Go for regionally accredited schools

Buyer beware, BSN · Jun 12, 2016

@Larry2016. I would just add one more caveat.. Even accredited schools can be terrible. You mentioned for-profits. Many of them are also regionally accredited so as you know this alone is far from the gold standard when choosing a school.

I have been surprised to learn that even though the DoED publishes a list of accredited schools, they have no hand in ensuring that the schools they tacitly give their imprimatur to are worth a damn.

Many accreditation organizations especially the ones that accredit for-profits have board members who are beholding or in the employ of the number one and two for-profit schools. Namely Educational Management Corporation and University of Phoenix and others.

As always it is important to do your due diligence in evaluating a school and use a variety of metrics. One of the best is offered at collegescorecard.edu.gov. While not completely comprehensive, it's a good starting point. By the way, the for-profits fought long and hard to quash this information primarily because it makes them look as terrible as they are in black and white. So if you're interested in cost per year, graduation and retention rates as well as gainful employment when available, go to this site. Just do your homework colleagues, so you don't fall victim to the many unscupulous players in higher education today.

Larry2016 · Jun 16, 2016

I know what you are saying so let me clarify...

Both regional accreditation and for profit national accreditation can be accredited by CCNE (I think that's the one). But for regional accredited colleges / universities where you don't have to worry about retaking pretequisites...you want to look for ONLY Institutional accredited agency (leave specialized blank).

Any school can have CCNE...basically the school pays money for that agency to come out and accredit them. The other search field, however, relates to regionally accredited schools only.

If you don't want to do all that research ..here is another clue....unless the school is a private religious school - if you are paying 45k for an 18 month ADN program...you might as well pay 11k a year at OSU or another state University for a BSN.

Buyer beware, BSN · Jun 16, 2016

@Larry2016. You know I'll let you in as to where my suspicions concerning accreditation started. As nurses we have all seen the collusion between The Joint Commission and any given hospital seeking their seal of approval for Medicare and other reasons. I have to tell you,I do not suffer those who seek to deceive lightly. Thanks, Buyer beware.

Larry2016 · Jun 16, 2016

Regional accreditation, though, means all your credits transfer to any school. Credits are not transferable from for profit schools to regionally accredited universities (which has approval from department of education), nor are credits transferable from one for profit school to another ... it, cannot transfer credits or degree program between brown Mackie and university of phoenix. That's how they make their money.

Buyer beware, BSN · Jun 17, 2016

Regional accreditation, though, means all your credits transfer to any school. Credits are not transferable from for profit schools to regionally accredited universities (which has approval from department of education), nor are credits transferable from one for profit school to another ... it, cannot transfer credits or degree program between brown Mackie and university of phoenix. That's how they make their money.

Larry, You are right! And we can't ring this clarion bell loud enough. Nursing students beware! Anyone who tells you at the for-profits that all schools are the same are lying to you.

You mentioned BROWN-MACKIE. They are owned by Education Management Corporation and in turn are owned by the Wall Street firms of Goldman Sachs and KKR and we all know they are all about nursing education. EDMC also owns SOUTH UNIVERSITY which is another pip of a school. To wit: South University, Tampa FL Grad Rate- 3%, South University, West Palm Beach FL Grad Rate-17%, South University Online Grad Rate-2%. These numbers were supplied by EDMC to The Department of Education which published them on collegescorecard.edu.gov. And to make matters worse they are regionally accredited (said the spider to the fly).

To those in the position of advising would-be and fledgling nursing students, older nurses looking to reinvent themselves, single moms with children and those looking to do RN to BSN programs and especially all minorities you are the ones being targeted and are the grist for their mill. They are about finding the most direct route to your student loan money. That is their true business. Not your education, dreams or aspirations or helping YOU find success in life.

So most for-profit schools and especially those run by EDMC and University of Phoenix are financially dying on the vine as word spreads of how they have financially destroyed a whole generation of trusting and not world-wise people.