BSN education may be expensive like other bachelor’s degree programs, but there are alternatives like community college ADN/RN programs (followed by RN->BSN if employers prefer BSN over ADN).
Be glad nursing has not raised the minimum credential to a post-bachelor’s professional degree like some other health professions like PT and OT (and physician, of course).
Congrats to her! Would you mind sharing where she was admitted? Waitlisted? Also, Tulane does not have an undergrad nursing program, correct? Just curious why she considered Tulane if she knew she wanted nursing. Funny, b/c I am a nurse, got my BSN at Boston College and totally applied to Tulane, but mostly b/c I had zero guidance with applications and did not even register that there was no nursing school. They probably got my application and were like why is this girl applying if she wants to be a nurse 
Got denied anyway…
Annual scholarships:
Pitt- 10k
UVM-25k
OSU-2 scholarships totaling ~16k
Tulane-20k
UPenn-few scholarships she applied to after was accepted/awarded last minute
The schools she applied to, unfortunately are not big money givers.
Tulane:
https://nursing.tulane.edu/bsn-degree
D applied to Tulane because she loved the school. We had been following/researching their supposed new Nursing program and it happened, new last year. She was hoping for an established direct entry BSN but we truly had no Idea what would happen w acceptances as these BSN programs are small/competitive. She ended up having options we were grateful for, so it got knocked off the list.
She got denied from UVA Nursing and waitlisted at Emory. Was accepted at the rest on her list.
Interesting, so an accelerated BSN rather than direct entry. Still a great option. Congrats on all her acceptances. D26 has UVA on her list but I already told her there is almost 0% chance of admission, but she still wants to apply. I know they all end up where they are supposed to end up. I wish your D well- I love being a nurse so much and do not regret a nursing career at all.
Hi,
My California 4.0 UW D25 is looking for a direct bsn that is below 25K after scholarships. She is not looking for a big school or a perfect college experience she wants to get an RN and preferably a BSN. The closer the clinicals the better, walkable, a quick bus/shuttle ride. She’s looking at schools in PA since there are so many. Open to anywhere. She’s going to apply at Messiah. Wants to be in the top 10% of applicants to get in and hopefully to secure a merit scholarship. She’s very wise saying a nurse is a nurse mom, it does not matter what the name of the school is. It matters if I can pass the NCLEX.
I think it also might matter if she gets homesick but I guess we’ll deal with the plane rides to get there when that’s a thing. I do have friends on the east coast and I’m hoping some might “adopt” her.
edit: she’s included UMaine bc OceanAir posts are such a good advertisements!
edit2: she’s included University North Carolina at Greensboro bc it’s a new direct admit and bc it is near family friends.
@moriahsf Messiah has a very strong nursing program and does award merit to many students. Hopefully, your daughter will be offered enough merit to bring the cost down to 25K. Have you considered York College of Pennsylvania? Their “sticker price” is lower than many other privates, and they also give merit aid. IUP would be ~$27K (sticker) but it also awards merit. Run the net price calculators, if you haven’t already done so, on these and any schools you’re considering. All of the programs I mentioned (and many others) have rolling admissions, so your daughter should get applications in as soon as possible to any rolling admission schools, as spots in their nursing programs fill up fast.
Hunter College might be an option for lower cost. One caveat is the need of NEX score.
https://www.hunter.cuny.edu/nursing/admissions/undergraduate/bachelor-of-science-nursing-program
Does this college give any merit or is it the price posted?
Yes, we have York and IUP on our list. We have run the net price calculators for those two. I am definitely feeling the urgency to get the applications in as soon as possible! I need to light the fire under D to get her going. Volleyball season is almost over so I’m hoping I can get her to hustle soon. She has done a lot of the application already.
Have her look at Salem State- it is in Salem , MA. Yes, THAT Salem, MA. Great BSN direct admit and affordable after merit.
https://catalog.salemstate.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=59&poid=7759&returnto=15948
I’m popping in here (daughter is a BSN 21 from Cincinnati),
Speaking only for her program, it was difficult but not impossible to carpool. She had a car for the following reasons. Within the cohort there will be multiple clinicals going on at any one time around the city. Students were on their own to find carpool partners. The school did not discourage or encourage it, but also did not arrange it. Some people liked to be on time (which is late in nursing school) and others like my daughter wanted to be there early. So you can imagine it might be difficult to find like-minded people.
I can remember one time that clinicals were cancelled due to bad weather, and it was because it was a school/community clinical and the school was closed for snow. In her jobs after graduation she was expected to be at work no matter the weather - I think I earned a few more grey hairs watching her progress to work on my phone.
In Cincinnati her clinicals tended to be about 20-25 minutes away. She currently works in the Pittsburgh area, and it’s still about a 20-30 minute commute for her (city driving).
My kid carpooled/ used public transportation while in college and never had an issue. Currently she uses public transportation to go to work because she works in a city hospital and there is no affordable parking.
How’s everyone doing on applications? We are so LATE to the party since D didn’t know if she was going to graduate this year.
D is taking the SAT in Nov and Dec. She wants to take it because she’s discovered Purdue and wants to apply there. We will see how that goes.
We will be able to increase how much we pay for school as family has jumped in to help if she gets accepted somewhere beyond our initial range!
We found an interesting program that covers the cost of school! It’s a service agreement/contract that pays the costs of the nursing program.
I’m penduluming between applying in CA and not even bothering because it seems like so many direct admit public schools give first look and preference to locals and we wouldn’t be. The ones that aren’t: USF, Mount St. Mary’s, Azusa: all of them are pricey considering the other options available out of state. There are others of course that are not a sure thing and I don’t feel like I have the bandwidth to really look into them (Point Loma Nazerene as an example, Chico State evidently is more doable than others, also have heard anecdotes that if you can get local in the Fullerton/San Marcos area you may have a stronger way to get into the CSU nursing programs).
My S25 put in applications, still needs to do two more. Waiting on SAT scores, but most schools did not require it and unless this score comes in worthwhile to submit probably won’t.
In our tours and attendance of online information sessions, it seems like the urban schools such at Penn, Pitt, BC, Georgetown etc would not require a car. Villanova said you could take the train. Purdue, Indiana, Creighton required cars if I remember correctly.
Thank you for the feedback. Great point on carpool arrangements. I realized that it might be more of a headache to arrange carpools than I was hoping for…
D26 will be getting a probationary license in a few months. She is a reluctant driver but she’ll need to be comfortable driving in any weather, as you pointed out that nursing clinicals would continue regardless of the weather.
Thank you for the input. D26 likes urban schools. Penn, BC, Georgetown are all high reach schools for D26 and unfortunately very expensive for us. Pitt (OOS) might work with some merit scholarship but I understand Pitt has been reducing merit $ in recent years.
My daughter was recently admitted to Iowa (still has to submit the 2nd part nursing app), but a few weeks after acceptance they sent her a $12k per year merit scholarship. Worth a look!
I’d also suggest Saint Louis University and Marquette if you are seeking merit!