I am in search of information that pre-, current, and post-students have of West Coast University. No need for opinions regarding the high cost of the BSN program, I've read through many of those posts and got my tour at West Coast in Ontario so I understand how expensive it is. I am an LVN looking to get into the BSN program.
Here are several questions on my mind before deciding to attend West Coast this year, please offer any info and advice if you have it, I'd really appreciate any help available :)
1. Has anyone entered the program with already all or almost all of the required prerequisite classes completed? Does the price of the program decrease considerably? I currently have about 7 prerequisites completed and am wavering whether to finish them all off at a community college and start the program next January, or to just go ahead and finish the rest of the prereqs at WCU and start right away in June. I'm not completely clear on how the breakdown of the $15,000+ per semester is in regards to the prereq's/units
2. When it comes to student loans, is a co-signer REQUIRED? I have never had a student loan before so the process is completely new to me. I am going in probably next week to talk about the financials but if there are any questions I should keep in mind to ask, please let me know
3. Has anyone that is currently in the program or finished the program have any complaints in regards to feeling like the quality of the education was not as expected or if you feel like WCU promised more but gave less? So far reading other threads I haven't seen any specific complaints regarding their education which is keeping my hopes up.
4. For anyone that has attended the Ontario campus, how far out were you required to travel for your clinicals and did you feel that the clinical experiences were decent?
5. Is the curriculum well structured and have your experiences with the instructors been pretty good? My cousin's sister in law was a physiology instructor at the ontario campus a year ago, and I was told that WCU caters well to the students but I would like to hear from a student's perspective
6. Does WCU help grauates with job placement? Is their staff readily available to help you with any questions and assistance if you need it?
I guess that is it for now. I can see the major issues with WCU according to other threads are the cost and somewhat WCU's reputation? Not sure what about the reputation but aside from the politics in it being a business as a private school, if there are any other facts or rumors about the school's quality or management, please spill the beans
Again I beg to please spare opinions relating to how high the cost is since that part of the program won't change. I have no debt and no house and no kids so I'm thinking that when I am finished in 2 1/2 years, I can work full time while continuing live like a poor student off of top ramen and pay off all my student loans in maybe two years. Time seems to be the more valuable part of the issue when it comes to deciding whether going to WCU or waiting for an open spot at a Cal State or elsewhere.. What do the rest of you think?
This school sucks they are unorganized and giant pricks. I have been a student there since 2009. Trust me when I say it is the Devry of Nursing schools. The instructors are good but administration is only worried about money and student services are lacking. The school tells us not to bad mouth the school because it will cheepen the degree but I don't care as long as I have my license I will have a job.I will just won't hang that diploma on my wall.They are not wasc accredited yet.and the program cost is $136000.00. Check out Western Govenors University .It's way cheaper and Wasc accredited.
This school sucks they are unorganized and giant pricks. I have been a student there since 2009. Trust me when I say it is the Devry of Nursing schools. The instructors are good but administration is only worried about money and student services are lacking. The school tells us not to bad mouth the school because it will cheepen the degree but I don't care as long as I have my license I will have a job.I will just won't hang that diploma on my wall.They are not wasc accredited yet.and the program cost is $136000.00. Check out Western Govenors University .It's way cheaper and Wasc accredited.
Can you give a little more detail on what you mean and your experiences? I'm a WCU student but have only been there two terms. So far I haven't had any bad experiences and admin has actually been really nice and helpful, but wondering what your experience is... ?? Also what campus are you on?
I don't want to jade you but you will see when you get into the Nursing program. They harp on students about planning and being professional. But when it comes to them being organized they think nothing of changing classes around last minute , making big mistakes in financial aid and not even apologizing. Adding last minute skills cafes that are mandatory. This term they are so incompetent that they scheduled clinical and lecture on the same day for some students....The biggest problem is that they forget that the student is the customer.They don't realize that there are more schools out there now that have stronger accreditation and are almost as easy to get into.
