This old CC discussion about direct entry colleges might help.
Run net price calculators for Wilkes University, Duquesne, Carlow, they should say how much merit she qualifies for. Also Scranton might give her merit. Of course these schools are not cheap either.
Temple uses GPA from academic core classes only I think. I don’t know if that would help.
Also did you search your state or neighboring states for good nursing programs?
I agree with those above who have said that the direct entry program’s can reduce stress and generally
have a better overall outcome.
Another strong school to consider is Simmons in Boston, who are known to be generous with their scholarships.
An additional point is that for many schools, the BSN degrees are often in a specialty pricing category and can run 1k to 3k more per year in tuition that a general BS or BA degree.
Do not take $64k in Plus Loans…CRAZY. You will regret that!
What OOS public did she apply to?
With her stats, she could have had free tuition at Bama…not direct nursing, but excellent nursing, fab facilities, and she likely would have made it thru.
She should send an app to UAB. They don’t have direct nursing unless you get into their honors nursing, which may be possible. Remaining costs would be low.
Look at Valparaiso. I think they have direct and very good merit.
@bd1203 You may get some additional responses if you post in the Nursing major forum.
If she she takes a gap year and applies to schools like Bama this fall, can she still qualify for aid, @mom2collegekids?
If she doesn’t take any classes.
She likely could apply NOW to Bama and politely ask if she could be considered for the Presidential…with her SAT, likely Bama would award it now. She’d have to politely write to Mary Spiegel. I could help with that.
I think direct entry is a great thing, but I would not allow my daughter and myself to take on that kind of debt to get it. There are a lot of good schools that have direct entry that aren’t top dollar. We’ve looked. At some schools it’s not even ridiculously hard to get. One school my daughter was admitted to have offered her direct entry because they give that to students who have at least a 27 ACT. Another said that if she declares it as her major as a freshman and has a whatever GPA at the end of her freshman year, she’s in. My daughter is interviewing for a presidential scholarship at the school she would most like to attend. She’ll have direct entry if she’s name a presidential scholar. She has a 31 ACT and is in their top 15%, so odds are pretty good for her. I know she won’t screw up her interview. She’ll go to a nice Lutheran private school with a great reputation. It’s not the top school in our state and I know she could get into some higher profile schools, but we have to pay for this. At this school she’ll get a great education. We’ll be able to afford it without taking on loans, and she’ll graduate without debt in a very employable field. I’m not worried about her getting a job at all. We took our daughter to schools at different price points and we flat out asked who gets the biggest scholarships and if she wasn’t in that group, we kind of lost interest. She applied anyway figuring if we bothered to travel there that we should at least see where it would shake out. Kind of funny that your daughter is interested in Case Western Reserve. For over a year they have sent my daughter an email or a piece of mail encouraging her to visit and apply. We had never heard of it since we live in Minnesota, but we were curious after the 20th piece of literature. It sounds like a great school with a wonderful reputation for the medical fields.
I was assuming that you would pay some of the shortfall out of pocket and borrow some, so that the debt would not add up to more than you could afford.
Non-direct entry programs are not evil, of course - but they do pose the very clear and present danger of not getting into them. However, it all depends on the program. They all have different thresholds and acceptance rates, and the prerequisite classes are different difficulty levels. You already know that Mid-sized Regional State School has about a 33% acceptance rate into their upper division nursing program; those aren’t the best odds. However, it’s possible that your D (who was good enough to get into Case) breezes through the prerequisite classes with a high GPA and is a very likely candidate for entry.
It seems like the best alternative option is the medium-sized regional school, since your D doesn’t like the third-tier school and the good OOS public school is nearly as much as Case Western barring any merit aid. And the truth is - most nursing programs are not direct entry anyway, so the reality is that your D might have to go to a direct-entry school and just do well in her first two years to transfer.
