911, This Nurse Needs Help ASAP

Editorial Team / Admin · Apr 20, 2016

Certainly not unique to NPs. Many nurses without a BSN are finding themselves in the same situation of not being able to change jobs. Will the tuition and other sacrifices be worth the ability to find a job? Only you can decide that.

roser13, ASN, RN · Apr 20, 2016

I don't think that we can help you. It seems clear that you are between a rock & a hard place. You must go back to school in order to remain employed as an NP. It doesn't matter what nurses' or nursing professors' opinions are. It is unfortunate that you must go back to school, incur expenses and hire a babysitter, but those things are standard for obtaining a degree.m it is standard procedure for college credits to expire after 5 or 10 years when those credits were never applied to a degree.

Jnateman · Apr 20, 2016

What is really hard to accept is the fact I am grandfathered in by the ANCC and hold an active Florida nursing license and went through a credited program. At least Nurses getting their BSN go a lot shorter time and spend a lot less per credit hour and shorter amount of

time doing it. They will probably get a raise also when completed.

Jnateman · Apr 20, 2016

I was thinking if the university does not want to give me credit for my previous classes that I am going to ask them to give me my money back for what I paid to them if they think what I did was useless. I do still find jobs but they are not what I am looking for and very intermittent unless I move out of the city where I live. I am not in a situation that a lot of people are in so some people do not even understand how I am

still working. About 25 years ago there was a NP shortage and my sister in law had a MSN and went and did several months of clinicals and the state gave her a NP license.

Editorial Team / Admin · Apr 20, 2016

What is really hard to accept is the fact I am grandfathered in by the ANCC and hold an active Florida nursing license and went through a credited program. At least Nurses getting their BSN go a lot shorter time and spend a lot less per credit hour and shorter amount of
time doing it. They will probably get a raise also when completed.

No state requires a BSN. Yet, many facilities are requiring it. Just because you're grandfathered in by the ANCC doesn't mean that the job market views you as a viable candidate. Very few places give a raise for a BSN, and if they do, it's a mere pittance. Mine certainly doesn't pay more.

If you can't afford one specific program, look around. There are many options, including online, that offer different prices.

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · Apr 20, 2016

Did you try to speak with any other school' admissions? If you really only have 3 or 4 more classes, then maybe you can convince other program to only take what you need? What if you do one of these ubiquitous MSN in education or leadership programs online and then attach your new Master's classes to your NP program transcript? You may need to contact Boards before you attempt it, but at least it would be not that grueling and may solve sitter's problem.

P.S. try to shop around mid-range, brick-and-mortar programs and satellites of big universities. It was only my experience, but I found that such programs are generally more tolerant of older students with long and funny-looking transcripts.

roser13, ASN, RN · Apr 21, 2016

Did you try to speak with any other school' admissions? If you really only have 3 or 4 more classes, then maybe you can convince other program to only take what you need? What if you do one of these ubiquitous MSN in education or leadership programs online and then attach your new Master's classes to your NP program transcript? You may need to contact Boards before you attempt it, but at least it would be not that grueling and may solve sitter's problem.
P.S. try to shop around mid-range, brick-and-mortar programs and satellites of big universities. It was only my experience, but I found that such programs are generally more tolerant of older students with long and funny-looking transcripts.

It has been my experience that schools are not willing to issue degrees when the majority of the credits are not theirs. In other words, if you transfer from the University of Vermont to the University of Florida with 65 out of 70 required transferable credits, U of F will not issue the degree because the majority of yur work was not with them.

Jnateman · Apr 21, 2016

Yes, exactl what I was thinking. A lot easier, cheaper solution to get a MSN in another nursing degree like administration and then just check off the online application form.

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · Apr 21, 2016

Roser13,

I had this problem too, but I continued to shop around and eventually found a program which accepted my credentials (from abroad and some of them over 10 years old) as prereqs for otherwise "all-inclusive" BSN. A few years later guys from University of Michigan were kinda puzzled to see humanities' electives list from an ordinary State university transcript filled with things like "History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union" and "Marxist and Communist Philosophy", all with A+ :cheeky: . It is just a question of persistence and some luck, of course.

If nothing else, the OP can take whatever courses of Master's level needed as a "non-degree student", which is an option offered at least in some State universities. I only wonder if it would be possibly to make them accounted toward completion of the Master's coursework.

Jnateman · Apr 21, 2016

The one nursing recruiter said this happened to the PT's and pharmacists and she said they did not have to back to school and were grandfathered in. Think of any other profession this happened to and I can not think of any; it is actually better to be a PA since the program is still only five years from beginning to end.

My husband said it all about schools making money.

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · Apr 21, 2016

Jnateman,

just make absolutely, 110% sure that coursework you do will cover coursework for your PREVIOUS NP Master's degree. (in other words, if you do, say, MSN in Education, make sure that it 1) includes all the courses you miss for your NP Master's and 2) these courses could be counted toward your NP Master's. I am pretty much sure that you should contact your State Boards to figure it out. If your State has NP organization, it may be a good place to start as people there might know more about the process.