Why are there no evening ADN programs in Illinois?

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I am a single mother who currently is in accounting and wish to change my career to nursing. I have a BA in Accounting, but I do not enjoy my work. I started off my college career 15 years ago towards a nursing degree, took all of my pre-reqs, but couldn't continue to go to nursing school because there were (and still are) no evening/weekend ADN programs. I became divorced and I had to keep my fulltime job to support my child and chose plan B-Accounting because I could get my entire degree at night. Why, 15 years later and with all this online technology, are there still no night nursing programs for those of us who have to keep our salaries until we finish school? (at least nothing in Illinois that I am aware of).

Can someone in the nursing education field tell me why this is and if there are any plans to accomodate mid-life career changers who can only attend school in the evening? Any direction you can give me is very much appreciated.

Thank you.

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
I am a single mother who currently is in accounting and wish to change my career to nursing. I have a BA in Accounting, but I do not enjoy my work. I started off my college career 15 years ago towards a nursing degree, took all of my pre-reqs, but couldn't continue to go to nursing school because there were (and still are) no evening/weekend ADN programs. I became divorced and I had to keep my fulltime job to support my child and chose plan B-Accounting because I could get my entire degree at night. Why, 15 years later and with all this online technology, are there still no night nursing programs for those of us who have to keep our salaries until we finish school? (at least nothing in Illinois that I am aware of).

Can someone in the nursing education field tell me why this is and if there are any plans to accomodate mid-life career changers who can only attend school in the evening? Any direction you can give me is very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Welcome to allnurses and to our forum. I am not in Illinois, but I am certain the nursing educator shortage is the reason. Please see this post: https://allnurses.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1291331&postcount=3

Often it is very difficult just finding nursing instructors to accommodate traditional "daytime" nursing programs; finding instructors for "nontraditional" (i.e., weekend, nights) can be just about insurmountable in some locales. I am sorry you are encountering such difficulty :o

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Have you considered a BSN program? I work in Peoria and I'm unsure what is available. However, Bradley University does have clinicals in the evenings. Perhaps giving them a call?

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

I believe that Joliet Junior College recently added an evening option. I know they have long waits for their standard program, and I think the evening program was intended to ease the wait.

If you scroll back thru the IL nurses forum, you may find information on other evening programs. I seem to remember one poster mentioning that she had applied for day hours, but got evening, and was unhappy with that. It may have been College of Lake County.

Best of luck!

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
I believe that Joliet Junior College recently added an evening option. I know they have long waits for their standard program, and I think the evening program was intended to ease the wait.

If you scroll back thru the IL nurses forum, you may find information on other evening programs. I seem to remember one poster mentioning that she had applied for day hours, but got evening, and was unhappy with that. It may have been College of Lake County.

Best of luck!

I believe this is the post:

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103243&highlight=College+Lake+County

Thanks, Jolie :)

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I'm in nothern IL right now and have looked for the same thing to accomodate my mom's schedule. There was recently an article in the paper here with different college information. The Highland Community College's ad boasts that they are the only evening ADN program in the tri-state area. http://www.highland.edu I hope this is close by to you.

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Hi,

There's a perfect program for those who live in Texas. Panola College offers an online ADN program with clinicals on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. You should check it out! It's called the Panola One delivery Options.

http://www.panola.edu/healthscience/associate-degree-nursing/panola-one.html

The Panola ONE Delivery Option is offered to allow students to earn the Associate Degree in Nursing through a non-traditional, flexible format with online didactic classes and flexible clinical experiences. The clinicals will be scheduled evenings and weekends as agreed upon by the instructor and the clinical site. Weekends include Friday, Saturday, and Sunday -- Evenings are considered the 3-11 shift. This enables students to continue working while pursuing a degree. Because the Panola ONE Delivery Option requires students to be very self-directed and highly self-motivated, the admission criteria differ from those of conventional students.

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The OP was from 2005. Hopefully the original poster found a program and has graduated. Thanks phibro, for the info about Panola. Someone should find it helpful.

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Phibro,

Have you, or do you know of anyone that has/is going through the Panola One program? I just came across it today as I was searching this board and I may be interested, but would like to know more.

Thanks!

SJ :p

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