Stop the HESI exit exam at Rhode Island College!

I am a nursing student at Rhode Island College in Providence, RI, and my degree is being held unfairly from me by the School of Nursing. I am an honor student at the college, I'm part of Sigma Theta Tau, and I've excelled in every part of RIC's nursing program from start to finish. In the very last semester of the program, the nursing department makes the students take the HESI exit exam, which is purchased by the school from a third-party vendor.

This exit exam has only been implemented for about 5 or 6 years at RIC's nursing program, and there is no mention of it, or the set benchmark score in the handbook or on any other documents provided to students at the time of admission to the program. The school sets it's own benchmark score that they want the students to meet, and because I failed to reach that score set by the college, they are holding my degree from me. I feel that this is an injustice that's happening to me, and to many other nursing students across the country... awareness needs to be brought to this issue and this needs to be stopped!

The HESI exam was created by the Elsevier Evolve company as a tool for nursing schools to identify weaknesses in their curriculum, but some of the schools have turned it around on their students and are using it as a way of holding their degrees hostage in order to "protect their NCLEX pass rates". This test is not an accurate predictor of who will pass, or fail, the NCLEX, and should certainly not be used as a tool to deny students the degrees that they've worked so hard for and paid so much money for.

I am creating this petition because someone needs to put a stop to this. In signing this petition, you are not only helping me, but you are also helping nursing students across the country who are suffering this injustice.

Every single one of us put our trust into these nursing schools to help us achieve our dream of becoming nurses, and would have never dreamed that this would be happening to us. Please help!