Online College Degrees

The College Network has been around for many years.  They are one of the pioneers and original “Study Guide” formats to completing your college degree.  The majority of their customers are nurses looking to complete their LVN to RN, LPN to RN, or RN to BSN.  I don’t have accurate statistics, but my guess is that makes up 80-90% of their customers.

The College Network is not a college.  They are, in many ways, a specialized text book company that works together with various colleges and universities around the United States so that nurses can complete their degree.  These specialized text books, or study guides, walk nurses through various courses from Statistics, Microbiology, A & P, and even some basic courses like History or Government.

Here are 3 tips for working with the College Network in completing your nursing degree:

1. Don’t believe the hype – one way or another.  There are some nurses who bought into the study guide program thinking it was going to be easy.  It wasn’t.  So, they tell all their friends how bad it was.  That’s their fault. Studying on your own is almost always going to be harder than sitting in a classroom having a professor lecture to you while you take some notes.  If you have the ability to study on your own, then you might want to try them. 
2. Evaluating Your Transcripts – one of the TCN advisors will evaluate your transcripts.  They do this quite often and have seen many transcripts.  They are usually pretty accurate, BUT, the advisor who evaluates your transcript is NOT the final word.  The registrar at the college is the final word.  He/She has the right to make any adjustments to your evaluation. It may be just one course or two, but just be ready for that. It’s okay too.  The next tip will show you how to get around that initial evaluation.
3. Take A Few Courses – your transcripts may reveal that you need 9 of their study guides to take the courses you need to complete your degree.  But, you don’t have to sign up for all 9 at once.  If you were going to a community college, you don’t sign up for all 9 courses at once.  Just sign up for their minimum number of courses, if you need their financing, and work through those first.  This doesn’t obligate you to the entire 9 courses, and you can work through the first few courses to insure this is how you want to complete your degree.  If not, then you’re not out the entire amount.

Overall, I like the TCN program.  They have been around for quite a long time, which is saying something these days.  No university would work hand-in-hand with The College Network if their system wasn’t actually working.

Being a nurse has long been considered to be the noblest of professions. In fact, even to this day, people from certain ethnic groups or communities look at nursing as the only viable career option. Apart form the tremendous satisfaction it brings from the sheer act of caring for and nursing people to good health, nursing is slowly but surely becoming a lucrative profession. Most nurses today in American hospital and private nursing homes earn reasonably good salaries. And hospitals continue to recruit scores of nurses from all over the world to cater to the demand for qualified nurses.

 But becoming a nurse is not really inexpensive. Apart from the fact that the course itself is expensive, most nurses have to appear for certifying exams in order to get the necessary licenses or registrations that enable them to become full-fledged nurses. Which is why, a vast majority of nurses complete their basic nursing qualification (usually a diploma) before they enter the workforce.

 Once inside, they realize that for nurses with better qualifications, there are tremendous growth opportunities. This usually puts them in a dilemma. If they quit their jobs to take up further courses of study, they not only stand to lose valuable income, but also run the risk of further students loans to pay for costly education. If on the other hand, they stay back in their jobs, they may never see a promotion or an opportunity for growth for a long time to come. The answer to such a dilemma is nursing continuing education.

 Simply put, nursing continuing education is an “earn while you learn” scheme. When working nurses sign-up for nursing continuing education programs, they can continue to work at their regular hospitals while they improve their qualifications on the side. Most Diploma in Nursing holders can thus sign-up for a Degree program and work for their degree part-time while working as a regular nurse. Of course, such a course might be longer than a conventional full-time course, but the working nurse need not give up her job to pursue her education.

 Most hospitals in the United States have a tie-up or affiliation with a college or university that provides nursing continuing education. Since the hospital itself administers the program, the nurses stand to benefit as they can schedule their rounds conveniently in order to accommodate the demands of the course. They also prefer hospitals which provide the option of nursing continuing education because this is a guarantee that they will have chances to grow in their chosen profession and consequently, earn more. And for the hospitals, it makes commercial sense because they have a steady pool of nurses guaranteed to undertake the course. Further, hospitals favor the nursing continuing education programs because it helps them retain staff in an industry that is always short of qualified nurses. It makes for better business sense to retain and train their existing nurses than to find new nurses.

