Those Who are Deciding on Expensive Schools

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Today I just want to give some advice to those deciding on schools that cost twice as much to be in their program. l know how hard it is to get accepted into a nursing program. I know that everybody has their own time when they think they should be in school. But I want to say step back and think things through. Look at the starting pay for nursing in your area and other areas you may wish to live. Because remember when you get out of school you still have to live. If you can wait to go to a cheaper school think about it this way, you have time to save up for your expenses in nursing school. Happy deciding to you all.

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I was in the same predicament. If I would have stayed at my university and received my bsn by the time I'd have graduated I would have been 50 thousand or more in debt. It made much more sense to attend my community college and get my adn first. So this fall semester I am transferring. Definitely something to seriously think about.

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I was in the same predicament. If I would have stayed at my university and received my bsn by the time I'd have graduated I would have been 50 thousand or more in debt. It made much more sense to attend my community college and get my adn first. So this fall semester I am transferring. Definitely something to seriously think about.

Yes, I'm a prenursing student and I tell my friends all the time to avoid expensive nursing schools. My sister major is criminal justice and she goes to Devry..... Who knows how much she will be in debt once she graduate. Just seeing her in that type of predicament worries me about my friends wanting to go to nova, Barry etc.

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Specializes in GENERAL.
Yes, I'm a prenursing student and I tell my friends all the time to avoid expensive nursing schools. My sister major is criminal justice and she goes to Devry..... Who knows how much she will be in debt once she graduate. Just seeing her in that type of predicament worries me about my friends wanting to go to nova, Barry etc.

You are so right. Going to for-profits like Devry or South Universitynfor nursing is like signing your financial death warrant. South's tuition over 4 years is well over 100K. The deception with these schools is that they make it too easy to enroll, have low graduation and retention rates. A person would be seriously crazy to be entrapped by these crooks. If you know someone who goes to one of these for-profits and they say all schools are the same, that'a lie. They have been entrapped and want to justfy their bad mistake by taking you down too.

Go to collegescorecard.ed.gov to evaluate schools and do a lot of research, internet etc.

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With my experience, I will disagree. It's not always a bad option to pick a more expensive school. I am a very frugal person and have been very thoughtful about my education. I obtained all of my prerequisites at the least expensive community college in the area. As is the story with most programs, I applied to all of the community college and "affordable" nursing programs in the area with a 3.8 GPA and 10 years of healthcare experience, plus excellent references. After 3 years, I still hadn't gotten into a program.

I have been living off a wage that is half of what a nurse in this area makes during this time. I only say this because....if I had accepted an "expensive" program within that first year, finished my degree and been working as a nurse, I could have been living off the same wage I'm making now and making double payments on my loan. And guess, what? I would still be a nurse, no matter which program I graduated from, as long as I was competent enough to pass the NCLEX.

So, when I was offered an opportunity to go into an "expensive" program 9 months before the next community college program cycle began, I took it. I would have taken a risk of going a 4th year without being in a program....and if I use my above math, live off what I've been living off of to date and pay the rest to my loans in my first 9 months as a working nurse (the 9 month head start I now have), I will only owe $10,000 around the same time I would have graduated from the soonest community college program (which costs about $14,000).

6 to one, half dozen to another if you ask me. I wasn't going to be making the extra money in my pocket anyway. Plus I get 9 months of experience under my belt sooner than I would have.

The biggest community college program in my area has a bad rap for graduating questionable nurses. It pays to do your research, as you said, no matter what route you choose.

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You are so right. Going to for-profits like Devry or South Universitynfor nursing is like signing your financial death warrant. South's tuition over 4 years is well over 100K. The deception with these schools is that they make it too easy to enroll, have low graduation and retention rates. A person would be seriously crazy to be entrapped by these crooks. If you know someone who goes to one of these for-profits and they say all schools are the same, that'a lie. They have been entrapped and want to justfy their bad mistake by taking you down too.

Go to collegescorecard.ed.gov to evaluate schools and do a lot of research, internet etc.

