Depending on the state (we live in CA), I don’t think CNAs make much more than minimum wage so I would check that.
For us with the amount of course work, clinicals and mandatory GPA to remain in program… I can’t imagine my daughter holding a job with enough hours to do more than give her “pocket money.”
I too am interested in other ways to pay, so far I’ve only seen the RN/NCLEX loan forgiveness program. So looking forward to answers people may have!
I’m pretty sure it is 2 years.
RN loan forgiveness seems to be for the nurses who have loans, and not the parent plus loans. With my experience with the first child, they gave a small amount of loan to my child who we had declared as dependent in our taxes. The rest was parent plus loan. If the student is independent, married, or going to grad school, then they can take loans themselves.
Do you think TCU nursing is worth 79k a year if you don’t mind me asking. Have not done cost comparisons for others you have mentioned
Would you mind sharing list of acceptances?
I also think, financially, it is best to take the cheapest, best BSN option you have. We are thankfully in a state that has a ton of direct admission BSN programs, and some were more expensive than others (for no good reason, IMO). My daughter’s first choice (and where she went) was a very good in-state public that was reasonable.
I think working on the weekends is reasonable for some. Mine worked as a PCA during her junior year. She did not earn anything near tuition, though - that’s a big ask for someone who is also doing clinicals. It was spending money, as someone above mentioned. Still, it helps.
I think loan forgiveness can be very complicated - I don’t know much about it, but I know it is a commitment that involves paperwork and possibly putting life events on hold (getting married and then wanting to move for the spouse, etc). Before doing that, I would make sure it is completely understood, both the program and the “what ifs”.
The ADN degree is typically a two-year program after a student completes the pre-reqs to get into the program. It is a much less expensive option but also highly competitive to get into. As long as hospitals don’t require a BSN to work for them (many don’t now post-Covid) your salary as an RN is typically very similar, if not the same, as a nurse with a BSN.
Avoiding big loans is always preferable than finding solutions later to pay off. You can read the fine print in loan forgivenesses to see if that is something that applies to you. You can also search the facilities/hospitals you will need to work at and see salary details as well. Working as a CNA does not bring enough money to pay off expensive tuition. My engineering kid made more money in part time and summer jobs than my CNA kid. Although it is easier to get jobs does not pay lucratively. The cheapest for BSN would be a student commuting to a state school, especially a state school that is low tuition or gives merit. For example a MA high stats student commuting to UMass Boston would be almost free. Everyone’s situation of course is different. My advice is for a student (and their family) to explore and research very carefully before accepting big loans. Usually there is a workable solution. There is so much talk in the media about how lucrative nursing is that there is the misconception to the public that a nurse will be immediately showered with money.
What state are you in? Every single nurse we’ve talked to here in California in the last year has told us MOST hospitals want a BSN and the pay is different IF you can even find a place to hire you.
Has anyone that got accepted to UTK in December but for their second choice major heard back from nursing?
Don’t mind at all.
TCU - accepted, direct
UTK - accepted, direct, recently found out the college doubled the number admitted due to the new building construction
Miami Ohio - accepted, direct, honors admitted
University of Alabama - accepted to pre-nursing
U of SC - accepted, pre-nursing only, denied honors
MSU - accepted, pre-nursing only, awaiting on nurse scholar decision
U of Iowa - accepted pre-nursing only, rejected for direct path, invited to reapply in Spring so that means you do not graduate in 4 years, not attending
Clemson - waitlisted
U of Mich - awaiting RD after being deferred from EA
U of VA - awaiting RD
So for direct admission, there are three options at the moment.
Yes.
I would choose UTK because I don’t think TCU has a teaching hospital.
East coast. The hospital where I work as an NP did away with hiring only BSN’s after COVID as many nurses left hospital nursing all together. Posted jobs now out here list BSN preferred but many hospitals will still take ADN’s.
Mine was admitted to UTK with 2nd choice major, with nursing still under review. Which is now very surprising since a poster mentioned they doubled number of admits. 
We are OOS and hadn’t visited. I wonder if that plays a role.
Progression policies:
How was your Buckeye Bound visit to The Ohio State University?
We’ve gotten all our results back from universities with nursing programs. Now we are in the phase of visiting universities and waiting on financial aid packages.
As we stand right now I think the top two contenders are Miami University Ohio and University of South Carolina. She also is very, very interested in Clemson (but I honestly don’t think the finances will be enough for us to truly consider — but we will see in mid-March). Marquette is an outlier. We are visiting in April. If she loves it, she may end up there. Also visiting Xavier in March.
We both absolutely loved the Nursing Program at Belmont University. The director there was our favorite and every nursing student that we spoke to loved their time there and had only positive things to say. Their NCLEX rates were 98% for Spring 2023 and 100% for December 2023. They are just very expensive and my daughter wasn’t certain she wanted a school so heavily weighted female. But I would encourage others in the future to look at it.
She applied to three other schools for Neuroscience. We are waiting on the decision from two of those. The third did not give enough merit to have her consider.
I’ve got to say that I am disappointed that our in-state publics (North Carolina) have absolutely no direct- admit programs at any of the public universities (even for honors students). They are absolutely the best choice financially but I don’t want her going to Chapel Hill with only a 20-25% chance of getting into the upper level program (and I’ve heard similar odds at UNC-Wilmington).
We just returned from Admitted Student Day at Case and are from San Diego. My DD loved the campus, the facilities, the opportunities and the closeness of the clinicals, plus being within the art district. We got to endure lake effect snow and gusty winds so with the windchill it was cold! I think kids adjust to cold, it is the persistent greyness of the sky that can get to you… We do not have direct flight from San Diego and it was pretty tiring, so if she goes there it would be very hard to come back except summer and winter breaks.
Progression requirements: