Direct admit nursing programs (low cost) [TX resident, <$15k]

Can anyone list me any direct admit nursing programs with good merit or need based aid?
I currently have a 3.9 gpa
•200 volunteer hours
•2 AP classes
Im from Texas,but open to colleges across the U.S.

What’s your budget? a 10K merit award won’t do much for you if the sticker price is tens of thousands above your budget…

I’m trying to keep my cost below 15k a year if possible

Room and board alone at most universities runs about $15,000. A lot of colleges tie merit to test scores as well.

University of New Mexico has a direct admit nursing program. With your grades, you’re be eligible for the LUE+ scholarship which would give in-state tuition and fee.

Instate COA tuition $11,210. Room & board (traditional dorm) $12,328. Total $23,548

You may qualify for additional merit, but that’s not guaranteed.

More than $15K, but still fairly low priced.

5 Likes

One school you may want to consider is U. of Louisiana - Lafayette:-It’s not a direct admit program, but it has a pretty low bar for continuation past the pre-nursing phase. Essentially, all prereqs need to be passed with a “C” or better and one needs to have at least a 2.8 GPA. Requirements | LHC Group · Myers School of Nursing. You will need a test score, but depending on what that test score is, you could potentially get the costs to below $10k/year. Have you taken the SAT or ACT?

1 Like

Is that unweighted ? What is your test score ?

my son got in here and the nursing school gave him an additional 5K off the first year in addition to instate tuition as an OOS student.

3 Likes

Can I ask what some of his stats were?

I have only taken the psat and my score was pretty low with a 960. My gpa is unweighted u believe

OK - so almost all As.

Direct Admit:

Marshall U has a tuition, room and board cost of $27,042. I do not know if nursing has a sub costs - but this is this year and does not include books, travel, etc.

You would get $5,000 merit.

So it’s not $15K - but it’s very low.

Not Direct Admit

UNC Pembroke and W Carolina are not on the direct admit list. I did not study the programs but both are NC Promise Schools and unless there’s a nursing sub fee, both will be under $20K all in.

Central Michigan - It’s $27,324 with an increase of $1K the last two years. You’d get $5K merit. Again, not direct admit.

Tx Tech is $22594 - with $3K merit.

So that’s one direct admit and three not (sorry).

My feeling on direct admit is - while I love it, if you aren’t passing the pre reqs on the non-direct admit, you might not make it in nursing anyway, regardless of the program.

Maybe I’m wrong - but it’s how I think.

I know @AustenNut pulled up some doozy of programs at Texas schools at another thread - like possible free tuition - maybe they have nursing.

Best of luck.

Correction that’s my gpa weighted :confused:

Some will go by weighted and some by unweighted.

That said, you can review each school’s merit page to see - I suspect you’ll find TX schools and the two I mentioned in NC the cheapest and Marshall amongst the cheapest direct admit.

Hopefully, between a small loan and summer work, you can make that delta. Or perhaps your family can stretch a bit more.

Best of luck.

Can you calculate your unweighted GPA?

Also, for your in-state public universities, what is your class rank?

1 Like

My school has not released our official class rank as they said they are waiting to release it our senior year. Last year when it was available I was in the top 6% however I’m unsure if that has dropped or gone up:)

It seems you wouldn’t be - but even so:

  1. You have budget issues - will you qualify for low income programs?
  2. Admission into a university is not admission into a major
  3. It doesn’t appear any Texas schools are direct admit but correct me if I’m wrong - but that might be a tradeoff.
1 Like

Another program to consider–New Mexico State University.

Not a direct admit, but the requirements to continue into the nursing program from pre-nursing look fairly reasonable–

  • Applicants must achieve a minimum nursing pre-requisite GPA of 2.75 in order to be eligible to apply to the BSN program.
  • Students can repeat a nursing pre-requisite course one time for a grade replacement; however, a repeated course does not count towards the minimum 15-credits required to retain merit-based scholarships per NMSU’s policy.
  • Science and Statistics classes can be no older than 7 years at the time of application.
  • The GPA of accepted students is generally higher than this minimum

NMSU accepts 64 students/semester into the nursing program. (Plus an additional 24 each fall from the Alamogordo campus and 8 from the Grants campus.)

If you live within 135 miles of El Paso/Las Cruces, you are eligible for a tuition discount at NMSU which will reduce tuition cost to in-state levels.

https://schoolofnursing.nmsu.edu/nursing/son-pages/bsn-program-costs.html

Pre-nursing tuition, fees, housing & meals $20,786/year
Pre-nursing is 3 semesters.
Merit is available, but not guaranteed.

5 Likes

Thank you , your recommendations have been so helpful!

5 Likes

Depending on what your family’s income level is, there are some generous programs via the Texas publics. Most of the programs listed below were for families earning $85k/year or less though I think the Sam Houston one was for families earning $50k or less/year. I’m going off of memory, though, so you should definitely confirm with the schools’ websites.

2 Likes