Accredited VS Approved

[Cynt87]

Hey everyone I'm moving along in my LPN studies and focused on what school I want to attend for my bridge program. I recently landed a job at Florida Hospital as As PCT so you know what that means..... TUITION REIMBURSEMENT! !!!!! however I know the 2 CCs offer bridge starts 1 time a year in August. I graduate LPN in Oct 2015 which means I cant start until Aug 2016 (applications put in May) which I think it pretty long. I looked at herzing but I currently have all my pre reqs except Microbio and $31k (just for nursing course w/pre reqs transferred in ) price tag is out of my budget especially with current student loans.

Anyway I found a perfect school in the Tampa area called Galen school of nursing and according to the FL board of nursing is shows approved vs accredited. So my question is what exactly does this mean and is it super bad to attend a approved school? I plan to bridge to my BSN at UCF hopefully right after due to my my hospital trying to achieve magnet status.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Approval is usually related to your state's Board of Nursing, whereas accreditation is on the national level (ACEN and CCNE) or regional accreditation. In my opinion, having both approval and accreditation is very important, especially if you might continue your education or if you seek licensure in another state. Good luck!! :)

[magda81]

You can't transfer to a university like UCF if the school is not regional accredited. If it is approved with the State of Florida, then you can get sit for the exam to get your license and work but if it is not accredited then you can not transfer to a higher education.