Why NOT private??

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I've been on this forum for sometime now and read a lot of threads about how competitive nursing programs are and people are staying on a waitlists and are willing to travel miles and miles from home to any college they get in. I have a question, why is that? Are you only considering public schools that have huge wait lists? Why not go into private school? They have so many scholarships available that you might end up paying about 4-5 thousand difference per year. Yes, in 3 years of nursing school (if you take pre-reqs in CC), it will be 12-15 thousand difference. But don't you think it is worth it? You will have to pay around 100$ more per month for student loan, but you can be directly admitted into the program without a waitlist and possibly get a better education. Now, I am not saying that all private schools are better than public, but they do have smaller class sizes and usually better clinical placement. Student who are applying to public or private schools, what were the most influential factors that helped you make your decision?

Specializes in Public Health.

I just wanted to say that it seems like you have rose colored glasses on.

1. It is sometimes very very hard to find a job, no matter how hard you try.

2. Hospital nursing is NOT the end all-be all. It sucks. Community health and all that "boring" stuff is where A LOT of the job in nursing are.

3. you SHOULD be concerned with keeping your debt as low as possible. Nursing doesn't pay nearly as well as people think and scholarships are awards, not guaranteed.

4. Pell grants have a limit and are awarded based on income and being married does not help your case.

My last point is that I hope you keep in mind that your particular program will have provisional approval until the first class graduates and takes the NCLEX. Usually the first time pass rate has to be above 80% to become approved without condition.

Be rational and take the possibilities that these people who have already graduated seriously. We have done what you are trying to do already.

Basically, make sure all your ducks are in a row.

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I have a BA in Hospitality /BEV Management. I had to work my way thru and pay most myself (thank g-d). Now i work in HR for a large property. Almost all the "private " hospitality programs are for profit I see people come in to apply with 30k+ in loans for an AA.

I know HRM is nothing like nursing but i live in LA and the hospital jobs are hard to come by.

I also am a HUGE fan of flexibility I have been able to do things that i would not have been able to do if i had loans. I had a great paying job for hospitality and my boss was a complete orifice like thru stuff (plates) at people. I was able to quit before i had something lined up. If i had loans it would have been much harder.

In the company i work for there is a guy who is a great worker very driven he has his BSN and i know for a fact he is applying and putting himself out there and he cant find a job. They have a lot of hiring fairs and i seen him at a every one i have attended and he is still with us. He has another job but it is per dim and he needs as many hours as possible to pay his loans.

I am not afraid of loans i just love flexibility.

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I know HRM is nothing like nursing but i live in LA and the hospital jobs are hard to come by.

I believe it has a lot to do with the location. I live in the Midwest, in a small town. It is not my goal to move to a big, popular, but saturated state. I will be happy to move closer to the West (Colorado, Washington, maybe Arizona) and live in a medium sized town. It is so much easier to find jobs there, since the market is not over saturated.

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I just wanted to say that it seems like you have rose colored glasses on.

1. It is sometimes very very hard to find a job, no matter how hard you try.

2. Hospital nursing is NOT the end all-be all. It sucks. Community health and all that "boring" stuff is where A LOT of the job in nursing are.

3. you SHOULD be concerned with keeping your debt as low as possible. Nursing doesn't pay nearly as well as people think and scholarships are awards, not guaranteed.

4. Pell grants have a limit and are awarded based on income and being married does not help your case.

My last point is that I hope you keep in mind that your particular program will have provisional approval until the first class graduates and takes the NCLEX. Usually the first time pass rate has to be above 80% to become approved without condition.

Be rational and take the possibilities that these people who have already graduated seriously. We have done what you are trying to do already.

Basically, make sure all your ducks are in a row.

Thank you for your post. I will try to answers one-by-one

1. The job. As I stated before, it all depends on location. Where I live I know quite a few nurses (I volunteer at the hospital) and they all found the job easily. If I lived in, for example, Chicago, I imagine that it could be quite a task to find a job. Smaller cities - bigger chances.

2. Could you please explain the difference between community nursing and hospital? I asked this question before and got pretty much the same answers my advisor gave me (community nursing is more focused on low-income clinics, schools, colleges, etc., and I am not interested in that) I have only seen hospital nurses "in action" and have nothing to compare it to.

3. In the private school I was looking at, the scholarship is guaranteed as long as a student maintains 3.0-4.0 gpa. Medial salary for nurses is 65,000$/year. I think this amount will easily cover the loans

4. I just started receiving Pell grant last semester, so I am good as far as the time limit goes. Being married changes nothing, our income makes me qualified for Pell. If the financial situation changes and my husband starts making more, we will be paying out-of-pocket as much as we can, so I wont need to loan more money from the bank.

The end of your post interested me the most. I was also concerned about pre-approved status of the program (although the collage advisor told me that the program got approved my BON and accredited by CCNE). I've heard that the programs only gets approved after the first batch of students graduate. Is that true for all colleges? Does it matter that they already have approval for ADN, MSN and BSN accelerated? Or new BSN is a completely different story? What happens it the NCLEX passing rate will be lower than 80%. I will appreciate if someone will share information on this subject.

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Using a repayment website Student loan repayment calculator

A $70,000 loan paid over 10 years at $805.56/month has a minimum recommended salary of $120,834

I made over $80K at my last job before going to pre-nursing. I saved 65.7% of my monthly paychecks, my co-workers saved 10% on a good month. They had kids & mortgage.

