I am a 38 year old CNA. I became one in 2009 and got a hospital job right away. I like my work and have done well here. I want to take the next step.
There is a for profit school called Intercoast that offers a 15 month LPN program. I have a goal of being a nurse by the age of 40. With this program, I would be a nurse at 40 years 1 month.
Community colleges and universities in this area offer cheaper programs but the waitlists are crazy.I have no prereqs and all of my other college credits are too old to transfer anywhere. I personally know candidates who have everything going for them and then some and they are denied. If I were younger, I would wait. But time has become my enemy.
The drawbacks with the for profit program? The cost. $31K. But guaranteed admission. And eligible for Pell Grants and other aid. My state's BON recognizes the program and I would be eligible to take the NCLEX-PN.
All of this said, what should I do? Any ideas or thoughts?
I would not pay that amount of money for a lpn program that insane, my program was only 12k and after all my aid cost me about 5 k in loans but b very careful my school was fully accredited and all my credits transfer and my school had special admit agreements with a few cc. But I will tell u this my friends that went to the non accredited state approved schools that cost them 27 k can't find jobs cuz no one will hire them, but I will say that 90% of my classmates have jobs, including me at 26 hr, so for me it was worth the investment with little debt but for u I don't think it will b worth it, b very careful by girlfriends from the other schools have been out of school for over a year and r jobless with a ton of debt, good luck on ur decision
After spending almost 2 years researching nursing schools, and potential debt associated with it I came to these conclusions... Don't go into debt for more money than you can REALISTICALLY expect to make your first full year on the job. I would also be wary of any school that offers guaranteed acceptance. That sounds like a school that is most interested in getting your Grant and loan money. If you are not successful, so what, they got their money.
Plenty of solid advice here - what I'd like to address is the "guaranteed acceptance" mantra.
Tech schools have the same issues that the CC's do - they only have so many instructors for so many classrooms, and so many chairs for those classrooms. The competition for those seats isn't as fierce at the "pay for play" places, 'cause you gotta PAY for those seats, whereas at CC's the rates tend to be a lot less. So - the "guaranteed acceptance" is based on having handed them a huge wad of money - and, they may still bump you. One of my co-workers had that happen to him; got back-dated 6 months because he didn't get his funding in order fast enough to get in on the initial application go-through. And, as stated before - $31K is a whopping sum of money for an LPN!. For an equivalent around here (here being Southern California) the most I've ever seen for an LVN is about $22K, and IMO that's too much, especially when you can get an LVN through local ROP programs for a bit more than half that (usually, about $13K or so - varies somewhat depending on how much state funding they can score).
Far as job availability - meh. Around here, having talked to some of the LVN's at the LTC I'm working at, as well as the LVN's doing hospice (I volunteer for a home health hospice organization) the job availability isn't much different for LVN positions than it is for RN's - big difference (besides pay) is that you're unlikely to score a position in the acute care section of a hospital. There's positions to be had in psych, dialysis, home health, LTC, urgent care, hospice, clinics, corrections, etc. - just not in the main hospitals for the most part. Once in awhile, at some of the area hospitals I see LVN positions posted - but, frankly, they're the facilities that have bad reps to begin with, so working there is ill-advised for anyone.
steffuturelpn
148 Posts
I would not pay that amount of money for a lpn program that insane, my program was only 12k and after all my aid cost me about 5 k in loans but b very careful my school was fully accredited and all my credits transfer and my school had special admit agreements with a few cc. But I will tell u this my friends that went to the non accredited state approved schools that cost them 27 k can't find jobs cuz no one will hire them, but I will say that 90% of my classmates have jobs, including me at 26 hr, so for me it was worth the investment with little debt but for u I don't think it will b worth it, b very careful by girlfriends from the other schools have been out of school for over a year and r jobless with a ton of debt, good luck on ur decision