Sorry if I did this wrong, it was suggested I do a chance me thread so I’m trying it:)
I live in Ohio, I am a rising junior in a religious high school for girls. My mom is a BCBA and did college online through UC , my dad doesn’t work. My parents aren’t very supportive and I have to pay for college myself.
ACT scores: Got a 31 but I am planning to raise that to eat least 33/34
SAT: N/A, will probably take next year
GPA: 9th: 3.23 10th: 4.0
will be taking the 2 AP classes my school has to offer next year. I am taking a Nutrition CCP and Algebra clep this summer.
Don’t know my class rank
Intended Major: Nursing, end goal Psych NP
Extra curriculars:
My school doesn’t offer any, but out of school I have taken guitar lessons, and sewing courses.
Work Experience: As a seamstress, also did some babysitting back in ninth grade
I am thinking about Ohio University. I am not sure if I feel comfortable going to a college out of state. Also a college with a good mental health department and easy to work with for accommodations is a plus.
I am hoping to get a good scholarship as I will be paying myself and I have no money, but I don’t know if I can get a good one on test scores alone (assuming I bring the ACT up and take the SAT)
Lots and lots of options for nursing in OH, including many of the public schools!
U of Akron is very affordable for instate applicants, you’ll likely qualify for merit ( and they have some that stack), and SUMMA health is adjacent to campus for clinicals. Akron also has rolling admission so you would hear an answer quickly (and they let you know about merit awards with the acceptance).
U of Toledo, Cleveland State, and Kent State also all have nursing and give merit. CSU obviously has access to a number of major hospital systems in Cleveland.
OSU and Cincinnati also having nursing but merit awards are more competitive there and they are more expensive.
Keep Ohio U on your list.
Many of the other private schools in OH with nursing are church affiliated which I’m going to think would be a deal breaker for your parents so I’d focus on the publics, especially since they should be more affordable anyway.
In addition to working on preparing for the ACT, keep your grades up too. Another 4.0 junior year will help you immensely.
I’m going to mention the most cost effective way (though not the quickest) to get to your goal, esp if you need to pay for your own education.
You can earn an associate degree in nursing at most local community colleges. Once you have your RN or LVN, you can work to earn money to help pay for your next step. That’s a RN–>BSN program. These degree completion programs are pretty common, can be done part-time while you work full time. Some can be done completely online.
Once you have your BSN and few year work experience, you can apply for advance nursing degree programs. APRN programs can be done full or part time. And some allow for online classes so you can work while earning your advanced degree.
Not a glamourous route, nor the most direct, but probably the least expensive way to get to your goal
You are a bit early - hopefully you are taking English, Math, Social Science (HIstory) and Language in school.
Just to see different school names (most unlikely affordability wise), this is the Hillel top 60 list.
There’s 3 tables - public, private, then mixed by %age so you can see who has large Jewish populations. Some, not all, will meet 100% of demonstrated need.
As a dependent student (meaning your parents list you on their tax return as dependent), the most you can borrow is $5500 for your first year of college; $6500 for your second and $7500 for your third and fourth.
That’s it and it’s not a whole of money. It won’t even cover the cost for your housing and meals at most colleges. (Not to mention tuition, books, health insurance and fees)
I suggest you talk with your parent to see how much support you can expect from them.
Will they pay for any part of your education?
Will they pay for books? Your meals? (Since you won’t be eating food at home if you dorm at a college.)
Will they allow you to live at home [for free] while you commute to a local college or CC?
And w/r/t scholarships, please be aware of the tax implications. If you receive scholarship for more than your qualified educational expenses (QEE)–tuition, mandatory fees, books–you will have to pay taxes on the amount NOT used for QEEs. This means any scholarship money you use to pay for housing, meals, travel and other incidental expenses-- that will be taxable.
On OP’s other thread, they said the parent will not contribute. They think they might qualify for need based aid, but they haven’t run any NPCs yet.
It also seemed like OP doesn’t want to stay at home and attend CC. I suggested OP become a CNA now if they are 16 (I think the age is still 16 in Ohio) and start working part time. Then they can work part or full time after HS and start at CC.
But I think it’s too early to do a chance me thread. OP should take as rigorous courses as they can handle, including a course from each of the five core subject areas each year.
Here’s Case Western’s NPC for OP to run with their mom.