Yes! I saw nursing students at my sister's school. I was like why???? They're taking my stubborn sister to the cleaners because she can only have two classes at a time because her loans don't cover for any more classes plus she gets financial aid.

She's two years my senior so she's been in school before me, I learned from her situation and go to a local, nationally recognized college in Florida. I graduated with my A.A in April with no debt and no loans! I hate these loan sharks..... one investment blog advises to become an investor in student loans because so many people are unable to pay them, therefore growing interest rates on top of what the person already owe. It's like an investment for life!! Someone who goes that route will be paid for their entire lives off the backs and years of people with dreams and ill information. Just seem too wrong to me. :-(

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P.S yes my sister had mediocre grades and gpa, she didn't want to go to college but was pushed by my mom, they hadn't shop around for schools. They were bamboozled and sold a lot of bull. A lot of people fall into the trap because of desperation and urgency not craziness.

These schools are like sharks waiting for a meal, making money from their own lies and people's mistakes because of inaccurate information. So many are misguided.

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Specializes in GENERAL.
With my experience, I will disagree. It's not always a bad option to pick a more expensive school. I am a very frugal person and have been very thoughtful about my education. I obtained all of my prerequisites at the least expensive community college in the area. As is the story with most programs, I applied to all of the community college and "affordable" nursing programs in the area with a 3.8 GPA and 10 years of healthcare experience, plus excellent references. After 3 years, I still hadn't gotten into a program.

I have been living off a wage that is half of what a nurse in this area makes during this time. I only say this because....if I had accepted an "expensive" program within that first year, finished my degree and been working as a nurse, I could have been living off the same wage I'm making now and making double payments on my loan. And guess, what? I would still be a nurse, no matter which program I graduated from, as long as I was competent enough to pass the NCLEX.

So, when I was offered an opportunity to go into an "expensive" program 9 months before the next community college program cycle began, I took it. I would have taken a risk of going a 4th year without being in a program....and if I use my above math, live off what I've been living off of to date and pay the rest to my loans in my first 9 months as a working nurse (the 9 month head start I now have), I will only owe $10,000 around the same time I would have graduated from the soonest community college program (which costs about $14,000).

6 to one, half dozen to another if you ask me. I wasn't going to be making the extra money in my pocket anyway. Plus I get 9 months of experience under my belt sooner than I would have.

The biggest community college program in my area has a bad rap for graduating questionable nurses. It pays to do your research, as you said, no matter what route you choose.

OregonCowgirl, My beef is not with expensive schools. It is with for-profits and others with poor metrics that are clearly in "business" to financially rape as many babes in the woods as possible and then move on to the next victim. If any school has terrible graduation and retention rates as well as relatively high tuition, students are playing Russian roulette with their futures.

Anyone considering nursing school needs to practice due diligence across the board so they should never fall victim to the many especially for-profit predators. Impatience to get into a school, any school is just what these shysters are looking for to entrap. A good place to start to evaluate schools is collegescorecard.edu.gov. Although this site will only give a student one piece of the puzzle, many potential students are not even aware that grad rates, retention rates and tuition cost are incrediblly important. This information is of paramount importance to students who are financing school through gov't loans; which most are. And we all know how financially savvy young people are not. Especially when some unscrupulous admissions advisor is willing to sell them empty dreams filled with a lifetime of burdensome debt.

Believe it or not a for-profit loan mill like South University here in Florida can easily charge a nursing student over100-150 thousand dollars for the BSN depending on whether they go 4 or 6 years. That situation has been called debt peonage and is a disgrace. Colleges today are not the benevolent institutions of years past. So while finding the most cost effective way to become a nurse is paramount, it sure beats the alternative.

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The title of your post is "Those who are deciding on expensive schools", which is why I was defending said programs. But yes, you are correct in that prospective students should be aware of for-profits that aren't accredited with their local board of nursing and don't demonstrate proven programs.

I know a local nurse who graduated with a BSN from Linfield school of Nursing, a private college and the oldest nursing program in Oregon, with over $100,000 debt. It's an excellent program. Thoughts?

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