A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Deciding on Andrews BUT - jan2

Posted: Feb 26, 2012

I know Andrews does not give out any discounts on their $3,800 charge, but are there ways to get help lowering the cost through any organizations you are aware of? Thanks.

The best way to find out would be to call and ask them - See message

[ In Reply To ..]
I believe they can tell you if anything is available right now.

Suggestions - Coder

[ In Reply To ..]
One thing I might point out is that Andrews is competitively priced. Due to the fact that other schools may offer less course content, cheaper materials, and provide no qualified instructor support, those schools may appear to cost less. Junior colleges are always thought of as offering the lowest costs, but when you total it all up including hidden fees and books, they will come out higher. Loan programs are now being seen as detrimental because students end up owing so much and the interest grows and grows, putting too much stress on a new graduate who needs to be focusing on certification and gaining experience.

Andrews offers far more in terms of content, materials, and instructional support. For all of that, they are still only 3800. They also offer a payment plan that is almost absurdly reasonable,with NO INTEREST and very reasonable monthly paymens spread over, I think, 2 years.

They also do not do two things that many schools do to make money. They do not enroll hordes of students to get their money knowing the student is unsuited to the work and will be unable to finish or to work successfully. If they accept you, you have a fighting chance and they will work with you. They also do not offer a cheap price and then tell you that copies of course materials will be extra, nor do they expect YOU to teach other students in chat rooms or boards, nor do they require additional payments for "extensions" or require you to retake the course entirely when you cannot finish by the date they set knowing it was not enough time.

Discounts sound great, but you are not getting any benefit from them. The school that offers them knows darn well that it is fake. They will get your money no matter what and they will get more of it than you think they will.

Andrews students have a long tradition of creative fund-raising. Have a yard sale. . . you do not need half the items in your home and your neighbors will probably contribute stuff, too. Clean homes, detail cars, and cook for your neighbors and relatives. Frozen meals, casseroles, and breads. Have a fund raising barbecue or potluck. Tell everyone about your plans When you do, you will discover what many Andrews stdents have found. . . they will be so impressed with your enterprise that they will buy your services whether they need them or not and many will fork over outright donations.

You will then find that you are very motivated to succeed because all those people are counting on you. You will have more confidence in yourself.

An important part of this is drawing up a business plan. Be able to show everyone, including yourself, what you are going to do and what the long-term payoff will be both to you and to society. And to them . . . point out that you will be able to help explain their insurance and medical bills. Maybe you can find miscoded service that can be reduced or maybe you can get them correctly coded to meet medical necessity so the insurer pays them. They get a benefit later from helping you now.

Agree to send all donors a monthly progress report. It will keep you on track and even more responsible than you already are.

In my opinion, Andrews should charge twice what they do. You would still recoup it in the first year or so on the job.

I know it looks like a lot now, but there are no surprise costs hidden in there and you can raise the money if you work at it.

So, you might think that they offer no discounts, but they already gave you no interest nd maybe you do not need a discount.

They have had this same plan for a very long time, with students finding a silver lining in it just as long.

thank you - coder - jan2

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you so much for all the great insight. I understand now!

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