Jesse Jones: Nursing students surprised with last-minute required classes that bumped up tuition

A dozen nursing students at Clover Park Technical College needed emergency surgery on their schedules just weeks before completing their program.

Chelsea Pederson, Dawn Lucas, and Lisa Mosqueda are students in Clover Park’s Practical Nursing Program. They’re upset because they say the school added new classes at the last minute and changed their prerequisites.

Lisa Mosqueda said the changes bump up tuition by over a thousand dollars, “We don’t qualify for financial aid, these are paid out of pocket. It’s money down the drain and they’ve changed the bar for us.”

The students say they are confused because they’d already met previous requirements. They say the late notice adds stress and costs. Making matters worse, the students believe the delay holds them back from taking their tests and starting their careers as LPNs.

We checked with the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the organization that accredits colleges in Washington State. Usually, students are grandfathered in with the prerequisites they agree to at enrollment.

But Chelsea Pederson said when she asked her advisors, she was told tough luck, “There was no response other than we encourage you to get a lawyer.”

So instead, the nursing students reached out to Jesse Jones.

Who then reached out to Clover Park Technical College.

“This would never had to have been done this way if you could just simply talk to them,” said Nursing student, Dawn Lucas.

When Jesse Jones asked Clover Park Technical College how this happened, the school said it is in the process of lowering the number of prerequisite courses in its Nursing Program admitting, “the announcement of the changes resulted in confusion.”

Clover Park Technical College also said it updated the website and told students they are not subject to meeting the requirement a second time.

Chelsea Pederson was happy to hear the school changed its tune, “It was, oh, we need to clarify a few things.” Chelsea can now get back to the reason she’s working so hard – her little daughter Scarlett.

“We can’t thank you guys enough for helping with this situation, because, you know, being a new mom, it was very stressful to find out last minute, ‘Hey, you have to pay for two additional courses, and you have to do it right now.’”

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