School has access to Pearson Vue. Is this legal??

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BARE WITH ME, this is long. But I need advice!!!

My school requires us to bring in our ATT to them once we receive them so they can "register us and pay for the fees". Once we receive the letter, they require us to complete a series of NLN's & pass before THEY schedule us for our NCLEX.

So what I'm finding out is that most students from our school take a LONG time to take the NCLEX because after all the testing we've completed and even after received the ATT, the school is still requiring us to take MORE tests, instead of encouraging us to study and schedule the exam on our own. We found that this was their way of not letting their pass rate go down.

I have had my ATT since last year, but due to work and family constraints, I have been unable to successfully complete the NLN's required. I finally had the school register me but they still would not schedule me because I have not passed their NLN's. A friend of mine from nursing school moved so she was unable to come to the school at all for these NLN's. Upon receiving her ATT, she registered, paid the $200 fee and scheduled her NCLEX and passed. She called the school & asked for a reimbursement and they told her No since they didn't follow their procedure. She felt it was unfair as they were using her passing rate. This brought up a lot of questions to me.

What I did - try to register on Pearson Vue. It says I'm already registered. I try to register with my email, but it says incorrect email. So I had no way of logging in. I contacted customer service and they were able to validate my identity & provided me with a temporary password to log in and change my password. Upon logging in, I checked my Account information and sure enough it was my information but the email address on file was the school's email!!! I was able to schedule my exam (was supposed to be two weeks ago but has since rescheduled to this week). Pearson Vue is unable to change my email once youre registered so they advised me to contact the Board of Nursing to change the email. I did this a month ago and they still haven't changed it.

This morning, I get a call from the school and to call them regarding "the nclex". I try to log on to Pearson Vue tonight & after numerous attempts to input my password in, it locked me out and it said it will send me a temporary password to the email on file (school's email). Again, I contacted customer service because I cant log on. They gave me a temporary password, I changed my password and also changed my security questions. I log on to find out the school rescheduled my nclex date 3 weeks away!!! On a date that I am not even able to make it. I was livid!! :mad: First of all, they logged onto MY Account on Pearson Vue which is supposed to be CONFIDENTIAL, changed my password AND rescheduled my Nclex date. I let Pearson Vue know and they said they have contacted the right people to talk to about this, that I should be receiving a reply regarding this in 3-5 business days.

Is this even legal?! Can the school keep you from taking the NCLEX because they want you to finish more tests AFTER already submitting your paperwork & transcripts to the BON, and AFTER receiving your ATT letter?! They should not even have access to our account on Pearson Vue. They do this to ALL the students and what's sad is that NOBODY KNOWS theyre NOT supposed to this because nobody knows any better. All my classmates who have taken it, the school scheduled the NCLEX for them, registered for them, etc. None of my classmates have ever logged on Pearson Vue themselves! I am so mad that they're doing this. I get that they don't want their pass rate to go down, but what theyre doing isn't working because everyone is taking longer than it should to take their NCLEX and people are not passing the first time and some are not taking it altogether because they feel they cant pass the NLN's and get discouraged to take the NCLEX. A friend of mine who was an instructor recently quit and told me that the school is in hot waters with the BON because of their pass rate. I checked online with the BVNPT and their pass rate for 2016 is at 61%. It has decreased over the last 5 years! I really want to report them to the BON. Has anyone ever had a school like this?? Please provide any details, info etc. I want the school to stop doing this & give the students a real chance to pass.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Have you contacted the board of nursing as they regulate nursing schools.

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I'll bet a lot of prospective students would appreciate finding out the name of this school. If one follows the links on the BVNPT website, they will find there are at least two CA schools with most recent pass rates of 61%. This thread gives something to consider when researching nursing programs.

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A state Board won't issue an authority to test until you have officially passed the schools official curriculum so I don't understand how the school is forcing you to do anything once you have already passed. Are they withholding your degree and transcripts? If not ignore them and pay and schedule your own NCLEX. If they are withholding the degrees / transcripts than report them to the BON ASAP and try and get as many other students as possible to also put complaints in writing to the BON.

Your school has the right to require exit Hesi's or any other final exam of their choosing but once you have an ATT their control over your NCLEX performance is done. They already certified that you meet the minimum standard and your state BON agreed they don't get to change their minds.

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I'm sorry I missed a big section in the middle of your post. This is beyond underhanded. You should make an office compliant to your BON. It doesn't really help you now but the best move would have been just to pay the fee your self and not allowed your school any part of it.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

If you've got the ATT you should easily be able to schedule yourself and do what your friend did- skip the school stuff. It doesn't sound like they're preventing you from doing things your own way, only that they won't reimburse you the fee if you do. That part I can see- it would be optional. However, logging into your account is way out of line. That part is indeed something that should be reported.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Let me guess- a for-profit school?

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.

Wow that is really shady. Definitely report this behavior to your BON.

So sorry you are going through this.

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Specializes in PMHNP-BC.

So did you graduate already? Had your degree been posted to your transcript?

States now are catching on to this and are no longer allowing nursing schools to enforce an "exit exam" as a condition for graduation.

If I were you, I would have reported them a long time ago. They totally stepped over boundaries. I wouldn't take that crap.

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Specializes in PMHNP-BC.

Can you give us an update? I'm so curious to know what is happening now.

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