take is to send in all of your transcripts along w/ your application and see what they say. Some people have successfully negotiated their way out of certain classes that they believe should have transferred, others have not been so successful. If you want, you can CLEP out of a certain gen class by studying on your own and taking a standardized test which will enable you to avoid having to take the class. Some people do this for Algebra, history, etc. The cost of each gen class is $168/credit.

So, for example if you have NO general classes to take, the 8 classes listed above, with 1 nursing elective (35 units total) would cost you: $8995. Obviously, the cost goes up the more classes you have to take.

The length of time for completion is up to you, meaning that if you take 2 or even 3 classes concurrently, you can expedite things considerably. Most nurses on this site doubled up at some point and some even took 3 or more classes at a time. Just depends on you and your schedule and how sane you want to remain. I started in mid Aug 2012 and finished the first week in Sept 2013, so just over one year. I doubled up a couple of times and once I took 3 classes together and I work full time.

Hope this info helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Oct 17, 2013

Thank you, you've been so helpful! It seems that with the eight core classes plus at least one elective (9), plus a Texas government class requirement (why???) that brings it up to a minimum of 10 courses. And it stands to reason that they might not accept this or that course from a past ADN to satisfy their own gen ed classes, so...they seem in line with other programs, then. I realized after I posted, too, that the $9,000 didn't include books, fees, any other materials needed, so the price of course goes up considerably. Again probably bringing it in line with other programs.

For the life of me I have no idea why they would require a course in Texas government in an online program, if not to simply pad the revenue of the school.

I've been leaning sharply toward Grand Canyon University (price, coursework, etc) and think I'll stick there when it comes time to apply.

At any rate, I do appreciate the information you've provided, thank you :)

ScarletFire · Oct 18, 2013

Hi RnsRWe,

There is a Texas state law that requires anyone graduating from a school in Texas must take this class; so that's why. I agree that technically we aren't really attending school in Texas, so, to me, this mandate should have been waived, but that's Texas for ya.

I know many girls from my work who are in the the Grand Canyon program right now, including both of my charge nurses. It is significantly more expensive than UTA, even with the books included in the UTA cost, just FYI. Plus, the length of time for the entire program is longer as well. I'm not sure if you are allowed to take >1 class at a time or not, but I finished in about a year and the Grand Canyon girls are still going. There are no tests at all, but lots of papers. (UTA has some tests and some papers). I believe that they have 12 nursing classes to take, though. That may not be exactly accurate, but I know for sure they have more than our 8 (or if you have to take an elective, 9). And, there is no mechanism to use any certification you might have to waive a nursing class like we can do at UTA. They also have 2 discussion board questions per week, while most of our classes have only one. One really negative aspect is that every class assignment for every course is done in a group. I don't know if that would bother you or not, but this it a factor to consider. At UTA, only Nursing Research is based on the group-thing and it is horrible. I was glad there was only one class with this format. I know that GC does accept a lot of classes to transfer in, though, so that may be a positive for you, I don't know. UTA accepted every single class I previously took, also, though. I took the basic 8 nursing classes, used my PCCN to waive the nursing elective, took Texas Gov (because I had to) and US gov (because I never had a gov class before) and that's it. If I were you, I would apply to both schools and then you would have more data to use to give a fair comparison. I know it sounds like I'm trying to get you to come to UTA, and I'm really not. There are many frustrations with this school, for sure, but I liked that was fast, cheap, and only moderately hard.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

kirsnikity · Oct 18, 2013

In addition to all the nursing classes, I've had to take four general courses through UTA (Tx Gov, Stats, Tech Writing, Brit Lit). I took one course (American Gov) at a local community college and used my RNC to satisfy an elective. I'm going to take a second certification exam soon which should satisfy my second elective. Even with the five additional courses I've had to take, I'm still spending at least $5K less than my co-workers who've chosen to go to Grand Canyon.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Oct 20, 2013

Wow, good info all. GCU does not have any application fee, so they also will let you just send your transcript to see where you'd end up with requirements and such. Their BSN is based on 84 general credits and ADN nursing credits transferring (as a max) and then you'd need 36 nursing credits only (which is the 12 courses everyone knows from that school). They took the max of 84 credits from me; I have to take no additional electives, no government classes (US or TX or otherwise). I wonder if UTA would do the same? It kinda sounds like they'd make me take (at a minimum) the TX gov't class, and two electives, since I don't have certifications that would buy me out of one of them. Nor did I take any form of government class for my ADN. That brings me to 11 classes right off the bat, assuming I don't have anything else they think I'm lacking. Which would raise my $$ up, and length of time up, too.

Might be worth the $50 application fee to see what the REAL difference in costs and time would be.

Not sure if I understood this right, but you said that every class assignment in every course is done as a group...do you mean UTA? Because that's not my understanding from GCU. There are group assignments in each course, but not EVERY assignment in each course. Personally, I HATE group assignments, but can't seem to get away from them no matter what the school!

All the courses at GCU are 3 credits each, five weeks each: none are longer. You could, therefore, take just one at a time and be done in 60 weeks (14 months--for the core 12). Or double up and be done faster, depends on the time you have to spend on it. You could also take it slower, like your friends might be doing. Honestly, considering all the papers to write, I don't see me doing two courses in the same five weeks!

