Re: Should I attend a non-accredited school? Originally Posted by EricEnfermero
Some people will think that this is arguing over semantics, but I'm surprised to find that their website claims full
accreditation by the Texas BNE. The BNE does not grant accreditation to any program; NLN and CCNE are examples of accreditation agencies.
The link below shows that HCCS has been granted full
approval by the BNE (in other words, their grads can take the NCLEX and become licensed in TX) but it shows that they hold no NLN or CCNE accreditation.
ftp://www.bne.state.tx.us/rnschools.pdf
I don't think it is "just semantics" at all, Eric. I think it is a VERY important point. The State Board grants the privelege of allowing graduates of a program to take the NCLEX exam, obtain a license, and practice as a nurse.
However, when most people talk about "accreditation," they are refering to a process of meeting a higher standard -- a standard set by a professional organization. A school might meet the minimal acceptable standard set by the state, but not meet the higher standard set by the professional organization. As Eric said, the 2 main nursing groups that accredit schools are the NLN and CCNE.
Also, I would consider "pre-accredited" to be a little different than "non-accredited." A new program can't get accredited until after they have graduated a few classes (3, I think). Ususally, once they have graduated the required number of classes and met the standards, the accreditation is granted retro-actively to cover those students who graduated in the first couple of classes. If the school in question is part of a highly respected academic institution and a new nursing program is in the process of obtaining iits initial accreditation, than chances are that the school is meeting those higher standards its graduates will be able to say in the future that they graduated from an accredited school.
That's a very different situation from one in which a school that has been around for a while has either refused to try to obtain accreditation or has applied for accreditation and been rejected because their program was assessed and found to be below the required standards.
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