Our D has been accepted by and is considering the above-referenced nursing programs. Any thoughts or comparisons of these programs will be appreciated. Because of OOS status and/or merit aid Scranton is the most expensive by about $5k per year over UVM and $10k over Temple. Thanks
Take a close look at the area around the Temple nursing building. It is next to the medical center, and my understanding is that it is a less safe area than the main campus of Temple. You can look up actual crime stats for any college by googling the college’s name and Clery, which is the name of the federal law that requires public posting of the data.
If you do a search on this website, you will find comments from families that were happy with Scranton’s nursing program. I haven’t seen many comments at all about Temple’s program. Other people have written about how Temple’s hospital treats a higher than average percentage of gunshot victims, homeless persons, and drug overdoses. You can decide if that is an issue or not. At one point during the peaceful years of the Clinton administration, the US Army sent its surgeons to Temple’s hospital so they could have regular experience treating gunshots.
The Scranton hospitals have been taken over by larger entities, and they are supposed to be making major investments in them. They are relatively close to Scranton’s campus.
Temple also has an honors program. When I checked a couple years ago, nursing students could participate in it.
When comparing the costs of a school, a person needs to consider what they would need to make up the difference in cost. If they can do it with federally subsidized loans, great. If they need to take out private loans to make up the difference, not so great.
Also, watch out because many colleges charge extra tuition or fees for nursing students, particularly in the last two years, This can typically add $2 to 3K a year to the cost, and those extra costs are often only revealed deep in the fine print. Some people may not even know about the added costs until they read the sophomore tuition bill.
I’m guessing that a place like U. of Scranton that emphasizes merit aid may have some wiggle rooom in their costs. If it comes down to it, it may be a matter of saying that you would like to attend, but the cost difference is a little too much. They may come back with a slightly better offer.
Thank you, we’ve heard similar comments about Temple and Scranton. Not much about Vermont.
Thanks again,
Temple is located in inner city Philly. UVM is in the small city of Burlington - population less than 50,000 - highly ranked on the list of best college towns with 3 other small colleges in the area. UVM Medical Center is a tertiary referral hospital for Vermont and upper NY state; also a Level 1 Trauma Center and teaching hospital, probably a great place for nursing clinicals. A car may be necessary for any clinicals beyond the Burlington area since it is rural outside the city limits.
I would defintely visit both schools to see which is the better fit since their environments are worlds apart from each other.
Did you visit these schools yet? I haven’t visited Scranton or UVM, but I went to Temple during the summer. We hated it so much that we didn’t even bother going inside for the actual information session and tour. It was a very busy area and there were literally cops everywhere!!! We couldn’t even find parking!! I’ve also heard that the nursing building is a few blocks from campus, which means that nursing students would have to walk. I guess it would be okay if students walked in groups.
On the positive side, I looked at a virtual tour of the campus (just google it) and really liked the inside of the campus. The dorms, dining areas, gym, etc. all looked REALLY nice. It’s a division 1 school too, which means lots of opportunities for athletes! The university is also ranked pretty high, so academically, it’s probably a good choice.
The Temple nursing school is next to the hospital complex. You can take a bus or subway between the main campus and the hospital campus. The fact that there are “cops everywhere” could be viewed as a positive. Temple did cut back on some of their varsity sports last year.