MCON Campus

The school itself is a bit run down but appears to have more than adequate space and facilities to house the near 400 students that attend. There is a small library that is open 24 hours a day with several private study rooms. There is a large computer lab and many small and large classrooms. The bookstore has a handful of MCON apparel all in girly colors of course so I am sure that I will not buy one. The building is about 9 floors and houses the on campus housing as well. It has controlled access that only opens the doors with an ID badge. I will update on the facilities once school begins.

The school itself has been around over 30 years and offers several types of programs to meet many different types of students including; accelerated BSN, 4 year BSN, RN-BSN, and 2+2 program.

Today I met two very recent graduates from Methodist College of Nursing who had just started their first real nursing job right out of school. One was working on the floor at the Methodist Hospital and the other was working at an Internal Medicine group both here in Peoria. The hospital job paid $21/hour with $23 for shift differential. The Internal Med job paid $18/hour and was a 9-5 job five days a week. Both women said that the school and the professors are good, but that it is incredibly difficult and very overwhelming at times.

Both women were single mothers and had to max out their loans in order to attend. MCON is somewhat expensive and therefore many have to get loans to attend. I also applied for many loans in order to pay for it. This first semester I took out $6250 in Stafford loans and another $12,000 in private. I hope that this will allow us to be able to afford life for a bit until our home in Houston sells and we can get back on top of our finances etc. They mentioned that after fully financing their education that their loan payments are around $400/month.

In the end I believe that if you have a passion for the career and the patient care you will make it. Regardless of how hard it becomes at times or the loans needed you will make it through.