NLNAC vs CCNE nursing school

STA51 · Oct 15, 2011

Can anyone shed some light on this please?

llg, PhD, RN · Oct 15, 2011

Those are the 2 major accreditations for nursing school and both are legitimate. It usually makes no difference. However, note that while both accreditations are "good," they are no guarantee of a "good" school. Other factors come into play.

NLNAC is the older of the two accreditations. They accredit Associate's Degree and Bachelor's level programs. (I forget if they do Master's level program, too.) They also accredit hospital-based diploma programs. The CCNE accreditation is newer, developmed by the American Association of Collegiate Nurses when they wanted to develop a "higher" level of accreditation. The CCNE does not accredit ADN or diploma progams: they focus on Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral education. Most of the major universites who do only offer BSN and above have switched from the NLNAC to the CCNE.

So ... for the orginial question ... If you get your BSN at a CCNE school, you will not have an accreditation problem. In fact, I'm not even sure that there are NLNAC graduate level programs any more.

DAL2010 · Oct 18, 2011

Check the local jobs posted in your area. In the Midwest, an incredible majority of them state "must be a graduate of an NLNAC program." So, in many areas of the country, people are graduating from CCNE programs only to find out their time, hard work and money were a waste and they must then apply for a NLNAC school. Of course, CCNE schools will not tell prospective students this.

north, LVN · Apr 23, 2012

Check the local jobs posted in your area. In the Midwest, an incredible majority of them state "must be a graduate of an NLNAC program." So, in many areas of the country, people are graduating from CCNE programs only to find out their time, hard work and money were a waste and they must then apply for a NLNAC school. Of course, CCNE schools will not tell prospective students this.

That doesn't seem to make sense in reference to the 3rd post which explained the difference.

Have you actually met people or know of situations where this has happened?

xInspiredx · Aug 23, 2012

Check the local jobs posted in your area. In the Midwest, an incredible majority of them state "must be a graduate of an NLNAC program." So, in many areas of the country, people are graduating from CCNE programs only to find out their time, hard work and money were a waste and they must then apply for a NLNAC school. Of course, CCNE schools will not tell prospective students this.

I am wondering if this is true in today's market. It seems that they require the license to be from an "accredited" school.

It seems like you need either one of the two, right?

melc0305 · Aug 23, 2012

I was debating on earning an ADN then bridge to a BSN or go straight for the BSN. Most of the bridge programs stated that your ADN had to be from an "accredited" school. I never saw one that specified the credentialing agency.