pensacola, and the wifes education

[VAmookie]

sorry for the double post, really need help on this one

I'll be heading down to API/A-pool sometime around July 2006. My wife is now looking into graduate schools in the area and wondering what might be her best option. Assuming she goes summer term, she'll get there a little before me. She's looking at Univ. South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama State, Auburn and Univ North Florida. She's looking at Nursing and Physical therapy. Does anyone have any advice on what are the best schools in terms of location from pensacola, programs, cost, flexibility with military spouse schedule, online course capabilites and any other information. Also, she would be an out of state student but being that she's married to a member of the military, is it possible for her to get an in-state tuition rate or a discounted military stationed out of state student rate?

Her program would be 2 or 3 years, is this her best option in terms of this timeline. I would be hoping to head to Whiting Field after pensacola (if this fits the govt's needs of course). Any input would be great

 

[zippy]

2-3 years for the program... plan on spending a good amount of time seperated. You arent going to get that long in one place during flight school (probably a year or so tops, depending on whether or not you do primary in the same place you end up for advanced). She might be able to knock out the core academic requirements for nursing at UWF and transfer credits, but given the info you provided, I would seriously consider waiting until you figure out where your first duty station is going to be.

 

[crysmc]

You didn't mention the University of West Florida in your post, but it would be good for her to consider. I'm also going for a BSN & then masters in Nursing. I didn't go to school while in Pensacola b/c we were only there for three months for API (husband had NO wait in between OCS & API, so I moved up there immediately after he finished OCS) I'm pretty sure that UWF will waive "out of state" tuition for your wife and just charge her in state. My experience as a military spouse is that most college's policies (and all that I have gone to, which is 3 so far over his career span) have been sympathetic to the military wives' situation and will charge in-state rates only. If you or your wife have any more questions, feel free to shoot me a PM!

 

[vaughncc]

I'm taking classes at UWF right now and they will give you in-state tuition rates as long as your wife gives them a copy of your orders.

 

[bennett4362]

you might consider PMing megan620; she's a PT and might be able to give your wife some inside information on PT schools, transfering credits, etc.

 

[slabicro]

I got my masters from UNF in Jacksonville in Nursing but Jax is a 5 hr drive from Pcola. Cool thing though is classes are only one day a week for the most part and they might even consider letting her do clinicals in this area. Once you are futher into the program is takes up several days in a week. Part time takes 8 semesters and full time it takes five. I assume she already has a bachelor's in nursing if she is considering a masters? With UNF you have to have at least 2 years RN (BSN) experience to be accepted. If she has questions about the program she can email me

University of Southern Alabama is Mobile which isn't far...about 1 hr. Good school from what I hear. Anything other than Mobile and UWF are a good drive. Tallahassee has FSU which should have both programs and is about 2.5 hrs. As far as I know UWF doesn't have a masters in Nursing or PT program. There are not many PT schools in this state that I know of.

Best of luck to her!

Renee

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Tallahassee has FSU

:censored_

 

[Goober]

:censored_

Yeah, 'cause Gainesville is widely recognized as the cultural Mecca of the Western World... :drool_125

 

[VAmookie]

thank you all very much for your replies, we know we wont be able to spend all of the time in one place together, but we're hoping that once she's in she will have an easier time transfering and perhaps enrolling in some online courses

 

[VAmookie]

also, is there any govt money available for military spouses' education such as scholarships, grants, etc. ?

 

[bennett4362]

i don't think she'd qualify for any of these, but as i don't really know your situation, here are a few she could look at. these are the only ones i'm familiar with.
http://www.nmcrs.org/education.html

 

[crysmc]

I forgot to mention this earlier, but there are some really great nursing programs offered online. I'm entering into Texas A&M - Corpus Christi's online nursing program so that when Ben get stationed elsewhere, I can still continue my education. The nursing classes seem really great... many of them have online lectures that you can watch at your own convenience and you couple your online classes with clinicals at a medical facility near you. The only stipulation is that the clinicals have to be done in the same state as the school, but each clinical is only 80 hours long and they allow you to knock that out in two weeks if your situation requires it. I know that TAMU-CC isn't the only school that offers this program, so if it sounds interesting to your wife, she might want to look into other schools that might offer it somewhere around her.

 

[katiegirl]

Boston University just started a PT program online; BU's a great school and I know they just graduated the first few who have gotten MS and DPT degrees online. BU has clinical sites accross the country, so you do your coursework online, but get a full clinical experience at affiliates in the area (for example a friend of mine just picked up ESPN zone at Disney world for her next clinical site). Even students attending classes at BU do their clinical experiences accross the country and internationally. PM me if you want more info on this, I have some contacts in the program.

 

[andi]

Education Options

I graduated from Troy University, which holds classes on almost every Navy base so it was very convenient but I don't think they'll have the health options she's looking for. There's a comprehensive guide to distance options at www.gnacademy.org (click on Distance Learning Catalog), there are several nursing grad programs with very little, if any, residency requirements. Best wishes to you, my "significant other" just finished Primary at Whiting last week and, other than the multiple evacuations, we enjoyed our time together in Pensacola. I spent many years in Pensacola before I met him and know the area very well so if you need anything, we're happy to help.