Paying for Course syllabus?

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The ADN program that I will be entering as a first year student on August 19th charges for the course syllabus & guide, which also includes the lab manual and clinical manual created by the instructors at the college. It is a highly detailed and specific 216 page document, there is a ton of information and guidance in this packet. It includes schedules, dates, rubrics for assignments, what is covered in each class, lab and clinical, information on tests, assignments, group projects, lab skills and papers. Etc etc etc. Do other schools charge for this? Do other schools create their own lab manual and clinical manual? I mentioned this in another thread and there were a couple of comments questioning this practice.

Specializes in Operating Room.

Wow, that's outrageous! I've never had to pay for a syllabus which is good considering most were 4-5 pages. I'm not entirely sure if my program will charge us for our syllabi. I hope they just give us packets and call it a day. The thing is- we're their first entry-level BSN group, so I'm assuming whatever they start doing for us will continue with each nursing group in the future.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I know of several nursing programs that have had to initiate charges for items that were previously "free" because of budget cuts. Nursing programs are one of the most expensive 'majors' - and they are unable to decrease costs with the usual methods because of accreditation requirements.

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Never had to pay for a syllabus but I have had to pay for lab manuels b/c they were not nationally published manuels that you could get at any bookstore. They were made by the school/faculty to use in conjunction with the class textbook and were needed for the lab component of the class and were only available through the school.

I think your fee is more for the lab and clinical manuel than for the syllabus.

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I tend to agree...the fee portion seems to be more for the college-created lab manual and clinical manuals, which are extensive. It's not just a syllabus, and the entire document is 216 pages long. If it were a PDF file that we downloaded and could print out ourselves, I wonder how much that would cost in ink and paper on my home printer? When I think about it like that it doesn't seem too outrageous.

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Specializes in Cath Lab & Interventional Radiology.

I was required to buy packets for a few classes in nursing school. I am actually really shocked that so many people are opposed to this. The cost was around $15, and I had all the materials needed for the whole semester. This is much more convenient, and probably cheaper than printing the materials myself. Actually many of my classmates and I discussed that we wished all classes offered the required printed materials for sale in the bookstore. None of my instructors actually handed out packets or worksheets. I was required to print everything off the school website (blackboard). I can think of so many better ways to spend my time during nursing school rather than wasting time printing, hole punching etc.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Basically, what they have done is made their own textbook. Instead of buying a textbook from a publisher, you are buying the home0-made "course pack" directly from the school. There is no real difference, when you think about it.

And students always pay for it ... either they pay for textbooks ... or for home-made coursepacks ... or the cost of "free" materials are added into the tuition and other fees paid. The more important thing to pay attention to is the overall cost, not how that cost is presented to you. "How does the overall cost of your education compare to that of similar schools?" and "What is the quality of the education you are receiving for that cost?" and "Is that cost worth it to you?"

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Once in pre-nursing I had a AP professor charge for notes, but this never happened while I was in nursing classes. Everything else has always been online, with the exception of one OB teacher that insisted on printing power point, but we never had to pay for them. But I could see how that could get expensive. My nursing school folder on my computer has nearly 600 documents in it.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

We had a 218 page manual for our clinical course second semester that included a seminar and a lab portion as well. Unfortunately, by the time we were told we did not need to print the entire thing, I'd say 25 of the 27 of us already had using the school's printer that we do have to pay for. I think it was something like $14 to print the entire manual.

First semester we had a class in which our instructor did fill-in-the-blank notes and had them printed as a packet (about 100 pages front and back) and we paid $8 for that.

Other than those two things we have the option to either print in the lab and pay for it or print at home (still paying for paper and ink). That goes for syllabi, PowerPoints, required readings, etc.

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Specializes in NICU.

All of our course material (PowerPoint, syllabus, term paper requirements, course calendar) is online through Blackboard, so we have the option to print it out or leave it on our laptop. The university puts $20 in our printing account each semester. We print from our laptops when we are on campus and send it to the university's printer server. You swipe your ID card at any university printing station and it prints and deducts 3 cents per page for B/W or 10 cents per page color from your account.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

In my Bio class we had a lab manual created by teachers in the department. It was $6. Never in my life have I heard of paying for the syllabus and schedule. That should come with your tuition. That is outrageous!

All the info we need is posted on Blackboard and we can print it at will. Printing is included in our fees, so we can print as much as we want/need in the lab.

What school is this?

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The syllabus & schedule are a very short part of this 216 page packet, like 5-6 pages. (Front & back of all the pages are printed, by the way.) the rest of the packet is the custom-made lab manual and clinicals manual, created by the nursing instructors at my college. I've never had to pay for a syllabus in any pre-nursing class. Only textbooks or lab manuals.

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This is a community college in southeast Pennsylvania.

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