For nursing students, deciding where to attend college may not solely depend on the program.
Nursing students at the University and from the University of Toledo complete their last two years at UT’s Health Science campus after completing general classes on its main campus. The joint partnership between UT and the University started in the 1970s before UT bought out the Medical University of Ohio and turned it into its Health Science campus. Now it’s one of three UT campuses in Toledo, and both the University and UT students continue to commute there for core nursing classes.
Academic Adviser in the college of Health and Human Services Eric Gullufsen has been advising nursing students at the University for five years and said even though University students will commute to UT’s Health Science campus, they will still graduate from the University.
“I like to tell people that on the field we’re rivals, but in the field of nursing we’ve been partners for a very long time,” Gullufsen said. “This is a great partnership the two universities have and it’s long-standing.”
Though for UT students the drive to its Health Science campus is only a few miles from the UT main campus, it takes 30 minutes to commute there and back for University students, nearly all of whom still live in town while going through the program. Gullufsen said many times when a nursing student is deciding where to attend school, the nursing program itself isn’t the only factor.
“The two universities are great, they have a nice regional presence and are unique from each other in a lot of ways,” Gullufsen said. “It’s more of the school that just feels right, more of a flavor or a style to the student.”
Jessica Gast, communications and recruitment specialist at the University of Toledo College of Nursing, said depending on which school nursing students decide on, it will consist of its own tuition rate and scholarships. It all “depends on what kind of college experience they want,” she said.
“Maybe they don’t realize the nursing program’s partnership but it’s worth it for them because it has that BG college feel,” Gast said. “They may want to stick with BG because that’s where they want to go.”
Acute and Chronic Care Department Chair at the University of Toledo College of Nursing Diane Salvador said a key factor in students’ decisions on where to attend often do consist of cost rates, which may include students dropping the major.
“Most of the time we see people dropping the degree because of costs,” Salvador said. “When they decided on a school to attend it’s because of the location of the school or if they have family in that area.”
