I am helping my son figure out which schools to apply to for direct admit RN program. I previously thought that private universities would be out of the question since we live in CA and they are super expensive. Besides that, the direct admit RN programs are insanely competitive and there are only a few of them in the entire state.
So we have switched gears and now are looking at the plethora of options available in Pennsylvania (where I am originally from), and have heard that with merit scholarships, even though the sticker price of these schools are high, that we might be able to swing it. We had been budgeting for $25-30K/year which I thought was good for CA State schools. Most of the schools we are looking at in PA are in the $40-50K range but fortunately the private schools do not charge higher out of state tuition like the public schools do. It is very doubtful he will qualify for need based aid. He would automatically qualify for $5,500 GSL right?
I have family who live in Pittsburgh, attending Duquesne and other family about 45 miles north of Pittsburgh, so figured we may be able to save room and board money there if it was necessary, but really want my son to experience living on campus for at least one year if we can swing it.
Any idea of what kind of Merit award we might expect for RN programs at any of the following: Westminster, Duquesne, Carlow, Robert Morris, Chatham, Gannon, Waynesburg, Pitt at Greensburg?
Some colleges list automatic merit aid on their websites for certain GPA or test scores. The nice thing is that the colleges base those merit aid offers on their entire student body, and not on the nursing students. Therefore, a majority of the nursing students may end up qualifying for the merit aid because they are at the top of the admissions standards for many private colleges.
My daughter just graduated from York College of Pa. It has an excellent nursing program with great clinicals nearby. The science classes also were very good. However, the other departments were not spectacular, but they really don’t matter in the end. (A nursing student gets few electives at any college). It is one of the most affordable private college nursing programs, and they also offer large amounts of merit aid, and housing and food costs are very reasonable. With the top merit aid, the tuition is less than $10K for the first year and then goes up about $3 K for the last two years because of extra fees for nursing. It is one hour north of Baltimore, and is accessible from the BWI Marshall Airport.
There are three public universities in PA with good nursing programs that attract many out of state students and that have reasonable out of state tuition - Bloomsburg, West Chester and Indiana. They are much less expensive out of state than Penn State and Pitt. West Chester is in a great town, about 45 minutes west of Phila and is a very popular location. The public universities in PA. typically offer very little aid.
@Charliesch Thanks for the info. I did not know that some schools will lump all the incoming Freshmen together when figuring Merit aid. I guess that we might just need to see how much each school offers if any and then choose.
I am going to look into York College. Those prices look good!
I have a niece who is currently enrolled at IUP. She interestingly enough was accepted into the Nursing program, after several years of working as a volunteer at the local hospital, but once started school abruptly changed her major to business marketing because the science classes were too intense. My son’s best classes are science, so that should not be an issue, but the surprising thing was that my brother (who is footing the bill for school), said that the tuition and fees were relatively high there. Overall, the comprehensive cost for my son would be $35,183. At Pitt at Greensburg, which I imagine would be a great program the total cost would be $35,290. University of Pittsburgh has a world-class reputation for medical professionals, so if we are going to go public PA schools we will try Pitt at Greensburg or long shot Pitt main campus which I heard is very competitive.
So far it from the list I am currently looking at, the best choice seems to be Waynesburg University. It has tuition and all fees at just under $34K/year before any merit aid. But their website actually has a merit calculator based on ACT/SAT and GPA. It indicates my son would get $16K bringing the yearly cost down to $18K per year. That seems too good to be true for a private University with a supposedly a very reputable nursing program. They have 100% pass rate on the NCLEX-RN exam for 7th time since 2008! One of only two PA schools to have 100% rate for this year. Waynesburg is a small town in southwest PA. Very small school. All good things in my opinion since I want him to study and not be distracted. My nephews go to school at Duquesne and live off campus so he can go there on the weekends to hang out and socialize since it is only 52 miles away.
It is very common for the private colleges in Pa (except for the few highly selective colleges that stress need-based aid) to offer merit aid equal to 50% off of tuition to the top 20% of their entire applications pool. They are trying to be competitive with Penn State and Pitt for in-state students. Some private colleges heavily discount their tuition to such an extent that they try to make up the difference with their housing, parking and food fees.
Yes, Pitt main campus is very competitive for nursing. For larger universities, you can go onto the CC site for that college and search for a thread where people list whether they were accepted or denied for admission, and then search for students who applied for nursing. Many students post their stats. That will give you a general sense of how hard it is to be admitted for nursing. However, people don’t post that info for smaller colleges.
