Survey: Would you pay $43,000 to a College to become an RN in 22 months?

U.S.A. Nevada

Published

I want to become a nurse just like most of you. I am considering Apollo but the price scares me:o!! It's super fast!! It'll be great to be done in 22 months. What do you guys think?

A big fat negative on that one! My goal is to graduate with as few loans as possible.

Will it take you 22 months to pay it back? It will take much longer....if the program required an extra YEAR I would do that before taking out that loan and getting stuck with it for 10 years.

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Have you actually started the program? If so, does the program give you enough grants and loans to support yourself to work part-time? The reason the inquiry, my daughter has finished all of her pre-reqs except Biology, because of the fear of not passing, and the fear of not getting accepted at the highly competitive schools such as NSC, UNLV, CSN, so she was considering to work part time, and she too is a single mom, but wasn't sure if she could afford to do that, and she also wants to be a nurse, but with all the requirements that you have to go through is starting to give up. I want her to have faith and complete this task, so any input on the financial side of it, please advise.

I am a mother trying to guide her. I am a Court Reporter and I also have a Master's degree and I went to private education, cost me quite a penny, but I had the same theory as you, I could be making the money now as opposed to five years later, and I have the attitude what works for you, and education is the best expense that you will ever spend. Good luck.

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I started the program 3 weeks ago. I got what I could in grants which I don't have to pay back. The Stafford loans are covering the rest. I don't need to start paying those back until 6 months after graduation. So currently I wont have any extra expense out of my pocket.

Working part time is tough on the pocket book, I wont lie. Right now, I just spend what I have to and cut out what we really don't need. I was just like your daughter and was debating if I could really keep waiting for one of the other schools, but when you sit down and write out the benefits and the negatives off all the choices, Apollo won. Good luck to you and your daughter. Let me know if I can be of any more help.

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So how many days a week is the program, and from what time to what time? Did you find the entrance

exam challenging? Whoever applies as long as you pass the test, you are in? How big are the class sizes?

Thanks for assisting me in my questions.

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The 1st semester is 2 days per week from 8am to 3pm. each class is 3 hours long and there are 2 classes each day. You get a 10 min break every hour. Lunch is an hour and is in between the 2 classes. I think the 2nd semester is 2 1/2 days per week. There are no weekend classes.

The entrance exam is easy, and I'm not the best at taking exams. There were 3 sections and each one had between 20 to 40 questions. The exam was $20. Questions were about math, eng and science.

Once you pass the test, you meet with the admissions rep. She gives you a list of things that you need to do or get for them (transcripts, etc). They then take all that info and test results and the board looks over the applications. They pick about 45-50 students for the next semester. If you don't get in that semester you get in the next one which is 4 months later. After you accept your spot, you meet with her again and sign your life away (ha ha). She will give a list of immunizations that are needed, drug test, etc. Each semester has 2 classes and each class has about 22-25 students. The 25 students in your class will all follow eachother to all the classes for 2 years so everyone will get to know eachother very well.

Hope this all helps..........

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This was very helpful information. So did you get in on the first round or did you have to wait for four months? Also, for the entire two years, it is only 2 to 2 1/2 days per week or just in the beginning?

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Specializes in Day Surgery, Agency, Cath Lab, LTC/Psych.

I graduated with my BSN with a $2500 school loan. Small potatoes I know. But, that loan hung over my head like an albatross until I had it paid off. I cannot imagine paying $43000 for an RN degree. If you were going to Harvard or Johns Hopkins then maybe, but where I live Apollo college is the bottom of the barrel (no offense to any students from there).

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That's great that it worked for you. The bottom line is when you pass your test and have a RN license, most hospitals will not care where it is from, so to say it is at the bottom of the barrel, I don't necessarily agree. You have to always consider we are all individuals and what works for one may not work for another, and I look at it as private vs. public, and the attention that you get in a smaller school that some may need, others may not.

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I got in on the first round and I haven't heard of anyone yet who had to wait a semester to get in. The waiting will only come into affect if it takes you to long to gather the info you need for them to decide or if the school gets more students applying as it has been. Initially when I went in for orientation they said they take 40 students per semester. In our class I think we have 24 and the other class has 22 so they obviously make some exceptions on class size also.

As far as the number of days go, I was told as you get further into the semesters you will go more days and the times will change some. The reasoning is the clinicals at the hospital. You will still be doing class work at school for the lecture and lab but will be required to adapt to the schedule of the hospital at some point.

I know the amount of money is high as Dolce said, which is true. Like you said though, everyone has a different situation. Not that I can afford $43000 or anything, but when I have 2 kids to support by myself and one is a teenager and the other a toddler, paying for daycare and teenage stuff (soon college for the oldest) is killing me. I need to make the money sooner than later. Just medical ins for us is over $500 a month. Add another $700 for child care and a gazillion other expenses and you go broke really quick. By the time I finish, my youngest will be out of daycare, so that money can go to pay school loans since it is already budgeted to not be in the bank anyway. With me then making more money and not paying for medical either, it makes more sense for me than to wait another couple of years just to get into CCSN, then another 2 years to finish school. Hopefully this plan works. It sounds good, but things tend to change in life so we will see.

Before I signed up for Apollo, I had called a few hospitals where I had contacts from work. I checked with nursing supervisors, human resources, etc about what they thought about Apollo. Nobody seemed to have an issue with them. I did hear from 2 different places that if they had a 2 applicants with the same experience and one was from CCSN and the other from UNLV, that they would choose the one trained from CCSN. I was told that they seem to have more clinical experience where UNLV has less clinical experience. I'm sure that is all an individual preference, though.

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The plan will work as long as you continue to keep your mind on the prize, the great end result, and from what research you have done, I know you will. I will be going to the orientation this week for my daughter because she has work, and she too has an 18-month old baby, and that's what I keep telling her, do it for him. Why waste time waiting and being undecided, just take the leap. I am sure neither one of you will regret your choices.

Thanks again!! It's been great speaking to you, and I will keep you posted on what my daughter decides.

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Specializes in Med/surg,Tele,PACU,ER,ICU,LTAC,HH,Neuro.

It is not accredited. You may have serious trouble getting any college to accept your transcript if you want to advance your degree. THAT is alot of money.

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That is not a true statement as far as being in serious trouble. If you do your homework you will find that most schools want you to have RN, and if you do your Bachelor's in NV, Nevada State College will accept it as long as you have RN, you may have to take some pre-reqs where some of your classes are not transferrable, but the key is for whoever decides to go Apollo to research your universities to make sure they will accept the RN which if you look at the pre-reqs most universities say RN from a nationally or local state.

FYI - Apollo is accredited by private schools organization and has provisional accreditation in th State of Nevada. If they didn't have some type of accreditation, the Federal Government would not provide students financial aid.

What it boils down to is what's best for each and every individual. What may work for me may not work for you, and whether or not you want to wait 2-5 years to get accepted in one of the smaller schools, and if you have time, go for it. And once you get RN, BSN, MSN whatever you decide to do and have good work ethics, no one cares where it came from.

I contacted several local hospitals, HR as well as Staff nurses, and no one cares where you got the RN, just get it.

Good luck to you..

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