What exactly does Accreditation?

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What is so bad about not being accredited?

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Specializes in Maternity.

Most state licensing boards will not license you if you attended and graduated from a non accredited school. Plus wouldn't you want to be educated by a school that is known to provide excellent education?

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

And none of the credits earned will be accepted by another school, should you wish to continue your education at a later date.

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Specializes in ICU.

Many hospitals will not hire someone from a nonaccredited school. So there you have 3 reasons of why it matters.

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Most state licensing boards will not license you if you attended and graduated from a non accredited school. Plus wouldn't you want to be educated by a school that is known to provide excellent educati?

People keep saying this here, but it's just not true. There is no US state BON that requires people be graduates of accredited nursing programs in order to be eligible for licensure. They all require that people be graduates of programs approved by the BON, but that's an entirely different matter.

OP, there are two different types of accreditation you need to think about. One is the school's general academic accreditation. This is primarily a concern with the proprietary (private-for-profit) schools. "Regular" (for lack of a better word) colleges and universities are accredited by regional accreditation agencies. Many of the proprietary schools are "accredited" by a national agency created and operated by the proprietary schools, which only accredits propietary schools, so that, when potential students ask, "Are you accredited?", they can say "yes," and not be lying (they're hoping potential students won't have the knowledge and presence of mind to question them in more detail about this). However, because this agency holds those schools to lower standards than the "regular" colleges and universities are held to by the "real" academic accrediting agencies, courses taken at the proprietary schools typically are not accepted for transfer credit by regular schools. This creates problems for people who attend proprietary schools and then decide, later on, that they want to return to school to further their education and career (as many nurses do).

The other kind of accreditation of concern for potential nursing students is nursing-specific accreditation. The ACEN and CCNE are the two national nursing accreditation agencies that offer accreditation of nursing programs. The accreditation is voluntary (and expensive :)), and indicates that the school has voluntarily met standards higher than the minimum requirements required by the BONs.

As already noted, ACEN or CCNE accreditation (either one is sufficient) is important because a) most formal programs to further your education once you're an RN require you to be a graduate of an accredited (ACEN/CCNE) program in order to be accepted, and b) a growing number of healthcare employers, including some of the more desirable healthcare employers in the US, will only hire graduates of ACEN/CCNE accredited programs. These include the entire US military, the entire VA system, most academic medical centers, and most other "good" hospitals.

While it is certainly possible to become a licensed RN via a program that lacks either regional general academic accreditation or ACEN/CCNE nursing-specific accreditation (or both) and have a long, successful career, taking that path will mean closing the door to a lot of career and educational opportunities for yourself before you've even started. IMO, that's a v. poor choice to make.

Best wishes for your journey!

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Specializes in Na.

Ok well I stand corrected but I don't understand why anyone would settle and pay for an education from a school that is not invested in having accreditation.

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I don't understand why anyone would settle and pay for an education from a school that is not invested in having accreditation.

I agree.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I discussed this very issue a while back: https://allnurses.com/online-nursing-schools/i-completed-non-912463.html

In a nutshell, nurses who completed unaccredited nursing programs face three hurdles in their professional careers. For starters, the Department of Defense (also known as the military), the Veterans Administration, federal prisons, and other entities operated by the US Government will not hire RNs who completed nursing programs that lacked national nursing accreditation.

Secondly, some prestigious hospital systems and university medical centers will not hire RNs who graduated from unaccredited schools of nursing.

Finally, transferability of credits might be a problematic issue because graduates of unaccredited nursing programs who want to pursue higher education will be rejected by the vast majority of accredited nursing programs. Most RN-to-BSN completion programs require candidates to have earned an associates degree in nursing from a program accredited by ACEN (formerly known as the NLNAC). Most BSN-to-MSN completion programs require applicants to possess a BSN degree from a program accredited by the CCNE or ACEN.

Without a nursing degree from a program accredited by a national nursing entity, most legitimate schools will reject your application. The major exceptions are some of the private for-profit entities (Kaplan, University of Phoenix, ITT Technical Institute, Walden, Chamberlain, etc.).

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Specializes in Maternity.
I discussed this very issue a while back: https://allnurses.com/online-nursing-schools/i-completed-non-912463.html

In a nutshell, nurses who completed unaccredited nursing programs face three hurdles in their professional careers. For starters, the Department of Defense (also known as the military), the Veterans Administration, federal prisons, and other entities operated by the US Government will not hire RNs who completed nursing programs that lacked national nursing accreditation.

Secondly, some prestigious hospital systems and university medical centers will not hire RNs who graduated from unaccredited schools of nursing.

Finally, transferability of credits might be a problematic issue because graduates of unaccredited nursing programs who want to pursue higher education will be rejected by the vast majority of accredited nursing programs. Most RN-to-BSN completion programs require candidates to have earned an associates degree in nursing from a program accredited by ACEN (formerly known as the NLNAC). Most BSN-to-MSN completion programs require applicants to possess a BSN degree from a program accredited by the CCNE or ACEN.

Without a nursing degree from a program accredited by a national nursing entity, most legitimate schools will reject your application. The major exceptions are some of the private for-profit entities (Kaplan, University of Phoenix, ITT Technical Institute, Walden, Chamberlain, etc.).

Walden University is accredited by the CCNE.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Walden University is accredited by the CCNE.
I already know that.

What I'm attempting to convey is that the for-profit schools with BSN degree completion programs (read: Walden, Chamberlain, UofP, ITT Tech, Kaplan, etc.) are some of the only schools that readily accept transfer credits from unaccredited schools of nursing.

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Specializes in Maternity.

Oh I'm sorry I misread your comment.

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