Nursing Schools in Boston
If you are looking for a way to get into the booming health care industry and improve the lives of those around you, a nursing career in Boston may be an excellent choice for you. This area is home to a wide variety of health care facilities that hire LPNs, RNs, and other nursing professionals. You may be able to find a program that suits your needs at a variety of area schools that award Associate’s degrees, Bachelor’s degrees, and Master’s degrees in nursing.
Since Boston has so many prominent universities and research facilities, there are quite a few professional opportunities for those that want to improve the nursing field through research.
Nurses at many Boston-area hospitals take a leading role in patient satisfaction and patient outcomes. In addition to improving patient outcomes, nurses in this area have saved their organizations over $8 million per year.
Curriculum, Costs, and Financial Aid
As you look into different nursing schools in Boston, you may wish to compare tuition rates at different schools. On the low end of the scale, you have the University of Massachusetts Boston, the only public university in this city. Tuition is almost $12,000 per year for residents and just over $27,000 for non-residents. At other schools in the area, like Northeastern University and Boston College, tuition costs between $21,000 and $24,000 per semester.
However, there are several types of financial aid to help lighten the financial load. The University of Massachusetts Boston offers scholarships through the International Nursing Honor Society and the Clinical Leadership Collaborative for Diversity in Nursing. Students at Boston College can apply for a range of undergraduate and graduate scholarships.
Curriculum requirements tend to vary between degree types. While Associate’s degree programs mainly contain core nursing courses and practical experience classes, Bachelor’s degree programs may include more theoretical and research-based courses. Master’s programs often delve into one particular type of nursing, like nurse midwifery or advanced direct care. As an Associate’s degree student or Bachelor’s degree student, you may take core courses like Community & Public Health, Foundations of Nursing, Health Care Research, Pharmacology, and Pathophysiology. Clinical experience is an important part of every type of nursing degree, with many schools requiring hundreds of clinical hours.
The quickest way to a nursing degree may be an Associate’s degree, which takes most students only two years of full-time study. A Bachelor’s degree tends to require four to five years of full-time study, and a Master’s degree may take two to three years beyond that. After completing a Bachelor’s degree, a doctoral degree in nursing may take four to seven years.
Career Options in Boston Area
There are many nursing employers in the Boston area, including community clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes. Several area health care institutions offer tuition assistance or reimbursement to employees that are attending nursing school. Boston Medical Center offers in-house nursing training, scholarships, and tuition reimbursement to those who take nursing courses outside the institution. Employees at Beverly Health may also be eligible for tuition assistance.
Salaries in this area are often higher than the national average. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nurses earn an average of $
Once you have determined which type of nursing school in Boston offers the program you are interested in, request program materials to learn more.
