According to the MSU Controller’s Office, the accelerated option in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, or BSN, program costs in-state students, such as Koning, $601.50 per credit hour, while upper-division traditional BSN students pay $460 a credit hour for the same education.

The accelerated BSN program is a consecutive 14-month undergraduate nursing program in the College of Nursing. The traditional undergraduate nursing program is a two-year program without summer sessions.

But while accelerated BSN students are paying for exclusive summer courses, some students wonder why they are paying about $140 more for the same classes as traditional students in the fall and spring semesters.

“This semester, we are in class with the traditional students with the exact same instruction, at the exact same time, in the exact same room, and we are paying (about) $150 more,” Koning said. “That blows my mind.”

Shannon Brecheisen, the director of the Office of Student Support Services in MSU’s College of Nursing, said the premium cost year-round accounts for the specialized instruction accelerated BSN program students receive during the summer semesters.

Brecheisen said the accelerated BSN program accepts about 50 students each May, while the traditional BSN program accepts about 120 students each year.

According to the Office of the Registrar, the accelerated option program is specific to the College of Nursing.

Amanda Kujawa, a student in the traditional undergraduate BSN program said she has friends in the accelerated BSN program and has heard them discuss about the additional cost.

“I don’t think it’s fair because they are getting the same education as us,” Kujawa said. “But they are getting their education condensed over one year and we are paying over two years … so I can see (MSU’s) point.”

Koning said upon acceptance into the program, she was notified that on top of tuition, there would be extra expenses for materials, and she would have to account for transportation to her clinical, which is located in Detroit.

Other nursing schools, such as the University of Michigan, also have higher tuition rates for nursing students on an accelerated track. Upper division nursing in-state students pay $7,225 per term, while students in a “second career nursing upper division” program — a program comparable to the accelerated BSN option, Brecheisen said — pay $8,103 per term.