My daughter got very good merit aid from Seton Hall, NJ.
It’s worth running net price calculator on school websites to get an idea of how much aid they will offer. We have so far been pleasantly surprised at how many schools she has got into and merit aid offered.
I contacted each school directly to get nursing class profile as it can differ from overall class profile. I also recommend applying early , esp for schools with rolling admissions.
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@NHfall I am helping my 3rd navigate as well. She desperately wants a direct admit program. She is an amazing kid and has worked super hard all through school. Sadly, she has dyslexia and an IEP so her scores do not really represent her ability. She was confident on UNH and while admitted, she got Alt Major, not Nursing. She is devastated to say the least.
We applied to UNH, UVM, UDel, Emmanuel, Endicott, Sacred Heart, JMU, Towson, Marqette. So far, we have acceptances at UNH (Psych, not nursing), Towson (no direct program avail), Emmanuel (Nursing TBD). She was deferred to RD at JMU and UVM.
UVM and UNH both advised it’s very hard to go in with an Alt Major and then transfer over to Nursing. Emmanuel advised that you either get Nursing from the get go or you are done with that program at their school. All admissions people told me that they have never seen such a surge in apps for Nursing and the bar for admittance is extremely high this year. 
We will be adding some alternate schools. I’m just disappointed that quite a few have deadlines that have passed. We are looking at UNE, Duquesne, Curry, Salve Regina, and Nazareth.
@lass71 SHU is an amazing school and less than a mile from our house. Their program is wonderful! They are also know for giving $$. Congrats!!
Mamma, it might be worth asking your D to explore a couple of People/Caring related careers that are not nursing. She sounds amazing- and I’m sure she’s going to get happy news… but “just in case” it’s always good to have a plan B. Has she ever considered Speech, OT, Social Work, Counseling, Nutrition?
@MortgageMamma (Also see my post #6). Pennsylvania has over 50 direct entry BSN programs, many of which are not terribly competitive. I see that you are looking at Duquesne. Others in the western PA area that you might want to consider are Carlow, Robert Morris, Saint Vincent (in collaboration with Carlow), IUP, Saint Francis, Gannon, Seton Hill, Clarion. The Pittsburgh area also has a number of hospital-based diploma programs.
In eastern and central PA, look into York, Misericordia, Neumann, Immaculata, Gwynedd Mercy, Holy Family, Marywood, DeSales, Moravian, Wilkes, Widener, Cedar Crest, Alvernia, Wilson, Messiah. Some (perhaps most) of these schools may still be accepting nursing applications. See below for a full list of approved nursing programs in PA. How about D’Youville in Buffalo, NY?
@MortgageMamma I would add Xavier to your list as well. They have 150 plus nursing spots to fill. If you have time I would phone or email the admissions dept. They do offer very good aid.
University of Reno, Nevada is not direct admit, but for all kids not accepted into the Nursing dept, they have a path for them to graduate with a BSc in Community Health. Along the way they are exposed to speech therapists, social work etc. In fact the speech therapy faculty member said she always ‘stole’ a few pre nursing students every year. We went to their admit student day last year and were very impressed with the school, the program, the campus and the faculty. Lots of CA students touring who can’t get into our impacted schools.
@MortgageMamma If it is not noted on the websites, It would be a good idea for your daughter or you to call (preferably) or email admissions at these schools to find out whether they are still accepting nursing major applications.
@MortgageMamma Per Immaculata’s website, priority deadline for nursing applications is Jan. 30. I’m guessing there’s still time to apply at a number of these smaller private schools.
@MortgageMamma Did you look at St. Anselm?? My d has a friend in the nursing program at Salve and is very happy there.
Thank you all!!
If she wants to stay in NH and is certain about nursing, Colby-Sawyer is the only nursing school affiliated with Dartmouth-Hitchcock https://med.dartmouth-hitchcock.org/nursing/colby_sawyer_college.html and they’re expanding their already-well-regarded program. https://www.vnews.com/Colby-Sawyer-to-expand-nursing-program-to-meet-demand-24897695 The school just doesn’t have as strong a reputation for any other program as it has for nursing; but if you’re confident about staying in that major, it’s worth considering, especially if she’d like to end up in NH post-college, as DHMC can be a great place to base or launch a nursing career. The college is pretty generous with merit aid, I believe.