There's alot to think about, and I thank you for all the info. I definitely wouldn't mind saving both money and time, but I really hate the idea of having to take truly useless courses (Texas government?? And two other electives "just because"?). So...lots to consider.

TamTamRN-RRT · Oct 20, 2013

I am in the UTA program as well although I only have taken one nursing class so far. I decided to focus on the general education courses for now. I did the bare minimum for my ASN degree because it's my second degree and I swore I was finished with school. I must admit their history and gov requirements are a bit much... But $250 a credit is pretty good. I have local colleges that offer Rn-bsn programs that would cost way less.. But I can't deal with the clinicals... As far gen eds are concerned .. I just finished second English history 2, I'm currently enrolled in music, history 1, intro to psyc... I still have literature statistics sociology Texas gov and American gov left! I'm taking these at the local college for about $330 a class online And fortunately they are only 6 weeks long.. So I hope to be back on track with the nursing courses next May!

ScarletFire · Oct 21, 2013

Wow, good info all. GCU does not have any application fee, so they also will let you just send your transcript to see where you'd end up with requirements and such. Their BSN is based on 84 general credits and ADN nursing credits transferring (as a max) and then you'd need 36 nursing credits only (which is the 12 courses everyone knows from that school). They took the max of 84 credits from me; I have to take no additional electives, no government classes (US or TX or otherwise). I wonder if UTA would do the same? It kinda sounds like they'd make me take (at a minimum) the TX gov't class, and two electives, since I don't have certifications that would buy me out of one of them. Nor did I take any form of government class for my ADN. That brings me to 11 classes right off the bat, assuming I don't have anything else they think I'm lacking. Which would raise my $$ up, and length of time up, too.
Might be worth the $50 application fee to see what the REAL difference in costs and time would be.
Not sure if I understood this right, but you said that every class assignment in every course is done as a group...do you mean UTA? Because that's not my understanding from GCU. There are group assignments in each course, but not EVERY assignment in each course. Personally, I HATE group assignments, but can't seem to get away from them no matter what the school!
All the courses at GCU are 3 credits each, five weeks each: none are longer. You could, therefore, take just one at a time and be done in 60 weeks (14 months--for the core 12). Or double up and be done faster, depends on the time you have to spend on it. You could also take it slower, like your friends might be doing. Honestly, considering all the papers to write, I don't see me doing two courses in the same five weeks!
There's alot to think about, and I thank you for all the info. I definitely wouldn't mind saving both money and time, but I really hate the idea of having to take truly useless courses (Texas government?? And two other electives "just because"?). So...lots to consider.

Hi RNsRWe,

So, sounds like you will have 12 nursing classes to take at GCU. Compare that to UTA's 8 nursing classes plus Texas Gov and 2 nursing electives. So, that's 11 classes total. You're right, at a minimum, you would have to take Texas Gov as a general course at UTA. Some people I know didn't have to take any electives because they had enough science courses in their past academic history to suffice; hence, you potentially could only have to take one elective, or none. Since you said you never took any poli science classes, you may have to take US gov as well. So, yes, this adds another class to the total, which contributes to time in the program and money. As I said, I took the 8 nursing classes, one elective, Texas Gov, US gov, and History and finished up in one year. You said you don't see yourself being able to double up at GCU due to the papers; however, it is very easy to double up with certain courses at UTA without much difficulty. And, everyone I know has done so and some even take 3 or more at a time, as well.

With regard to group work, my friends at GCU said that there is group work involved for every class they take. This is NOT the case w/ UTA. I'm sorry if I didn't make this clear in my previous post. As I said before, only Nursing Research has group assignments. Everyone hates group work, so to me, the fact that there is only once course that follows such a format, is a big plus. Each course is also 5 weeks in length but not all are 3 credits; a couple are 4 credits and one (Capstone) is 5 credits.

So, I guess your choice would be dependent upon how many gen courses you have to take and I certainly understand that. I felt like I got off pretty easy with only having to take 3, but I would have been unhappy had I needed to take any more, and you'll probably feel the same. So, maybe you could take a look at UTAs web site with the list of the gen courses and make a determination yourself about what you think you may need to take to fulfill the requirements. And, if it seems like you might have to take many more than about 3 of them, then stick with GCU. Just a thought.

ldawn79 · Oct 28, 2013

RNsRWe,

There are several classes (nursing not gen) at UTA that don't require books. I rented all my books through Barnes and Noble for 60 days. I don't think any book cost me more than $15-20.

ArtieRN · Mar 17, 2014

I'm sure this comment is a bit late, but I wanted to throw in my two cents should it help someone. I have a BA in English and with lots of science classes (I kept dabbling with the idea of applying to med school), finished my prereqs at a community college, and then I got my diploma at the local hospital. The only gen classes I needed as A&PII (my nursing school only required A&PI if you took it at the local CC) and Texas Gov't. I was amazed I didn't have to take Statistics, but I did have a college-level math already (Calculus for Life Sciences—no, I don't know either). I don't know what they took for one of my nursing electives, though, as I don't have any certifications. Maybe my med term or sciences. That takes me up to 10 classes, and with the benefits I get from work and the scholarship I'm applying to? I should be able to cover all my costs. Whew!