Avoid the College Network!

[Ricu]

Denise,

The College Network and Excelsior College are not one and the same. The College Network is an educational services company that provides materials and support to assist you in passing equivalency examinations.

Excelsior College is the degree-granting institution. Essentially, you are earning your degree from Excelsior College with the assistance of the materials and academic support of The College Network.

The Program Advisor will be able to answer all these questions for you, but if you have any in the meantime feel free to ask.

Sincerely,
Rick
The College Network

Hi Rick,

Please allow me to make a point of clarification regarding the context of this ongoing discussion.

I realize that this quoted reply, like the others you've made here to students who have engaged the services of TCN, has to do with issues around study guides and services provided by TCN and not Excelsior University.

Your phrasing of your statement that Excelsior is the "degree granting institution" and TCN provides educational materials could be misunderstood to mean that Excelsior does not provide the students with academic support and specific study materials for each exam when in fact,they do. Excelsior students are aprised of this at the time of their enrollment and each year after when they pay their student activity fee which by the way, pays for those very things.

In the cases that we're reading about on this Forum, the students have purchased services from TCN to be used in addition to, or instead of, those services provided by Excelsior and they have had difficulties.

As a representative of TCN,You have been diligent about addressing their concerns, but I felt it necessary to be sure the readership understands that those issues are with TCN and not Excelsior and while some choose to use TCN, it is not required or necessary to successfully complete the degree.

I wouldn't want other readers to be misled.

Please continue.

R

[dedgar301]

It sucks that everyone got sucked into something they now regret. I used old College Network study guides with very few adjucts and passed all tests except (old) NC3 the first time. However, If I had to recommend a path to a new student, I would tell them to buy the actual textbooks that Excelsior recommends and read them. Yes, it will take a long time but that really is the best way to get the most education out of the program. You can always go on ebay and get old College Network and Rue study guides for under $100 each and this will help in your studies. I did this, then resold the books after I passed. This way, you really won't pay anything for them. Some books I used were over 5 years old but they still helped me out. Those study guides helped me, but I am glad I didn't pay $5K for them. That is ludicrisp...not to be confused with Supersugarcrisp.:nurse-haha:

Good luck everyone. I am always happy to hear it when an Excelsior student is successfull in taking a test. I know how hard the program is. People that have not gone through it do not really understand the challenges.

[nursinghumor]

I have to agree, if the college network only offers expensive "study guides" to help you pass later exams, what is the point?

Why not go straight to the degree granting institution.

Can't say I see the need for places like the College Network, specially after seeing the feedback they've been given.

Makes me wonder if their ads are showing up on my site through Adsense.

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.com

[strawberyheelz]

hi

i wanted to comment on avoiding the college network. first off i would like to start out by saying that i was lucky and did not end up oweing the 5000 plus dollars that my friend owes now. i am in the same program she is in at excelsior college but did not go through the college network. i have found that it is possible to get the same degree she is pursing with the same school without having to waste my money on the 7 nursing modules the college network has to offer. i decided to go and get a rn fundamentals book, pharmacology, mother and baby, peds, community nursing, mental health, med surg, and nursing diagnosis book. i am study nursing concepts one and will be taking the test with excelsior soon. i was about to sign on the dotted line until i read about how TCN was not needed to register with excelsior. so i went on to excelsior's site at excelsior.edu read the nursing course content guide found all the necessary book titles ordered one at a time and started studying from there. i have to go through the same rigorous program but without the added debt of TCN. for my friend she is stuck paying them for the next 3 or 4 years. we are at the same point in the program and i started two months later than she did. if you are thinking about doing excelsior's program their are groups on yahoo.com that offer study guides, notes, encouragement from other students and more information than u could possibly imagine to help u pass. it can be done.

[cali510]

You can find used study guides from the publishing companies, TCN, Rue, Chancellor's, on ebay for very little if you want to try them without the $5000 debt. And don't forget another good resource: Flashcards: The world's largest library of printable flash cards. It is also free. There are lots of ways to skin the EC cat without getting $5000 or $6000 in debt unnecessarily.

[MN RN]

I am an ADA RN. I joined the College Network last year, and have had no issues with them. They gave me back money for classes I did not need, and really worked hard to make sure I only took the classes I needed. I have already passed 2 exams, and that is being a single mom with 2 jobs. The exams were not the easiest, but it does help to have experience and some prior nursing background. I have always done well on exams too. I really think all you people complaining really need to take some personal responsibility. It is always easier to blame others for your own short-comings. I would recommend College Network only to those who are disciplined and able to learn on their own.

[Nurse_m]

Quick question here. College Network didnt work for me. Can you return your study guides? I have about 12 of them!!!!! Still in the box!

[cali510]

Quick question here. College Network didnt work for me. Can you return your study guides? I have about 12 of them!!!!! Still in the box!

Return them or not, you will not get a refund. Better to try to sell them on ebay and get some small return on your investment.

[OH_Nurse]

I just want to thank all of you. I met with an "advisor" for The College Network today but didn't sign anything. I used the excuse that I had to talk it over with my hubby. Of course it sounded great and I was really excited about it. My friend, however, signed up with them today. When I got home I told my hubby about it and he started re-searching and found this thread. I started reading all of the horror stories and called my friend. She is canceling everything tomorrow and I'm never talking to another person from there again. Thank you so much! You guys are life savers! I wish you didn't have such bad experience though.

[pmedic2rn]

I've returned to educate and protest The College Network. First, however I have a few words for potential individuals who might sign up with The College Network. When dealing with such a controversial entity as The College Network it helps to be an informed consumer, one of the mistakes I made was not actually researching and viewing the opinions and reviews of others. A site like this, where various opinions and likes and dislikes are posted is an excellent source. The College Network is a fraudulent and dishonest institution that preys on unknowing people who wish to pursue and/or advance their position in healthcare, primarily nursing. The material supplied by The College Network Material is below the educational standards to be a nurse. I do personally recommend, you contact Excelsior College directly and purchase the materials thy endorse. After all, it is an Excelsior College exam your going to be taking and it makes perfect sense to heed the advise of the writers of the exam. The College Network, compiles material from all other insignificant sources and claims that it will help you pass the exam, I can attest that its false. For example, if your going to take Health Differences exam, Excelsior College sends you a booklet with a breakdown of scoring i.e. Fluids & Electrolytes 30%, etc. Therefore, DONOT rely, use or in anyways deal with The College Network in regards to Excelsior College nursing examinations. Lets look at it from an analogy perspective, apples to apples and oranges to oranges. You cant match an apple with an orange because their characteristics are totally different. If you sign up with The College Network, get ready to spend exorbitant fees which you could have saved simply by dealing with Excelsior College directly. **MN RN** Nice to know you were successful, however I'm an A+ person and I'm also a paramedic and I've never failed any of my state/city exams. So when I fail an Excelsior College nursing exam, there is reason to go back and see what the problem was, and the problem was The College Network. You see I studied the material from The College Network which was inaccurate and not uptodate and contained a bunch of crap I didnt even need to know and that was no good, however now I'm on track and I have all the material from Excelsior College. So when it comes to blaming anyone for shortcomings its well derived.