Step 1: Get Prepared | Step 2: Nursing Start Overview (if applicable)
Nursing Start Overview
Nursing Start is a course bundle offered by Rio Salado Community College that is designed to provide healthcare employees with foundational skills to pursue nursing pathways and take courses that are commonly required as prerequisites for nursing school. Nursing Start was co-designed by Guild and Rio Salado to be entirely online and/or at-home with flexible scheduling and comprehensive support.
Rio Salado Institution Details
For more information on applying to Rio Salado broadly, please visit this page.
If you need assistance with your application, a Rio Salado Success Coach is available to help you. They will answer any questions you might have about Rio and your selected program, and can even walk you through the application. You can contact a Rio Salado Success Coach by email: Guild@riosalado.edu or by phone 480-384-9835 between 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Arizona time.
To get started, follow the enrollment steps using our Step-by-step guide to Enrollment (Spanish version) and watch our easy step-by-step on how to complete the admission application.
Rio Admissions Application Part 1
Rio Admissions Application Part 2
Rio Admissions Application Part 3
What can I do with Nursing Start?
There are multiple pathways for students coming out of Nursing Start:
Nursing: Students decide they are interested in continuing on their journey to Nursing School and either:
Enter into a pre-licensure program in their area - students can transfer their credits to their local community college
(Varies by employer) Enter into a pre-licensure program in Guild’s Learning Marketplace - students can enter into a pre-licensure program already having completed multiple courses
Health Sciences: Students can decide to pursue degrees (associate’s and bachelor’s) in health sciences.
Allied Health: Students can decide they are interested in another healthcare career pathway besides nursing and can potentially still stack some credits from Nursing Start into Allied Health and/or other healthcare related programs.
Transferring credit from Nursing Start
Rio Salado is regionally accredited which means that credits earned from this program should transfer to any other accredited institution. Guild is working to establish articulation pathways from Nursing Start into pre-licensure and other healthcare programs in Guild’s learning marketplace on an ongoing basis. This would ease the credit transfer process as our partners would have already agreed upon established course equivalencies for Nursing Start coursework into their degree programs.
Guild has secured the following stackable pathways with likely course credit and articulation.
Nursing
Herzing University
Saint Anthony College of Nursing
Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing
Non-Nursing
Herzing University
Bellevue University
Wilmington University
University of Massachusetts Global
Note: Guild can share that course mapping and articulation pathways, but can never guarantee credit transfer as that is awarded on a student by student basis by the receiving institution.
Course optionality
Default Nursing Start Bundle:
Fundamental Chemistry (CHM130)
Mathematics (MAT103) OR MAT142
English (ENG101)
Intro to Nursing and Healthcare Systems (HCR220)
Exploration of College, Career, and Personal Success (FYE103)
Rio Salado allows learners to replace Nursing Start courses with any of 17 alternatives that are commonly required for nursing school. If you already have taken these courses, you have the option to swap out these for other common nursing school prerequisites listed below.
If you are interested in this optionality, please contact Rio Salado Academic Advising at 480-384-9835 or email at guild@riosalado.edu after you have submitted your application. Click here to learn more about the available courses.
Potential Course Swaps:
Intro to Psychology
Human Anatomy & Physiology
Human Anatomy & Physiology II
Microbiology
Nutrition
Elements of Statistics
Intro Biology for Allied Health
Culture and Health
Health Care Ethics
Human Pathophysiology
Brief Calculus
Healthful Living
Medical Terminology for Healthcare Professionals
Fundamentals in Healthcare Delivery
English
Communication
Bolded = commonly requested
Suggested Course Sequencing:
I am still figuring out if healthcare and nursing is the right pathway for me…
Medical Terminology for Healthcare Professionals
Fundamentals in Healthcare Delivery
Healthful Living
I have little/no prerequisites for nursing school…
Exploration of College, Career, and Personal Success (FYE103)
Fundamental Chemistry (CHM130)
English (ENG101)
I have completed a number of prerequisites and know I would like to attend nursing school..
(As needed)
Intro to Psychology
Human Anatomy & Physiology
Human Anatomy & Physiology II
Microbiology
Nutrition
Elements of Statistics
In the case where a learner does choose to swap out courses, the learner would have to go through the process of having their transcript reviewed at their desired nursing school and assessing how much credit can be granted.
Financial Aid
For Nursing Start, given it is a course bundle program, there is no need to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as the program should be fully funded by your employer.
Timeline for Funding
You can learn more about the timeline of Tuition Assistance Funding by clicking here https://guild.force.com/helpcenter/s/article/How-Tuition-Assistance-works. You'll also want to ensure you are tagged as a Guild student with the school and ensure you continue to meet your employer's eligibility requirements.