Thank you for the responses! I have two dear friends who are physicians and they both prefer the university or the community college training in this area, but I am an adult returning student and I need an abreviated route to success. They both frowned on ECPI thinking the nurses were not as prepared as they expected. Even so, I went to check out the ECPI program. It is wildly expensive and I was very nervous about the nursing education they promised. I spoke with a couple of students and nothing seemed to justify the cost other than they have a formula for getting federal financial aid. I left ECPI very frustrated, but resolved not to pay that sort of money unless I was admitted to UNC-CH, which I think is considerably less than ECPI! I hear there is a tuition reimbursement program at Alamance Regional Hospital. Does anyone know of it? I am going there this week and also to CareOne in Raleigh tomorrow. I'll post what I learn. Thank you for the feedback. You guys are awesome! :-)