Perhaps I'm not qualified to render an opinion since I don't even start NS until January. However, my life experience gives me a perspective that I choose to share, anyway.
Originally Posted by chaxanmom
...an RN is an RN.
That's precisely the issue. To practice, you need to earn an RN which means you have a certain number of clinical contact hours, an education in the nursing scope of practice, and the ability to pass the NCLEX.
However, the license really doesn't mean squat about your education. It's just a license. It's akin to an ATP, the license held by the jet jockeys flying for the airlines. Their ATP, which is
very tough to earn and keep, means that their skill and knowledge as pilots is deemed minimally acceptable for their scope of practice. Likewise, the RN license means that the holder has the minimally acceptable skills to practice the nursing scope of practice.
A college degree (AA/S, BA/S, MA/S, PhD, etc) means a certain level of competence in areas of thought outside of ones specialty. It means a minimum level of educational proficiency in communications, computational skills, and critical thinking.
A college degree also signifies a minimal level of educational proficiency in major-specific topics (the level of which is proportional to the degree level) and the opportunity to study more ancillary topics (again, the higher the degree, the more this is true).
Whether one values the education beyond that required to attain the license probably depends on their point of view.
Personally, all other things being equal, I would choose to hire people with more education rather than less in any line of work.
Certainly, university education does not make a good nurse. On the other hand, a nurse who has a baccalaureate or advanced degree, is probably more able to adapt to new situations, independently learn new subject matter, or develop an appropriate course of action in a case for which they've not been specifically trained.
I think all nurses should be encouraged to pursue as much education as they're willing. On the other hand, during those months my daughter was in the NICU, I never checked which degrees the good nurses held. I knew they were RNs, skilled in neonatal care, and I knew the ones that were good.
Offering a perspective from outside of nursing (I start my DEMSN in January), though, I do think that, in the long run, the nursing profession would benefit by having a higher educational requirement for entry.
Would you like to comment?
. 
As far as actual nursing practice goes, an RN is an RN. 
