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Discussion

BAD Accreditation??

Hi! I'm a high school senior who is applying to some colleges to major in nursing. I would like to further my education after a BSN towards an MSN and maybe even further from there. However, I understand a lot of programs require BSN from a CCNE accredited institution.

One of the schools I'm applying to undergrad is ACEN accredited. However, I've been looking at requirements for master's programs and have only seen eligibility requirements list that students have graduated from an either CCNE or NLN(AC) accredited program?

I've tried to do some research and have found that the ACEN was previously NLNAC? Is this true? If so, is ACEN and NLNAC accreditation used interchangeably?

Accreditation is really important to me in choosing a good undergraduate program that would allow me to apply to graduate school without having to worry about the specifics of not meeting an eligibility requirement like an accreditation.

If anyone can help, please do! Thank you so much!

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    • Admin

    ACEN used to be NLNAC. It is quite possible that the reason NLNAC appears is because some applicants may have graduated prior to the name change. It could also be an oversight in updating the website to reflect the new name.

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    • Author

    So just for clarification, it would be safe to enter an ACEN accredited program and enter a master's who requires a student to graduate NLN or ACEN accredited program?

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    • Admin

    Best bet is to clarify with the school, but my guess would be yes.

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    NLNAC is actually ACEN. They changed their name a few years ago. I think in 2012ish? If I remember correctly, there were some questions about whether they are impartial due to the NLN.

    CCNE does not accredit anything less than a BSN. I think they have started accrediting post-masters certificates but I am not sure on that. So if a school has both a BSN and an ADN program but only has CCNE accreditation, then the ADN is technically not accredited by the CCNE.

    Some RN to BSN programs require the diploma or the associate program to have ACEN accreditation for enrollment.

    In my experience, the schools only care if your last degree was accredited. In my ADN program, there was a question about whether we would have the ACEN accreditation back before graduating. We did but I learned that one away around the issue is that you can go to a partner school for an RN to BSN program that is accredited by the CCNE.

    If you planned on military nursing, find out if the branch accepts ACEN degrees.

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    OP:

    Be careful with this. CCNE and ACEN accreditation is a must to move around the nursing academic world. But you should know that these groups only attest to the most minimal standards of quality any school can posess and still get their respective seals of approval.

    So amazingly many schools of dubious quality are so accredited and they advertise this fact as a way to put the old lipstick on a pig.

    A much, much better way to evaluate any school is to look at the three basics and they are graduation rates, retention rates and tuition.

    You can find these quality indicators for most schools at (collegescorecard.ed.gov).

    How a school can charge 22 or 23k per year or more with a graduation rate of 2% or 12% is beyond belief and they run ads on this site.

    But they are out there often hiding in plain site.

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