I need the price of a degree in nursing You can not compare cost for a nursing degree because they are so variable from state to state and school to school dependent on the school financing.
For a Diploma program from the Baptist Health Systems School of Health Professions, Phoenix Campus, the RN program has prerequisites of 19 hours which can be obtained at a community college for about $1,010 and an application fee of $100. The program is 2 years long, the tuition is paid by a cohort agreement through the school, with a work/loan agreement, where the tuition is paid if the student agrees to work for the hospital system for three years following completion of the course.
An Associates of Applied Science at San Antonio College is 72 hours, using the 2008 tuition rates the cost for the 72 hour program is $7,314, but that does not include books. A recent study found a conservative estimate of student book cost per year was over $1,500. This is also very variable dependent on which books are available used, and some books in a nursing program are listed as optional.
For a BSN program I chose The University of Alabama, for tuition alone for 4 years (130 hours) for a state resident it would cost $27,616 and for a non-resident of Alabama it cost $58, 176. Again you have to add the price of books.
A BSN at a top level school such as University of Pennsylvania, which has long been regarded as the US' premier nursing school, the tuition and fees would be $143,664 for a 4 year program.
Again, allowing $1,500 a year for books and equipment would add $3,000 - 6000 to any of those figures, and if you figure a bare minimum $10,000 a year living expense for most cities you need to add $20K to $30K
So figure a range from $1110 and a 3 year work agreement to $30, 314 to about $183,670. And those are rough estimates and don't include probably all the cost that may be incurred. The range is very wide dependent on where you choose to attend school.
I attended my BSN program I was able to get an athletic scholarship for the first two years which paid for everything, but when I statred the Nursing program phase I could not keep up the academics and the athletics so I had to drop the scholarship, I went to work and worked full time for the remainder of my time in the BSN program. I worked for a while, and then after about 10 years I returned to school for my MSN as a family nurse practitioner, I was able to get a Federal Training Grant for Nurse Practitioners which covered tuition, but I worked to pay for the living expenses for my family. After I completed my MSN, I started almost immediately on my Ph.D. in Health Care Studies. I worked in my clinic, and as a part of my contract my tuition was paid by my practice. If you want the education, you will find a way to gei it financed. There are grants, and loans and scholarships. It depends on where you go to school. At a community college, it will be cheaper to get your ADN than at a big school. Also there is also finacial aid and scholarships you can apply for. Besides, once you get your CNA, the first class to get into the program, you can work as that, get practice and gain knowledge before moving on to the LPN or ADN. Then you can work as an RN until you get your BSN or MSN depending how far you want to go. Going to a community college is going to be the cheapest. A 4-year state college/university will be much cheaper than a private college/university. There are also private vocational schools- these can be very costly.
Example- In North Carolina there is a private college (ECPI) that charges $25,000 for getting your LPN.
There are ways to pay for college, like the person above said. Grants, loans, joining the military, scholarships, etc... The cheapest route is definitely at a community college, where an associates degree would run you about $15k (give or take a few grand). A private university's BSN degree program might cost as much as $20k (or more!) per semester!!!
There is really no advantage to going to a certain school with a certain reputation unless you have your sights set on going on into big positions in nursing leadership and management, or research, etc. Any accredited nursing program will do you just fine.
I was severely limited by finances, and I chose the ADN route through a community college. It was a few years ago, it cost me about $10-$15k total, but I took out over $25k in loans ABOVE my tuition costs just to live off from, because I did not want to have to work very many hours while in nursing school. It's almost impossible to work full time in school.
I later completed my BSN at a local state university who had an online completion program. Again, state school, lower tuition. I think it cost me about another $15k, and I took out loans for almost all of it, so now I sit here $40k in debt. And it was worth every penny. As a nurse I can affort the payments, it's not a huge deal, I just don't drive as nice of a car as I would like at the moment. ;) |
