Excelsior and Illinois

NOTE: Excelsior College a/k/a/ the University of the State of New York Regents External Degree Program is an unapproved nursing education program in the State of Illinois due to the fact that it does not have concurrent theory and clinical components as required by the Illinois Nursing and Advanced Practical Nursing Act. Therefore, it is considered to be a correspondence course which is identified by the Act as not meeting the requirements for licensure.

There is a provision in the Act to allow for individual review of applications from applicants who are graduates of such programs provided the applicant is currently licensed in another U.S. jurisdiction and has been actively practicing in clinical nursing for a minimum of two (2) years. The applicant must have an employer complete a VE (Verification of Employment) form verifying two full years of clinical practice as a registered nurse. This must be submitted with the endorsement application. When the application is complete, it is reviewed by the Board of Nursing for a determination of eligibility to be rendered.

Taken directly from the Illinois Board of Nursing website's endorsement application at:

http://www.idfpr.com/dpr/apply/forms/rn-en.pdf

I know two IL licensed RN's who are Excelsior grads but they both worked as RN's in other states for a number of years before endorsing into IL.