Hi, I’m hoping to get some points of view from those who have experience in the Nursing world. My daughter (graduating H.S. Sr.) has been accepted into BSN programs at Univ Delaware (in-state), Villanova, Case Western, Pitt Main Campus and Duquesne. Awesome options right!!! So our question is around value and return on investment. DE and Duquesne are comparable (~low $20Ks) given 4-yr scholarship from Duquesne. Pitt and CWRU are comparable (~$40K) given 4-yr scholarship at CWRU and small Fin Aid (not necessarily renewable for 4 years) at Pitt. Without Fin Aid in subsequent years Pitt will be closer to $47K. And finally Villanova (~$60K). We live very close to UD so she wants to go to a school further away - so DE is basically eliminated. Villanove is basically eliminated given cost. CWRU has been eliminated - she did an overnight and didn’t like the fit. So this leaves us with Duquesne and PItt. She fits at both and has weighed the pros and cons and has decided Pitt #1 Duquesne #2. We both feel (right or wrong) that Pitt’s program is stronger for what she is looking for but agree Duquesne is also very good. So in a long winded way, is Pitt worth the incremental investment (~$60K) over 4 years for a BSN? We are looking at this from the standpoint of 1) quality of education (will she have more well rounded skills coming out of PItt?) 2) increased chances of getting a first year job at a good institution 3) increased chances of getting into a good grad program down the road. Wow - sorry for the long post! Deadline is 5/1! Would love your thoughts!! Thanks in advance…
If Duquesne is affordable (same as instate option) it would give her the same close proximity to excellent hospitals as Pitt.
What is the GPA requirement for the scholarship? Is that an attainable goal based on average GPA of their nursing students?
I would have her visit the nursing departments at UDel and Duquesne again if possible.
Even if she wants to go further from home, what is the program like, what clinical rotations could she do at each, she should not reject U Del just because it’s closer. She is going to live on campus, it’s up to her how often to come home.
Duquesne is smaller, catholic. U Del is a bigger state school. Has she spoken to current nursing students to see what they like/dislike about either program?
If she likes both schools, Duquense is the much better option.
There is no good reason to spend that much more for Pitt. I agree the program is great, but you will get a great education at both.
Follow the money. People always say how a BSN isn’t worth going in extreme debt.
To keep things in perspective, community colleges do a fine job educating nurses and many have pass rates as high as (and sometimes higher) than their 4 year counterparts. FWIW, the Mayo clinic in Rochester still hires ADNs, so not like one has to have the BSN in all parts of the country to get a job at a good hospital.
Is one school worth 60K more than another? In my opinion, not for a nursing degree.
Thanks! The scholarship is renewable with a 2.0 GPA. She has visited both Duquesne and Delaware multiple times. Like I said we live very close to UD and know many people who attend(ed) and are very familiar with it and the Nursing program and her choice is still the city of Pittsburgh over Newark. Much of the advice we have been given is reflective of what c011e9e has said above - spend the least amount of money on a good BSN program especially if she is interested in additional investment in graduate school. However I am wrestling with the idea of the value continuum. Duquesne is really on the low end, Pitt in the middle and a program like Villanova would be on the high end expense wise. If Pitt isn’t worth a $40K investment in a BSN, is any school? Or is it only a good investment if you have no other options. My mind tells me to take the scholarship at Duq but our collective hearts say suck it up, go to Pitt because it is still a good value in the larger scheme of things. Another point made above re. Duq having same access to hospitals as Pitt - is that really true? Do Duq and Pitt students utilize the same facilities and does Pitt have priority? Thanks again!!
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Pitt worth the incremental investment (~$60K) over 4 years for a BSN?<<
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first of all you must be loaded if you consider $60K an incremental amount
but no, IMO and extra $60K is not worth it for a BSN from Pitt vs from UD or Duquesne.
frankly of these options I would recommend Delaware. “It’s too close” is not a reasonable justification for eliminating a quality university from consideration.
however if she dead set against it then i would take the scholarship for Duquesne.
of course what I would REALLY do is get an ADN/RN from community college and then get the BSN.
Not loaded but have responsibly saved for our daughter’s education. Appreciate the advice and agree the ADN/RN; RN/BSN path is probably the most inexpensive route. However, we have decided on a BSN with, at this point anyway, graduate aspirations. Along those lines of thinking, why would anyone spend money on a 4 year BSN especially at Penn/Columbia etc. if they could simply take the inexpensive route? My question is still, if Penn/Columbia are worth $60K/yr, is Pitt worth $40K? I realize there is no “right” answer but I really appreciate everyone’s perspective!! Thanks again…
is Pitt worth $40K? IMO not if there is a comparable option right in your backyard in Delaware that costs half as much.
but now you have expanded on the OP:
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However I am wrestling with the idea of the value continuum. Duquesne is really on the low end, Pitt in the middle and a program like Villanova would be on the high end expense wise.<<
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now we are factoring cost + value continuum, while continuing to ignore Delaware. But it is the only option that offers the cost advantages of Duquesne, with a similar place as Pitt on the value continuum.
I didn’t want to suggest the ADN route for your d, just point out that a nursing degree really isn’t worth the extra money. All nursing students, no matter where they go to school, need to know the basic, and you can learn to put in an IV at a regional hospital as well as a world class medical facility. And no, the hospital won’t prioritize one school over another for clinical (unless the hospital itself has it’s own diploma program). More than likely, there some kind of established rotation.
