I had gone thru same process and dilemma, long time ago. The Dean is right, LPN/LVN are key part of nursing, unfortunately LPN/LVN are being phase out of the hospital, most works in LTC, Sub-Acute, Rehab and a lot of facilities are not hiring at the moment, specially without prior experience (varies in your location). My story is I got my BA in Liberal Arts 1994, LPN 2001 and online RN program in 2006. Because of my military obligation before, my career and education are slowed. Some of my classmates are able to take part-time or full-time (I myself) jobs while attending LPN-RN Bridge, it is hard, a lot of sleepless nights. Self-discipline, persistence and time management, everything is doable. I would not recommend doing an online RN or challenge courses if you want to further your education in medical field, if you move around state to state like me. I ended up doing some classes again to satisfy the State Board requirements. Conventional College and Universities are quite expensive but it is worth it. Hope this help you. I have use the search section of this website for more new/old post and inquiries; it did help me a lot.