Don’t rule out financial aid. Knowing what BCBA’s make, and if that is the only family income, if you apply to some “meets need” school, your contribution might be near zero. Your grades and test scores will be very important at these schools. Hopefully, your parents will cooperate with filling out the FAFSA. Kenyon, Denison and Oberlin meet need, but don’t have nursing.
I think you mentioned you live in Columbus. Columbus also has a program.
Your college counselor should be able to help with these, but I believe you said yours isn’t very supportive. You might be able to access the counselor at the local public school you would attend if you didn’t go to private school. They probably can’t help you with applications, but they should be able to give you the information about these programs.
Ohio U, Cedarville, Xavier all might give you money.
FYI, as far as accommodations in nursing school goes, typically it only is extra time on tests. Clinical assignments will usually be expected to be turned in on time and you are expected to respond appropriately with patients.
I’m hoping that your family will change its position on supporting your higher education goals. With that said, I wanted to provide you with some information about your 4-year in-state options.
Using College Navigator (the feds’ website), I pulled the amounts for in-state tuition and fees plus room and board for the Ohio publics that offered a registered nursing degree and had on-campus housing. This amount is sorted from lowest to highest. I also added information on how it’s classified (residential or commuter) along with the percentage of first year students living on-campus, per the College Board’s site. And sometimes things are incongruous (like UC as a commuter campus with 79% of first year students living on-campus while Kent State as a residential campus with 77%). But it does give a bit of a picture.
School
SY24-25 Tuition & Fees
SY24-25 Room & Board
SY24-25 Direct-Billed Costs
Classification
% of First-Years in College Housing
Wright State
$11,522
$11,250
$22,772
Commuter
53%
Youngstown State
$11,113
$11,730
$22,843
Commuter
0%
Shawnee State
$10,626
$12,502
$23,128
Commuter
48%
U. of Akron
$13,135
$11,904
$25,039
Commuter
55%
Kent State
$13,232
$13,794
$27,026
Residential
77%
U. of Cincinnati
$13,976
$13,564
$27,540
Commuter
79%
U. of Toledo
$12,744
$14,830
$27,574
Commuter
48%
Ohio State
$13,244
$14,738
$27,982
Residential
92%
Cleveland State
$12,988
$15,104
$28,092
Not listed
32%
Ohio U.
$14,158
$14,162
$28,320
Residential
95%
Bowling Green State
$14,467
$14,508
$28,975
Residential
85%
Miami U.
$18,161
$16,750
$34,911
Residential
96%
Another school you may want to consider is Marshall University in West Virginia.
Depending on where in Ohio you are, you can qualify for a Metro tuition rate, which is slightly higher than in-state but less than out-of-state. For SY24-25, direct-billed costs would be $24,834 for metro residents and $32,008 for out-of-state residents (using this site for tuition & fees and College Navigator for room & board). What’s nice about Marshall is that it has scholarship charts to give you an idea as to how much you would receive in merit aid (for metro students and out-of-state students). If you have at least a 3.7 GPA, then you could get $6196/$12,000 off (per the linked charts) making the costs $18,638/$20,008 (metro/out-of-state). Students who participate in the honors college get an additional $500/year, and there are additional scholarship opportunities.
Obviously $18k or $20k is still more than you can currently afford if your family does not contribute, but being able to present your family with options that are pretty much guaranteed to hit that rate might make them more open to the idea of helping with your college expenses.
WVU also has a reciprocity program with Ohio (for in-state tuition rates), but it appears as though registered nursing is not one of the allowed majors.
Many schools have single dorm options and a medical providers letter may be needed. Note that many animals do not care for being in a small enclosed space so ensure that you have a true need for the pet and that the situation will not be stressful to the animal. Clinicals can be 8,10, or 12 hours and the animal would need to be alone in the dorm for that time.
True. My daughter’s emotional support dog was kicked out of college for barking too much when my daughter wasn’t in the room. He had to come home and is now attached to me.
This would be an accommodation that would need to be approved by any college you attend. And you would need significant documentation that these are required for you.
I’ll tag @WayOutWestMom for input in addition to what @2plustrio already said… but you won’t be able to take a support animal to any clinical rotations…and as noted above, those can be very long hours. And as a practicing nurse, you won’t be able to take the animal to work.
He’s a bird, so he’s fine with being in a cage most of the day, and I don’t think he’s to loud. I’m in school 8 hours a day now without him but as long as I spend some time with him in the morning, we are both okay, so the clinicals shouldn’t be a problem. I’m sure I could get my psychiatrist to fill out any documentation.
