Nursing School: On-Campus Vs Online

If you are thinking of becoming a nurse, there are many opportunities available to you when it comes to getting your nursing qualification and heading down this often quite lucrative career path which is filled with various opportunities for progression, branching out and more. But, when it comes to qualifying as a nurse or pursuing additional nursing qualifications after finishing nursing school, you will need to choose between either learning on-campus or online. Although students traditionally learn on campus, there are increasing options for online study available with both undergraduate and postgraduate online nursing programs available. We’ve listed some of the differences between the two.

Online: Flexibility

Many people decide to pursue a career in nursing later in life, perhaps as a career change after working in another position for many years. If this is the case for you, online study can be an excellent choice as you’ll be able to independently study from home without the need to attend timetabled classes, allowing you to continue working whilst you study. On the other hand, these degrees are also the perfect choice for current nurses who want to continue working whilst completing their RN to MSN online.

On-Campus: Social

One of the main disadvantages of studying online is that there is little social aspect, unlike if you were to study on-campus. If you are about to enroll on a nursing program and feel that you need the physical support of working in a class or within groups with your professor reachable at their office, you may want to consider taking your course on-campus instead. Or, if you’d still like to reap some of the benefits of studying online, you can often choose to study for part of your degree online whist doing the rest in class.

Online: Cost

If you’re hoping to study as much as possible throughout your nursing career in order to gain access to better-paid positions, more responsibility and better opportunities, you will need to take into consideration the cost of studying. Although many nurses can apply for and successfully receive financial aid since nurses are in increasingly higher demand, many will still need to foot the bill for their tuition themselves, which is where online study can be an excellent option due to the fact that is often cheaper in the way of tuition fees.

On-Campus: Resources

Although many online courses are great in that they provide students freely with the required resources for their program, many online students struggle when they are not close to a library or somewhere that they can find the best resources, ask for help or even simply find a place to revise quietly. If you’re the type of student who needs to have a campus library and other campus recourses readily available, you may find that the traditional route is more suited to you. On the other hand, you might want to consider the alternative route of simply studying online at a college close to home.

Would you pick online or on-campus to do your nursing degree? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.