 Most American Nursing Associations like the American Nursing Association (ANA), American Nephrology Nursing Association (ANNA) and others are strong proponents of nursing continuing education. After all, it is a win-win situation for all concerned. And who would say not to happy, qualified nurses working in stress-free hospitals!

Over the course of 4 years, I met with hundreds and hundreds of LPNs, LVNs, ASNs, and BSN nurses.  All of them interested in moving forward in their career and earning a higher level nursing degree.  One of the most crucial points of meeting these nurses is when the transcripts came out.

What courses will transfer so I will know what I have to take?

One of the hardest things was when a nurse realized that some of her college credits were not going to transfer.  There are different reasons a college course will not transfer.

1. The college you went to was not accredited.  This is mostly true for degreed nurses, or for nurses who did not attend a traditional college.
2. The course they took was more than 7 or 10 years old.
3. The course you took is not “quite” the same as the one the new college requires.
4. You didn’t have a lab with the science class.

Those are the main 4 reasons.  Other technicallities may arise, but those are the ones you need to be aware of.  So, let me address each one.

First, if your degree is going to be worth anything, it must be accredited. No exceptions.  That means the courses you took must come from an accredited college.  If you took Microbiology from a school that wasn’t accredited, it is quite likely you’ll have to take it again.  Check on your accreditation with the school you attended.

Second, every school has the right to regulate what courses they will accept and what they will not.  Much of this is dependent on the age of the course. Many schools will not accept courses that are more than 7 years old. This is because technology and science changes.  The college course you took in the 1990’s is different than what is being taught now.  Be prepared if you have some “aging” courses, you may be required to take them again.

Third, every college may have their own twist on how a college course is taught.  Therefore, a college course you took may be “similar,” but not the same.  The college admissions of the school you are applying to has the right to say the descriptions do not match.  Worse case scenerio is you have to take that course again, but the course you did take in the past can still possibly transfer in as an elective instead.

Fourth, and you know this.  Science has to have labs.  There are still some colleges out there teaching science classes without labs.  They won’t transfer and you will be have to take that class again.  This is true mostly if you are going from LPN to BSN.  Some ASN to BSN programs will allow it.

Here’s the bottom line (in my opinion).  Colleges and Universities are businesses. They have boards of directors that set their degree plans, as well as state and federal guidelines to follow. If you want to earn a nursing degree from a particular university, then you must follow their rules if you want their name on your degree.  They have the right to say yes or no when it comes time to transfer courses.  They’re not just being mean. 

In the big picture, it may require you to take one or two extra courses to complete your degree.  Don’t get lost in the details.  Look at the big picture and get your degree!

It has been 5 years since I worked with the College Network, recruiting nurses to go back to school to get their ASN, BSN, or MSN.  I was always amazed at the number of nurses who said “No” to going back to school. Most of the excuses I heard were something like this:

• I don’t have the time
• I heard the clinicals were too hard.
• I heard you can’t pass the clinicals
• I do more than those BSN nurses anyway
• I don’t have the money
• That clinical costs too much money
• What if I don’t pass

Those are all excuses based on fear, gossip, and simply being stuck in a rut for several years.  It’s time to stop the excuses and stop listening to other people (letting them control) your life, and move on to the goals and dreams you have as a nurse.