I know if I had to pay an extra $805.56/month on my salary that would really have sucked.

It's a free country. A person has the right to lease a mercedes and live on ramen noodles and a very wealthy individual has the right to buy a Hyundai sonata with cash.

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Using a repayment website Student loan repayment calculator

A $70,000 loan paid over 10 years at $805.56/month has a minimum recommended salary of $120,834

I made over $80K at my last job before going to pre-nursing. I saved 65.7% of my monthly paychecks, my co-workers saved 10% on a good month. They had kids & mortgage.

I know if I had to pay an extra $805.56/month on my salary that would really have sucked.

It's a free country. A person has the right to lease a mercedes and live on ramen noodles and a very wealthy individual has the right to buy a Hyundai sonata with cash.

Using this calculator, my payment would be around 530$/month for 5 years (estimate of course). For 3 years the tuition will be around 27,000$

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Specializes in Telemetry.

Salaries vary widely, but I wouldn't bet on starting out earning $65,000. I am also in the Midwest and let me tell you some new grads here are starting in the low to mid thirties, and this is in decently sized trauma level 2 hospitals. Just know you may not earn what you hope to.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
I just wanted to say that it seems like you have rose colored glasses on.

1. It is sometimes very very hard to find a job, no matter how hard you try.

2. Hospital nursing is NOT the end all-be all. It sucks. Community health and all that "boring" stuff is where A LOT of the job in nursing are.

3. you SHOULD be concerned with keeping your debt as low as possible. Nursing doesn't pay nearly as well as people think and scholarships are awards, not guaranteed.

4. Pell grants have a limit and are awarded based on income and being married does not help your case.

My last point is that I hope you keep in mind that your particular program will have provisional approval until the first class graduates and takes the NCLEX. Usually the first time pass rate has to be above 80% to become approved without condition.

Be rational and take the possibilities that these people who have already graduated seriously. We have done what you are trying to do already.

Basically, make sure all your ducks are in a row.

Well said. :yes:

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Salaries vary widely, but I wouldn't bet on starting out earning $65,000. I am also in the Midwest and let me tell you some new grads here are starting in the low to mid thirties, and this is in decently sized trauma level 2 hospitals. Just know you may not earn what you hope to.
I know of new grad RNs in certain Midwestern states (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, North Dakota, etc.) who are earning in the $19 to $23 range per hour. These new nurses would feel instant wealth if they were fortunate enough to earn in the low to mid $30s hourly.

So, yes, the money is not all that great.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

1. The job. As I stated before, it all depends on location. Where I live I know quite a few nurses (I volunteer at the hospital) and they all found the job easily. If I lived in, for example, Chicago, I imagine that it could be quite a task to find a job. Smaller cities - bigger chances.

Nothing is guaranteed in this market; the economy and healthcare is in flux.

2. Could you please explain the difference between community nursing and hospital? I asked this question before and got pretty much the same answers my advisor gave me (community nursing is more focused on low-income clinics, schools, colleges, etc., and I am not interested in that) I have only seen hospital nurses "in action" and have nothing to compare it to.

Understand that nursing programs present a well rounded education.

As a nurse who worked in the community for years and landed a job in acute care; nursing is nursing; honing skills of assessment, teaching and autonomy in nursing judgement makes me a very viable candidate; it also made me a better nurse. :yes:

3. In the private school I was looking at, the scholarship is guaranteed as long as a student maintains 3.0-4.0 gpa. Medial salary for nurses is 65,000$/year. I think this amount will easily cover the loans

Understand that nursing classes are NO WAY similar to GenEd classes; there is no guarantee you keep that particular GPA; however, make sure you get to know the tutoring classes, sim labs, and your instructors thoroughly the first day you walk it; it will help the GPA

I was also concerned about pre-approved status of the program (although the collage advisor told me that the program got approved my BON and accredited by CCNE). I've heard that the programs only gets approved after the first batch of students graduate. Is that true for all colleges? Does it matter that they already have approval for ADN, MSN and BSN accelerated? Or new BSN is a completely different story? What happens it the NCLEX passing rate will be lower than 80%. I will appreciate if someone will share information on this subject.

Most of this information can be answered by calling the accrediting agencies; namely the CCNE to verify their status and find out how they process and approve programs; they also have a website.

As far as pass rates; they may put the program on probation, and the program has to have a correction plan in place; however, this information can be obtained by contacting the accrediting agencies: CCEN and ACEN ; you can do a google search and plug in nursing accrediting agencies, and it should pop up.

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Specializes in Telemetry.
I know of new grad RNs in certain Midwestern states (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, North Dakota, etc.) who are earning in the $19 to $23 range per hour. These new nurses would feel instant wealth if they were fortunate enough to earn in the low to mid $30s hourly.

So, yes, the money is not all that great.

Whoops. ..I was not very clear there, was I? I meant thirties as in grand per year ($30.00 per hour would have me drooling)....around here, I understand new RN are starting between $17.50 and $19.50 per hour. ..at end that is more than where it was a few years ago when I started. I was still making under $20.00 after more than four years including one COL raise. Sorry for the confusion.

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Depending on your state you may be able to participate in the loan forgiveness for nurses program ... Here in Florida if you work in a certain health setting for 2 years they will pay 60% or 65% of your student loans. so that may be a option for you

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