I don't want to jade you but you will see when you get into the Nursing program. They harp on students about planning and being professional. But when it comes to them being organized they think nothing of changing classes around last minute , making big mistakes in financial aid and not even apologizing. Adding last minute skills cafes that are mandatory. This term they are so incompetent that they scheduled clinical and lecture on the same day for some students....The biggest problem is that they forget that the student is the customer.They don't realize that there are more schools out there now that have stronger accreditation and are almost as easy to get into.
Good to know, sounds like it will be up to the student to stay on top of them and make sure they don't screw it up. I had heard about the crazy scheduling in the Nursing classes. Hopefully they will figure it out by the time I get there... thanks for the info.
Hadi1515- Did you need a co-signer? With your pre-regs accounted for, how much is the program? You and I were on the same boat. I tried CC as well and no luck. My gpa is average and not competitive enough for a point system and no luck with the lottery system either.
I am starting this October. Why Oct? They came out with a new policy; for every non science class their were no expiration dates. It used to be that every class had a 5 year expiration date. Now its just for the science course. This will help bring down the cost. =]
Any advice for a single mom of a 2 year old boy. Please feel free, I will need it!
Hadi1515- Did you need a co-signer? With your pre-regs accounted for, how much is the program? You and I were on the same boat. I tried CC as well and no luck. My gpa is average and not competitive enough for a point system and no luck with the lottery system either.
I am starting this October. Why Oct? They came out with a new policy; for every non science class their were no expiration dates. It used to be that every class had a 5 year expiration date. Now its just for the science course. This will help bring down the cost. =]
Any advice for a single mom of a 2 year old boy. Please feel free, I will need it!
I did use a co-signer only because I wanted to make sure I got the best possible rate. It's great that they changed the science class pre req expiration dates. The total program will run about 133k for me (I took online classes which cost a bit more).
As for the mom part, I have to say you will experience a huge change in the way you do things! The classes are really time consuming and it is a struggle to balance the time between my little girl (3yrs old) and study time. I usually have to wait until she goes to sleep before I even attempt to study or do homework. I felt really guilty at the beginning because I felt like I was neglecting her, but eventually I just realized I had to wait until she was sleeping/naping/watching a movie. Be prepared to sacrifice sleep!
Other than that so far my experience has been great. I have met some really amazing people and made some great friends.
Best of luck to you! Keep in touch and let me know how everything goes =)
$132,000 tuition financed over 10 years at an interest rate of 6.8% will result in a payment of $1519.06 per month. Your payment will be even higher if you had to take out private student loans, which you probably will.
The California RN job market is not what it used to be. There is no guarantee that you'll have a job immediately after graduation. It would be scary to have to repay all that money. My coworker graduated from WCU in 2009 and moved to Texas the next year because she could not find work in southern CA. Keep in mind that she also has LVN experience. Now she has to repay her massive student loan debt on the lower nursing wages in Texas.
Sometimes it is less costly to defer the gratification. . .
good point. This just reinforces my decision to get my pre-reqs done at a CC. I only need Micro, Patho, Chem, and one more [can't remember at the moment...].
Get those classes done then transfer them over to a school with no wait list. After transferring all those credits I'm confident I can get my tuition down to about 90K, which is still expensive, but if you look at the tuition for a cal state or uc NOT including books, lab fee, uniforms, supplies, parking, insurance, ect, it kind of balances out to me...
cavmedic16
51 Posts
This school sucks they are unorganized and giant pricks. I have been a student there since 2009. Trust me when I say it is the Devry of Nursing schools. The instructors are good but administration is only worried about money and student services are lacking. The school tells us not to bad mouth the school because it will cheepen the degree but I don't care as long as I have my license I will have a job.I will just won't hang that diploma on my wall.They are not wasc accredited yet.and the program cost is $136000.00. Check out Western Govenors University .It's way cheaper and Wasc accredited.