If you want to spend the money on PItt, your d will get a good education, but there really is no added value for going there. 60k was more than I paid for my first house, and I got a house. You’re going to spend 60 k and get exactly what you would’ve gotten somewhere else for a lot less
You’re right, the impression I’ve given is that the only reason we have ruled out DE is because of proximity. To expand, we were not overly impressed with the nursing program. Our concerns centered around 1) proximity/accessibility to broad clinical opportunities (Christiana/A.I. Hospital) - are all nursing students in DE fighting for hrs in those 2 major facilities? And do most end up doing clinicals in community facilities? 2) no clinicals until Sr. year (and we’ve read CLINICAL. IMMERSION. A Residency Model for Nursing) resulting in 500 hrs Sr yr and 160 hrs on your own between Jr/Sr years 3) No HESI or comparable prep program unless taken on your own 4) On your own to acquire part of clinical req’s through volunteer/P/T opportunities over the summer. We really just didn’t get the feeling of the same level of commitment to the students as we did at other schools. However, I’m sure it’s a good fit for some students, it just didn’t feel right for us in comparison. Thanks again…
ordinarylives – thank you! Loved your response and made us chuckle…I think we are feeling that way too, but also feel we need reassurance we aren’t throwing away a valuable opportunity (Pitt) due to cost. Everyone we speak with seems impressed she got into Pitt Nursing.
Just remember, everybody else doesn’t have to pay.
http://www.duq.edu/academics/schools/nursing/lab-and-clinical-sites/undergraduate-clinical-sites
Clinical Sites Duquesne ^
I have nothing against Pitt, my D applied to Duquesne and Pitt for pharmacy. Pitt was actually cheaper for us because we are instate, she got scholarships from both.
Now it comes down to the curriculum and what you want to pay. It’s going to be the same degree.
I am fairly new to researching nursing schools but I have heard from numerous people that where the BSN is from is not that relevant in nursing - everyone who passes the NCLEX and is an RN is pretty much on the same starting point when job searching. With that being said, the NCLEX pass rate at the 2 schools is neck and neck the past 4 years…
Duquesne 81 86 86 92
Pitt 80 86 86 91
If Dusquesne is an option for her, that $60,000 saved could go a long way to grad school. Good luck to her no matter where she ends up!
Thank you all! And yes we looked at the NCLEX rates as well which at first glance appear to be similar. However, I did read (and not sure how credible the source) that Duquesne won’t allow anyone not meeting a certain score (920?) on the comprehensive exam to graduate/sit for the NCLEX. Pitt also mentioned remediation for low HESI scores but we have never heard that they withhold degrees if someone doesn’t make a 920. Like I said, not sure how true that is so taken with a grain of salt. We thought it odd that both schools dipped into the low 80’s a few years back and then rose to the low 90’s. I wonder if anything is driving this or just coincidence?
It is a real shame to turn down U. Del nursing (especially at in-state tuition prices) just because it is too close.
A friend of mine struck a deal with her daughter, to convince her to attend an excellent university in their hometown. He said: We will always treat you like you are 4 hours away. We will never make a surprise visit. We promise we will not bother you or visit you unless you ask us. You don’t have to come home for the whole semester if you don’t want to, except for major breaks.
I agree with the people above that no nursing degree is worth $60,000 more than another quality nursing degree. For most people, this would be $60,000 of high interest rate debt, which would mean it would cost much more in the end.
Also, if you are financially able, you might make an offer to balance out the choices. You could say: if you pick the more affordable option, we will put $X thousand in a 529 account for you to use for grad school.
In the case of my son, to make it easier for him to pick the more affordable option, I said: If you pick college A, you will only need to work during the summers. If you pick the more expensive college B, you will have to work at a paid job at least 10 hours every week during the school year. It helped him to pick college A, which was better for him anyway. Also, because he picked college A, he could afford to do a very interesting summer internship that did not pay very well.
Many nursing programs had a drop in RN pass rates after the test was changed a couple years ago. They needed to re-adjust their curriculum. At that time, my daughter’s nursing school instituted mandatory Kaplan prep courses throughout the last 2 years for all students, instead of just requiring it at the end for those students with problems.
I work in healthcare (25 years+) and no one asks where the RN or BSN was attained and everyone starts at the same rate depending on experience. Lots of students start at community college programs that have guaranteed acceptance to the instate four year schools. I do think that a four year program is probably wise, especially one that allows her to spend the first 2-3-4 semesters doing pre-reqs. While I believe that nursing is a great profession (and an economically wise major) high school students really don’t know what they want to do and stats show that many change their major/minds after a year. If my D thought she wanted to be a nurse, I’d encourage her to apply to low-cost four year colleges that would allow her to explore her options her first two years. My second criteria would be to pick a school that is close to intern opportunities.
Hi this is the daughter, thank you for your responses! My dad has been posting up to this point but there are some points I wanted to make a little more clear. It seems like he basically asked the question “Which is the cheapest option” which we already know. I got great scholarship money from Duquesne, which makes it close to exactly the same price as Delaware. So 1) choosing Delaware is not a huge deal money-wise. 2) I did not rule out Delaware because of how close to home it is. I loved the campus, and some of my best friends are there. It was the nursing program that turned me off. Not that it’s a bad program… just in comparison to the opportunities in Pittsburgh, I was not impressed. So that brings us back to the money issue. 3) We aren’t necessarily looking for the cheapest option. If that was the case, I could get a degree from Del-tech and call it a day. What we’re trying to figure out is if the total package is worth it. In other words, Pitt is my number 1 choice for next year. My dad is concerned that we are just making a stupid decision if Duquesne is so much cheaper. So the new question is: Would it be stupid to turn down a nursing degree for a good value at a good school, or is it worth the money to take the plunge and get a degree from Pitt?