I don’t work for the College Network anymore.  I have not interest in how you get your degree… just get it.  If that means enrolling right now so you can start school this January at your community college or 4-year nursing school, then take action today.  If that means arranging the financing so you can get started with an online nursing degree program, thenn do that today.  Just get it done.  Let me give you the best reasons why:

1. You give yourself an immediate raise.  Stop bitching about those who make more than you and do less work. Sometimes I think some nurses would rather bitch about life than do something about it. You know better than me the kind of money that awaits you if you finish your ASN, BSN, or MSN.
2. You open the door to better health care opportunities. What kind of jobs would immediately open for you if you had your BSN? Are you tired of lifting patients yet? How many more years until you are not physically able to do your current nursing duties?
3. Life your life, not someone elses.  I have met WAY TOO MANY nurses who would rather be drug down by those around them than life their own life.
4. Higher level nursing degrees will be a must. Those 25 year old nurses who have their BSN and earn more than you, even though you have 20 years of experience – they aren’t better than you – they just made a better choice than you.
5. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for your family.  I met a nurse who took 3 years to finish her BSN.  Within 2 months she receive a huge promotion, earning an extra $40,000 per year! What could you and your family do with an extra $40K?

Listen, I’m not saying going back to school is easy.  However, I am saying that it is time to speak the truth to yourself and stop making excuses.  Earning your nursing degree online may be exactly what you need to do.  Or, going back to your community college and getting your ASN may be exactly what you need to do.  As we push forward in the months and years to come, I don’t think you will ever say, “I wish I hadn’t gone back to school.”  However, I think the opposite will always be true.

Choosing a new career is fairly common is most folk’s minds. Those individuals who do act on the desire to learn a new career is much smaller, but it does not need to be. Most people assume changing to a new career will take longer then may actually be the case. This may be true even if someone already holds a degree in a different field. In fact if someone already has a degree is may be easier to change even though the career fields are completely different.

You may think this would not apply to specialty fields of study, but it can. Yes you will still need to learn the details to ensure you understand what you need to understand, but maybe you can bypass some or many of the courses that are not really applicable to the career of interest. This may be even more doing in fields where there is more demand then supply.

For example most realize there is huge demand for registered nurses and it is expected to increase in the coming years. One reason this is expected is due to the aging baby boomer population who will need more care and who are going to be retiring. If nursing is a career you have considered but have a degree in a different field maybe you did not want to return to school because you thought it would take to long. Does this sound like you?

Well there are programs geared toward people who already have a degree in a non medical field but would like to transition to a medical or nursing career. To allow for acceleration many of these are nursing schools with a program specially designed towards someone who holds a non-nursing degree. The others are geared towards some who already work in a lower level nursing field and wish to earn their BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree) at a quicker pace.

Therefore do not give up your dreams of becoming a nurse just because you decided years ago to earn a degree in a different field. Take the time now to learn about your options from the different nursing schools who offer programs at a faster pace then more traditional ones.

you have looked into a few different schools by searching online make sure to contact them all to learn as much as you can about the different programs of study. All schools have different requirements and expectations, plus they all offer something a little different from each other. Therefore it is important to check out several prior to making After.

In these hard economic times most people who have a job are grateful and hope they can keep it. Of course many people would like to increase their salary as well, but that is kind of on the back burner at the moment for many folks. However there are some careers where just a little (relatively speaking) investment of time (and money) spent getting some additional education may add up to a big increase in pay.

Most people have heard that there is a nursing shortage. In fact a lot of people are going back to school in order to become a registered nurse or an LPN. For those who are already working as an LPN who are interested in an increase in pay and advancing their career they may be in luck.

One reason is there may be more demand for a registered nurse’s then licensed practical nurse’s in some areas and therefore many LPNs are returning to college to complete LPN to RN program to take advantage of the opportunities. Many folks can complete one of these programs in less then two years time and may get an increase in salary of $15K or more per year.

Going back to school to increase ones education can be a huge time commitment. However with the Internet and online college degree options people today have a lot more flexibility then people used to have. Now they can structure their study and learning time around their work and family schedules. Yes it still takes a large commitment but it can be well worth it.

In addition to potentially earning more money by becoming a registered nurse, a former licensed practical nurse’s job will also change with respect to new responsibilities. Although many people do enjoy working as a licensed practical nurse many do decide later in their career to go back to school because they want to do something different. So if you are a licensed practical nurse and looking to advance your career now may be the time to go back to school.