Please be very suspicious of pass rates of 95 to 100%. That probably means that the college is very restrictive on who is allowed to take the certification exam. There were a number of newspaper articles recently about that issue at Duquesne, where a number of students who thought they were graduating were not given a BSN because they did not score very high on the practice tests. A nursing student cannot take the national certification exam until their college signs off on their application. Some colleges will make a student take additional practice courses or another semester of courses before they will approve them to take the national exam. That leaves students in limbo, causes them to lose job offers, and results in thousands of dollars of unexpected expenses, in order to make the college look better.
A student can take the exam every 45 days, and many pass on the second try if they don’t pass on the first attempt. However, nursing programs are compared based upon their first-time test results.
People are often surprised to see that many community colleges have higher pass rates than colleges that are very competitive in admissions. First, community colleges often are competitive for nursing admission. Second, community college nursing students often have years of experience working in health care before they graduate from the nursing program. Third, community college nursing graduates are often older, more mature and more serious about their studies than your typical 21 year old.
(My daughter said she learned a great deal working in a hospital for the summer as a nursing assistant, and learned things she didn’t learn in clinicals.).
In any answer to your original question, the average student is eligible for the following total amounts of Stafford federal loans: 5,500 first year, 6500 second year, 7500 third and 4th years. The average family is eligible for a $2,500 federal income tax credit per student for each of 4 years. There are some income limits for those benefits.
A student can deduct their interest paid each year on federal student loans from their federal income, even if they do not itemize.
Students who would be eligible for college grants from their own state should also take that into account. Some states only allow those grants to be used at in-state colleges. Many middle income students are eligible for state college grants even if their family income is too high to be eligible for federal pell grants. State and federal grants and need-based aid from a college are more likely to be approved during years when a family has more than one student in college. For example, my daughter received a state grant when we had two kids in college, but she did not receive a state grant after her brother graduated.
@sanluisdavid I have a nursing student at Pitt now who was also admitted to Duquesne. From what I remember, their merit scholarships were generous. The merit came with the acceptance letter. I believe their admission process is rolling and the application was very easy to complete.
Yes, the application is very straightforward for Duquesne. We almost got it completed but near the end there was a message in bold print not to send the application for early consideration unless Duquesne was their only choice and they were not applying anywhere else. Should we disregard that and send it anyway?
My CA girl with 3.7 unweighted GPA got into Duquesne with 22k Merritt aid. Also, definitely apply to PA publics. We heard from Westchester first, in early September! With 8k Merritt too. Because even out of state tuition in PA is so affordable, this would have been our cheapest option, period. Ultimately we stayed with a west coast private, as we had no close relatives on the East Coast.
@theally1 thanks for that information about Duquesne. Even with Merit Aid of $22K it would still be $30K/year for Duquesne. We were hoping to get around $25K level after Merit, below $20K with small student loan each year. And somehow scrape up some other funds to make the $58K he will have in saved funds last the whole 4 years without going into serious debt. I don’t think it is realistic to Count on any type of work study while being in the nursing program. So I got to make sure his cash stretches as far as possible.
It may be possible to do work study during the first 2 years, if it is offered to you. There probably will not be time for it during the last 2 years. Unfortunately, you can not use federal work study during winter or summer break.
Duquesne’s top merit was $20,000 last year and $4,000 for living on campus. They have a lot more female than male students, so maybe they might give more for male applicants?
Most of the LACs have net price calculators on their websites that give need based and merit estimates.
Chatham just recently became co-ed, so they might also be attracting males.
My son got accepted into Waynesburg University who has had 100% pass rate almost every year on the NCLEX. He got $16,000/year there. Overall a 4.0 GPA but only like 3.7 UC, 26 ACT because they don’t count Freshman year and cap AP courses. Westminster Univ in PA offered $19,500/year without him even completing the application.
@sanluisdavid My daughter was accepted to Waynesburg as well with a significant scholarship, but she is unsure about the religious environment there. Right now East Strousburg is her top choice though she has also been accepted to Stevenson (pricey), D;Youville (far away), Edinboro (realy far away) - still waiting on Pitt Greensburg, York and Neumann U – I really wish the ones with the best financials were closer!
Yes we were thinking about that component as well, however with the combination of the price, reputation, and pass rate with the national boards decided to go with it. It is an unbelievable value compared to California schools. And I have two nephews that live in the southside Of Pittsburgh which is about 50 miles away where my son can go hang out on the weekends.
I’d suggest dropping Edinboro from your list. It has horrible climate, is isolated, if far from major hospitals, and the university is in financial trouble because of declining enrollments.