Lots of other good suggestions given already as well! Another very affordable yet high-quality option is Truman State, which is the liberal arts honors college for the state of Missouri and has direct-admit to their nursing program. They say they get 150-300 applications each year for 50 spots, so it’s competitive, but admission to the school generally isn’t ridiculously competitive so your D could be in range for nursing. Amazing bargain (about $25K/year minus auto-merit) for an excellent program, and a nice sized school with 6K undergrads.
@aquapt My sister lives in New London and always mentions CS. I want to add it to our list, just need t convince DD.
Thanks to all of you who clearly have done some very detailed research and took the time to post. I really, really appreciate it! Your info has calmed me and help me formulate a great set of options.
Adding UMass Lowell and UMass Dartmouth as possibilities.
Apparently Endicott received over 900 applications this year for 100 Nursing spots. DD did not get one, but was offered admission for an alternate major.
We have officially added/applied to Wilkes, West Chester, Xavier, UNE, Duquesne, Curry, Nazareth and Salisbury (MD).
Hiram College is one of the CTCL
https://www.hiram.edu/academics/majors-minors/nursing/
Thank you all for your thoughts!
We did look at Colby Sawyer here in NH. It only has 900 students. That is a different college experience than she is looking for.
I have talked to her about the other options in the health care field. I am a dietitian. Nutrition majors can graduate with their degree but only 50% get the required internship that they need and then here in NH there is a bottleneck for fulltime work with benefits. She would make a great OT! Based on her acceptances we are keeping in mind what other options would be available at the college she goes to if nursing does not remain a good fit for her.
Based on what we learned here we had her apply to 18 schools knowing we were playing the financial aid lottery and the competitive nature of the programs. We are very pleased with her acceptances.
I just posted this in the main nursing 2024 thread but thought it would be helpful to post here:
Her basics are GPA 4.17/SAT 1260/ACT 28. She has been accepted to: UVM, URI (honor’s program), UNH, Bloomsburg, Scranton, Xavier, Univ of Delaware, Univ of Utah, Florida Atlantic, Seton Hall, Marquette, Duquesne. Also accepted to JMU which is not direct admit.
She was rejected from Penn State Main campus and Univ of Cincinnati. Waiting to hear from Clemson and UVA (reach schools) She applied to 18 schools so I don’t even have all of them!
UNH is $24,000, Utah is $29,000. Most of the others fall between $30,000 to $35,000. Although we have not gotten the final financial aid packages so they could be lower. We have 2 in college so she may get need based aid in addition to the merit already given.
The current favorites are UVM and URI and potentially Utah for no particular reason. I personally love UNH and it is the most affordable.
Is there a nursing school book or data base that does a comparison of schools? We are trying to wrap our heads around understanding the differences. My husband has a massive spreadsheet with data. If you have anything that would be helpful please share.
@NHfall - does your $29K COA for Utah include averaging in the price drop if she qualifies for in-state status after the first year? Or is that her OOS cost after merit, such that it could drop even more if she established residency?
@MortgageMamma West Chester nursing admission is highly competitive and I don’t think they accept anyone who applies this late, though I could be wrong about that. I thought Xavier’s deadline for nursing applications was Dec. 1. Salisbury is not a direct admit program. There aren’t many direct admit programs in states south of Pennsylvania. Good luck to your daughter. Hopefully she will have some direct admit options.
aquapt, $29,000 is her current OOS cost at Utah with her merit scholarship
I have a son in FL (Florida State) whose scholarship included an OOS tuition waiver plus an additional $2400 off. Since in state tuition is about $6500 it is quite a deal. However, I did not get the impression that establishing residency is easy. Can you do that in Utah?
Yes, Utah is unusual that way - they do offer a one-year path to residency. Definitely with looking at as you compare total projected costs.
(…worth looking at…)