BSN program accreditation and applying to graduate program

elkpark · Feb 24, 2018

"NLN" accreditation is old terminology. The NLN changed the name of its accrediting branch to ACEN a number of years ago. ACEN accreditation is "NLN" accreditation.

tserofw · Feb 25, 2018

Hello, thanks for your response. I have heard this mentioned on the forums here before, however from the NLN website on their FAQs:

"ACEN is a wholly owned subsidiary of the NLN located in Atlanta, Georgia."

Does this mean that it is considered different?

elkpark · Feb 25, 2018

As I said yesterday, ACEN accreditation is "NLN accreditation." The NLN (National League for Nursing) split off its accreditation division into a separate entity (fully owned by the NLN, but functioning independently), because Federal department of education regulations required that accrediting organizations be independent entities from the organizations they accredit, many years ago. The accrediting branch was originally named NLNAC (National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission), and, more recently, they renamed the organization ACEN (Accrediting Commission for Education in Nursing). It is still a branch of NLN, and many people in nursing still refer to ACEN accreditation, colloquially, as "NLN accreditation."

The CCNE, the other legit nursing accreditation organization is, in the same way, a fully owned branch of AACN, the American Associations of Colleges of Nursing. The AACN is a much newer, younger organization than the NLN (the NLN was organized late in the 19th century and started accrediting nursing programs early in the 20th century; the AACN was founded in 1969), and their accrediting organization has always been known (as far as I know) as the CCNE (Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education), so there has never been any confusion about the name.