Hi!
Since we are PA residents, it makes sense for my D to look at public PA universities as possible match/safeties.
I know that West Chester is considered the best of the PA publics for nursing, but how do the others compare?
We are specially curious about Bloomsburg U, East Stroudsburg U, Pennsylvania College of Technology, and Indiana University of PA.
She is a good student, looking for merit aid, clinicals not far away, and good job placement after.
Any insights welcome.
Thanks!
WCU is the best by far, but you already know that 
Bloomsburg is better than the others, then iup and east Stroudsburg, and tech the last one (it’s a vocational college, would be a cc in other states).
Try for Penn State nursing too if you can afford it. York is very competitive financially.
Thanks! PSU is so expensive though, and the clinicals are way over in Hershey.
She will try Pitt if her scores are good; we’ll see.
Thinking about York.
Bloomsburg has a good reputation, and is near the huge Geissinger hospital complex in Danville.
Yes, York College of PA. has a reasonable sticker price. With merit aid, it can be close in price to PA. in-state publics.
A number of colleges add extra tuition charges for the last two years for nursing students, including Penn State.
FYI - In general, the PA publics (PASSHE) do not give much merit. They seem to do a good job with need aid, and honors or top students can get some scholarships. You may want to look at some privates as well (like Scranton), as depending on stats, you may be able to secure some good merit. We found merit to be VERY dependent on test scores.
A couple of years ago York was very transparent on their website in terms of merit and what was required to be eligible. They have removed this recently. Maybe because they are granting less?
@scholarme You probably already know, but merit aid at Pitt is scant unless you are around the 35/36 ACT range (not sure if 34 rec’d any this year). Also, Pitt up-charges significantly for nursing tuition. Now, we are out of state but the nursing up-charge was about $8,000 more per year from the start (in state up-charge is less but still a factor). Pitt was the only college that my son didn’t receive merit aid from and it was his top choice, so we had to nix that one. Duquesne is private and almost the same price as Pitt, but they offer great merit, same clinicals as Pitt, same nationally recognized hospitals, gorgeous campus, awesome internship opportunities for juniors/seniors, great job placement. I’m sure it is still pricier than your PA publics, but for an out-of-stater it was a great deal.
Correction - I just looked at Pitt’s in state nursing tuition and it is more than the tuition cost for my son at Duquesne after his merit aid. Yippee ki yay! I would guess that Pitt is on the more expensive end of PA public tuition then.
Scranton - Son LOVED this campus and nursing program. Even with wonderful merit, it was still about $5000 more than DUQ. Dean of the nursing school was SO nice. It sounds like they have really great job placement. The dean told us she is regularly called by NYC/Philadelphia hospitals looking for applicants, as well as Vanderbilt in TN(?).
Thanks wildfelix1.
She gets her SAT scores tomorrow I think, so we’ll find out if Pitt is even in reach.
Do you know about Nursing in the Pitt branch campuses?
We toured Scranton and she liked it. Will have to check into Duquesne.
@scholarme We did tour the Greensburg campus on the same day as the main campus, which was a huge mistake. Son had stars in his eyes from the main campus so nothing would have compared at that time last summer. Greensburg was small, but the dorms were all apartment style which I thought was awesome. They had just started the nursing program at Greensburg with maybe about 10 students (they were hoping to accept more this year). Pros: same college name/rep, intimate campus, faculty seemed really caring, dorms hands down beat main campus. Cons: brand new program, no nursing building but plans for future, sim lab???, different clinical hospitals than main campus but might send to Children’s and maybe Magee Women’s???, driving to clinicals. We didn’t even look at the other Pitt campuses as basically it was main campus or not for my son.
Other privates to consider include those in and around Philadelphia. Some have partnerships with surrounding campuses and hospitals. I’m not an expert, and it seems convoluted, but it is worth investigating.
Bryn Athyn College w/Jefferson
Philadelphia University w/Jefferson
Montco w/Penn State Abington nursing (or Penn State Abington nursing alone)
Gwyneed Mercy University nursing (expensive, so look for merit)
Holy Family University nursing (expensive, but gives a lot of merit)
Of course Temple, Drexel, Penn, Villanova, Rutgers and Delaware all have nursing but would depend on acceptance and merit.
Bloomsburg is ranked 3rd in the state for Nursing…the only PASSHE school in the top 10.
https://www.newsitem.com/articles/bloomsburg-university-nursing-program-ranked-third-in-state/
https://www.registerednursing.org/state/pennsylvania/#rankings.
Bloomsburg is ranked 60th best in country here:
https://www.educationcorner.com/nursing-school-rankings.html
https://www.nursingschool411.com/pennsylvania/
I don’t know how legit these sites are…but Bloomsburg appears to be reputable with a low cost to attend.
@Portercat I disagree with your statement that PASSHE schools give good need-based aid. As a $0 FAFSA EFC student, the only need-based aid my D17 received from West Chester was federal (Pell and SEOG) and state (PHEAA) grants. Absolutely no institutional aid. Several years ago (same EFC), same situation: my son S15 received no institutional need-based aid from IUP.
@kidzncatz I suppose I am comparing to those who only would rely on merit (as this OP seems to) and not qualify for need. In that case, they would have a better chance of receiving merit aid, although smaller chance than at other schools.
In the other PASSHE thread there are examples of folks attending PASSHE who have received Pell grants, state grants and various forms of need aid. OK, maybe not through the school directly, but NONE of these are available to a student who does not qualify for need.
@Portercat I was just responding to your statement that PASSHE schools do a good job with need-based aid. This is not generally true, as the federal and state grants would be available at any PA school, public or private. In spite of full Pell and state grants, there is often a large gap between EFC and COA, particularly for non-commuter students, especially with the razing of older traditional housing to build new suite-style residence halls (at $3-4000 more per year). (Fortunately, West Chester still has the older traditional dorm option.) As you know, many PA students have no commutable PASSHE option. Compare this with other states that have lower costs to begin with and much better aid for low income students.
Sorry for getting off topic.
Correct. I would not expect much merit or need based aid from any of the public or state-related universities in PA.
I wouldn’t put any reliance on the undergrad nursing program rankings linked above. They have Villanova, U. Penn, U. Pitt main campus, and Penn State-UP ranked low, while St. Francis University of Loretto is ranked as the best in PA.
I haven’t found any good list of BS Nursing program rankings online at all. They all use some subjective criteria like “best value” etc.
I would think that some of the hospital partnerships may be as important if not more so than rankings. Many of the PASSHE schools are in rural areas and may not have the same hospital connections.
yes, the rural colleges typically require their students to drive very long distances to clinicals.
Even if there is a local hospital, it might not have room for all of the nursing students, so many have to drive to another.
Those long driving times can be an even bigger problem when you need to be at the hospital by 7 am. People often carpool, but it can still be a great deal of wear and tear on a car.
The smaller hospitals also have less technology and fewer specialties, which limits the ability to learn.
Bloomsburg has an excellent medical center across the street.
Geisinger Medical Center partners with BU nursing program
https://intranet.bloomu.edu/nursing-geisinger
Just to be clear, there is a small Geissinger hospital across the street, but a very large Geissinger main hospital 15 minutes away.