My daughter graduated from Wilkes Nursing in 2014. I guarantee you she would not be a nurse today if she had not been in a direct entry program. She was never a stellar student in high school but she worked hard and that made the difference. So, I know her solid 3.0 GPA wouldn’t have been good enough for a competitive program, but it was just perfect for Wilkes, which requires you maintain a 2.5 to stay in the program. She passed her nclex in the minimum 75 questions and she and I cried tears of joy. The 4years of hard work and challenges paid off and she’s the kindest and most compassionate nurse. It saddens me to think that she could have been denied her dream, as some are…in competitive programs. She had a job interview the day after she found out she passed and started working at a hospital a month later. She rents a cute half double home, bought a new SUV, just got engaged to be married next year and pays her school loans just fine 
She is living her dream.
I haven’t read all of the replies, but I would definitely go direct admit, if you’re OK with the money situation. We had a similar issue with my son for business. He wanted to go to our in state flagship. We both agreed he would only go there if he was a direct admit to the business school.
The merit aid at Case only requires that you be in good academic standing (2.0) so that should not be a worry (my DS goes there). Also, are those your final numbers for Case? The merit aid comes with the acceptance letter, but doesn’t the rest of financial aid come later? I don’t know this part of the equation since we did not apply for need-based aid but I seemed to recall that that was the timing.
@mom2collegekids: The big scholarships at 'Bama require a 3.5 GPA, no? Don’t know if that is weighted or UW.
That is a ton of debt, however, even if direct entry is best.
And what if she doesn’t actually want to be a nurse?
Did she qualify for National Merit or no?
@PurpleTitan to get the merit, only a 3.5 weighted is needed (along with test scores)…as long as that’s on the transcript.
I would hesitate taking on debt for a particular major for an 18 year old. The chances that she’ll stay in nursing are iffy. Kids change their majors …especially majors that require a lot of science courses.
I know a current frosh who is attending a pricey school for nursing (her parents let her choose this unaffordable school because of its nursing program). Now she may change her major to Education. But she doesn’t want to leave the school that she now loves. So, now the parents will be over-paying and borrowing when their own state schools would be much cheaper and FINE for education majors.
I would only like to add my personal experience. I went to a non direct admit local state nursing school. I lived at home and attended CC for my nursing prereqs. I was befriended but many people at the local CC trying to get into nursing school. We studied together and really pushed each other. I graduated with less than 5k debt (back when college was reasonable) The minimal debt allowed me to pursue NP school without fear of drowning in debt. And the salary really goes up for an NP from RN.
This is only my story for your consideration.
The debt load you are considering is quite steep. I would encourage you to avoid it.
My daughter studied nursing. She did this at our local community college where tuition is quite affordable. She earned her AS here and then went to a local state school an finished her BSN. Before going on to get her BSN, she took the NCLEX exam and became an RN. Before finishing her BSN, she began working at a local hospital in the Emerg dept. We spent maybe $10,000 for all of her schooling. This was very affordable for us so no loans were needed.
Most of the new RNs she knows have plenty of student loan debt. Most went to ‘better’ colleges than she did, but she still ended up with a very desirable nursing job and no student loan debt. For my daughter, studying nursing at a local community college (no dorm and cafeteria expenses either) was the best and most affordable option.
As an R.N. myself I would have to agree with @bookreader. I work at a hospital in a critical care unit. All the new grads coming out of college whether a 2 year program or a 4 year program they all start out with the same amount of money to start. The starting rate in N.C. Charlotte is approximately 20.18 an hr. That is not a lot of money for a new grad with a lot of debt.
One problem with debt as a new grad is that the grad is basically forced to live at home in order to be able to pay down the debt as quickly as possible. That severly limits where that new grad can look for employment. There are job opportunities for new nurses, but they may not be where the grad’s parents live. When my daughter graduated, many of her fellow students needed to leave the area inorder to find employment as the opportunities for brand new nurses in that area was quite limited (my daughter was one of the fortunate ones to find the job that she did get).
Great comments. Really really helpful when considering options.
I agree that direct entry is a huge deal. I know too many kids who went to colleges for a particular major and then didn’t get into the school of their choice and were really stuck.