Where is the fastest-growing college or university in the Toledo Metro area? Right here in Arrowhead Park!
This month the Arrowhead Park Association is featuring Hondros College of Nursing on Woodlands Drive. In 2019, 235 students were enrolled in their under-baccalaureate level programs. This fall, there are 434. That’s an 85% growth from Fall 2019 to Fall 2020. Hondros offers nursing programs for both PNs (Practical Nursing Diploma) and RNs (Associate Degree in Nursing).
Since January 2017, the Maumee campus has been graduating work-ready nurses who enter the field with outstanding clinical, communication, and collaborative skills. Hondros nurses receive personal support, such as one-on-one tutoring, curriculum guidance, test prep, and study sessions. After graduation, the nurses must pass very challenging board exams. For this reason, the college offers “boot camps” for the testing and provides attendees with a voucher to take the test. The efforts pay off with a 3-year first-time pass rate for the PN of 93% and 98% for the second time. The associate degree students’ RN boards also have a high first-attempt pass rate of 70% and 76% passing for the second attempt.
At the Maumee College’s helm is Greg Guzman, PhD. who joined the private Hondros College of Nursing in 2019. He is a native of northwest Ohio and has proudly served at BGSU, Owens, and Lourdes colleges during his career.
In addition to Maumee’s campus, The College of Nursing has locations near Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis, with New Albany, Ohio serving as theCentral Support office. Combining all five campuses, Hondros graduates more nurses at the under-baccalaureate level (PN and RN) than any other college in the state. “Additionally, we are in the process of acquiring Rasmussen University which would make us a nursing education powerhouse serving over 10,000 nursing students”, shared Dr. Guzman. Hondros College of Nursing is institutionally accredited by The Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools, a U.S. Department of Education Approved Education Agency.
The student body:
- The average student is 28-34 years old.
- 90-95% of the students are women.
- 68% of minority students make it the only majority-minority nursing school in the NWO area.
- The students and 60 employees are primarily full-time.
What sets Hondros apart:
- No refresher or remedial classes are required. If a student meets the Entrance Examination requirements, they are able to begin immediately. It gives adult learners immediate access to starting a new career.
- Students can complete the PN program in as few as 12 months.
- Students can complete the RN program in as few as 15 months.
- Daytime and Flex Offerings are available.
- Enrollment is four times a year, on a quarter, credit-hour basis.
Adult Learners
The student body at Hondros has a unique set of challenges during COVID-19. Many already work in the health field and are being called in for extra hours. American Public University, their sister school, was already 100% online, so they were able to help Hondros quickly add some online class options. Most classes are necessarily hands-on, and all have additional accommodations in place for the pandemic. Dr. Guzman proudly shared, “In May, the Lucas County Health Department contacted us and said that Hondros could be a model for nursing college COVID-19 accommodations.”
The time of COVID-19
“We want to help in this COVID battle and prepare workers for the front line. Our regional facilities need nurses!” said Dr. Guzman. He is happy to have helped write the legislation that allowed recent graduates who have not yet taken the Boards to work with temporary licenses during the pandemic. The students and staff are eager to help the front line workers in our medical facilities. One day, they took the Ladder 419 fire truck to two long-term care facilities in Maumee to let their nursing students serve root beer floats to the care workers.
We Need Nurses, Now!
In addition to the concentrated curriculum to get students to graduate sooner, Hondros offers what they call the “Learn and Earn Ladder” approach. When students complete the Practical Nursing program, they can choose to work as a nurse and earn income before taking the next step — or they can keep learning by starting the Associate Degree Program. This approach allows many students to earn money for their next program to reduce student loans.
History
Originally associated with Hondros College of Business, the Nursing College is now part of the American Public Education Inc. (APEI), family of schools. The APEI organization includes the American Public University – one of the country’s largest online adult learning universities; the American Military University (AMU), the largest education provider to the US military and its affiliates in the U.S.A.
Arrowhead Park Location
The College sees many benefits to the Arrowhead Park location. Dr. Guzman provided enough to create a list:
- “We serve students from a four-hour radius, including a significant Michigan population. The proximity to the highway makes the commute easier.
- We also enjoy valuable community partnerships with local hotels that provide a discount so students can stay overnight, both short-and-long term, when it is helpful.
- New York Life, with who we share our building, coaches our students on financial well-being so that when they start their new careers and increase their income, they can make wise financial decisions.
- We are conveniently near McLaren St Luke’s Hospital, and
- Food truck Wednesdays!”
