Rasmussen University - Tampa/Brandon — Attraction in Brandon

I am a current student and I want to give a unbiased thorough review of Rasmussen. I attend the Tampa/Brandon campus. The tuition for the lpn course is 25,000 and the RN is around 40,000. I can honestly say you don't get much for your money, you don't get actual books only ebooks to be viewed online. You don't receive a actual nursing kit like most nursing school you have to purchase all the items. This in itself is a huge rip off, I attended a different school years ago before I got pregnant and everything was included in my 14,000 tuition including drug test, background check, and vaccinations. Rasmussen has you pay 65.00 for background check 30.00 for drug testing and all supplies such as pen lights and stethoscope you have to purchase. The simulation labs are a joke, broken mannequins and zero supplies. You will quickly figure out that education you receive here and the materials you're given are not worth the outrageous cost to go here. Also this school is only regionally accredited they have yet to receive the ACEN accreditation for the Tampa campus. The lpn program will not be accredited at all. The ACEN accreditation is what a lot of employers look for, the VA won't even consider you if your school wasn't ACEN accredited. There is a clinical component every semester and as the previous reviewer stated if you miss one clinical you have to retake the entire course, the course is bundled together with a theory, clinical and lab. If you miss or fail any 1 component you have to retake the entire thing and repay over 1300 in tuition. Most of the clinical sites are awful the staff will tell you to your face they don't want students. Our last teacher explained this to the Dean and she promised to remove that site. There is such a lack of clinical sites that they are still sending students there and there were no nurses for us to shadow there were mostly med techs since this was a Alf type of place. Most of the teachers I have had were awesome, I chose this school because I knew Ronni Points was a teacher there, she was the director of nursing at one of my jobs. She is great and really wants to help every student succeed. On the other hand there are teachers like Candice Farkas she is racist, homophobic and out of touch with reality. You will literally want to run away screaming after listening to her read the same PowerPoint that is available online for 3 hours. And if any one asks a question they will most likely not get a clear response. She is one of the only full time teachers here so if you go for LPN or RN its a good chance she will be your teacher. She works 12 hour days and it shows, you will literally have to teach yourself. Mrs. Farkas told a class full of nursing student to perform CPR on a patient who is DNR. Anyone working in health care knows this is NOT appropriate a patients advanced directives and dnr order are legal documents. Teaching students things like this is a good way for them to lose a nursing license they worked extremely hard to get. Also if you have anything on your background even a misdemeanor or something that was dismissed, this school will deny you admission. The admissions rep won't tell you this but they will. Me and one of my co workers applied here at the same time and he had a driving while licensed suspended charge that was DISMISSED 11 years ago and they still wouldn't let him attend Rasmussen he is already a lpn in good standing with the Florida BON. So if you have anything in your background no matter how minor, don't bother applying here the decision is not even made here its made by some people in a office in Chicago. This school operates in a tiny space in a larger office building, a lot of time we have been kicked out of the lab or didn't have a available classroom. If by chance you have any excess financial aid funds they always find a reason to keep your money and they most it would be is maybe 100.00 and they still don't want to give it to you. My advice is to research other schools in the area. Update: no longer a student here. Found a...

This was the worse experience with a college that I have ever experienced. It took me 20+ years to start my nursing degree program and the experience with Rasmussen, Brent Freese, and Sarah Williams was so discouraging that I actually considered not trying to pursue a degree in nursing.

In December 2020 they ran a background check through Castle Branch and per the scope on the background report it was to be from 2014-2021. They went back 23 years to 1998 when I was 20 years old and pulled up something that was dismissed and dispositioned. They asked me what I wanted to do ie continue or not. Of course I said I wanted to continue because it was from 23 years ago and out of the scope of the search.

Then in March they said that they would need to do another background check before I started my critical classes in April (yes just three months after the original one). I consented as I knew that there was nothing new or within the scope of the background check that would be an issue. I received a call from Sarah Williams in early March saying that because of what was on the background check they were denying my enrollment in the nursing program but that I could file an appeal that was due by March 17th. Essentially giving me less than two weeks to get records from the clerk of court (which the case was so old they had nothing but a screenshot of the information), letters from references, etc.

I managed to get everything together and submit it to the school. I received a response a couple of days later stating that I would hear a response on March the 30th. They then sent me an email on March 30th saying that my appeal was denied, not even a phone call simply an email. Several days later I received a call from Sarah Williams asking if I had any questions. I stated that I would be filing a formal complaint as the school knew what program I was enrolling in, they ran an initial background check that had the same one case that was on the current background check, and they still decided to allow me to enroll and take my money for three months.

They are a scam, they will take funds from financial aide and students knowing they are not going to allow them to continue. I spent quite a bit of money on transcripts, fingerprints, the TEAS test, etc... only for them to deny my enrollment three months later for the same results that they saw previously.

I would never recommend this school to anyone. I am now spending more money on transcripts, fingerprints, background checks etc for Galen because Rasmussen wasted three months of my life...

Heyy Heyy World!!! I'm currently a student enrolled at the "Brandon Campus Location" and wanted to take the time to write a review about my experience thus far at Rasmussen. I started back in October 2023 in the BSN program and have had a lot of personal family problems that I honestly wouldn't have overcome without the help of Mr. K'Charis, the Campus Executive Director (AKA Mr. K, the nickname I gave him bc I can never pronounce his name correctly, lolz). He is so understanding and always has an open door, always willing to help all the students attitude despite the days his position has him running around the school like a chicken with his head cut off literally, lolz Then there are the fantastic professors I have had the chance to get to know and love. Pro. McComb Day, Pro Cooke, Pro Burch-Cline, Pro Olsen, Pro Bundy, Pro Crawley, Pro Wilson, Pro S., Pro Roberts, to name a few!!! Dean Tammy and Dean Rose (No longer with the university) have played significant roles in my success thus far!! This list will grow even more by the time I finish the program. A lot about Rasmussen could be circulating based on the implementation of Wolters Kluwer last quarter. I can't pretend it wasn't stressful or challenging to endure and get through, but I will attest that the above individuals did all they could to make the process as smooth as possible. I'm super excited to start my next quarter on April 7th, knocking down yet another one and making me a step closer to walking across the stage and becoming the NICU Nurse God has called me to be. Nursing school is not for the weak; it requires determination, constant strength, resilience, & a strong support system to lean into when days of defeat are stronger than ever. Life doesn't stop just bc you decide to start nursing school, but how you navigate through the struggles and obstacles is what determines what type of nurse you will be at the end of the tunnel.

The biggest Mottos that have helped me get through this far:

Prepare for the worst while praying/hoping for the best!!! Delayed But never Denied!! What God has for me..... Is for me!!! No man can take it away!!! Learn to get comfortable with being uncomfortable!! FOCUS, FIGHT, FINISH!!!! My...