A Sanders Voter, Weary of Debt at 29: 'I Have Nothing to Lose'

[exboyfil]

77. My daughter's program was comparable in cost to an RN to BSN at Kaplan (Purdue Global)

The associates RN is basically a two to three year program at our community college (Tuition and Fees at $21K - books probably another $2K). So that route would have been $65K tuition, fees, and books.

Given the extra costs associated with attending Iowa (living on campus and expensive food), my daughter's nursing school was probably not a whole lot more. Iowa is also the only public BS nursing college in the state, and it is very hard to get into (to the point that the majority start on campus without knowing if they can enter the program - a definite high risk strategy that my daughter rejected out of hand).

You don't need a BS in another field to start an accelerated program, just the 66 credit hours to satisfy entry. In fact unless you planed to go to medical school, I can't see a reason why you would get one. After you get your Bachelors in anything, it is then a matter of whether you had the prerequisite course for your graduate work. I would even argue if medical school is your ultimate aim to do nursing first and take the med school prerequisites (some of which are already satisfied in the nursing program) while working as a nurse.

Iowa is $13,600/yr. (tuition, fees, and books) for three years after whatever you did at the community college (some sophomore courses are not offered at the community college - it is also very difficult to get admission from the community college). Our community colleges in Iowa are not all that economical ($7K/yr for tuition, books, and fees). So if you did manage to get the first year just right at the community college, the most economical public education option would be $48K before every other expense (room and board, transportation).

It did take my daughter two months to get a job (she had absolutely no work experience - she was taking college classes instead). I paid for extra clinical hours while she was in school, but I don't know if it helped. Her school seems to have a very good placement rate. She tried for a CNA job while in high school, but she got nobody interested in her.

I would say getting her BSN at 20, and working as a nurse starting a month after her 21st birthday is not a bad deal.