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18 July 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Wichita State University is offering registered nurses at Ascension Via Christi preferred tuition rates to attain their Bachelor of Science in Nursing through an online RN to BSN program. The degree can be completed in as little as six months or up to six years.
The price for registered nurses is $312 per credit hour, more than 40% less than the cost for other students. Ascension Via Christi will also continue to offer nurses annual tuition reimbursement of up to $4,000 for full-time associates and $2,000 for part-time associates. These programs allow RNs to receive their degree at little to no cost.
“Once they start working, they don’t always have the time or the opportunity financially to be able to pursue getting their bachelor of science. So, this just basically opens those doors, allows folks to be able to do that while they work and have an excellent opportunity to have tuition reimbursement,” explains Missy Hampel, Ascension Via Christi Vice President of Nursing.
While a Bachelor’s degree is not needed to begin working as an RN, it can help nurses advance their qualifications for different roles.
“You may want to go into management. You may want to go into teaching. I think it’s just good basic knowledge. It gives you a lot of foundation with community health,” says Hampel
“The leadership experience that they did not focus on in the ADN program, there’s more of a focus on that in the bachelor’s program,” says Debi Pile, WSU’s Associate Dean of Nursing Practice.
Pile says having a BSN will help fill shortages in management; it also allows registered nurses to supervise BSN students during clinicals.
The affordable degree opportunity can also help with nurse retention by expanding opportunities for current RNs to grow in their field. It is also the first step to attaining higher degrees that will fill higher positions in hospitals that are facing shortages.
“A doctor shortage is out there, as well as a nursing shortage. So if we can prepare more advanced practice nurses to help with seeing patients in that primary care-type setting, then that’s beneficial to the community,” explains Pile.
In addition to filling shortages, the BSN helps keep hospital practices up-to-date.
“We’re current with all the evidence-based practice and changes in nursing that need to take place, so they get that knowledge added benefits of the knowledge of the students coming from the academic side and changes in the nursing practices,” says Pile.