Regional vs National Accreditation

[shanaynay0]

I have submitted my application to two different colleges, both of which are technical colleges. One college is both nationally and regionally accredited while the other is only regionally accredited. I am having a difficult time finding a clear answer as to what the differences would be after school is completed. I am currently living in South Carolina/Georgia area one school is in SC and the other in GA. There is a good possibility that I will move to the West Coast in a couple of years and am not sure if this will be a factor for choosing a school. Also getting an RN to BSN may be a possibility in the far future. Any information would be very helpful. Thank You.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

What are the organizations that have given accreditation? If you are looking for an accredited nursing program, you want to look for ACEN or CCNE accreditation- those are the two bodies that accredit nursing programs.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

What is the accrediting body for the regionally” accredited school? The only accrediting bodies for nursing programs are the ACEN or CCNE accredited school. I'm thinking that a regional accreditation means that the school is accredited, but the nursing program may not be. CCNE only accredits bachelor and masters programs, so you'll want a program thats ACEN accredited. Graduating from an accredited program can be important when applying for jobs- many places will want an applicant from a program accredited by the ACEN or CCNE. Likewise, RN-BSN programs may prefer applicants from an accredited program. You can work around the barriers of a non-accredited program, but if you have any choice at all- go to the accredited school.

[shanaynay0]

Thank you for letting me know which accreditation is important. I had no idea what I should be looking for. I looked up both schools under the ACEN website. Augusta Technical College only has the Practical Nursing program as being accredited, not the RN program. Aiken Technical College has the RN program accredited, so that makes my decision for me.

[lanoneus]

ACEN and CCNE refer to the program accreditation. You definitely want one of those. But national and regional accreditation refer to the college itself. You want regional accreditation, not national. National is kind of a made up thing by for-profit colleges to give themselves an air of legitimacy; however, credits from a nationally accredited school do not have to be accepted by any regionally accredited school. Here is an article from wikipedia on regional accreditation and the agencies that do it.

Regional accreditation - Wikipedia

And in answer to your question, it sounds like both are regionally accredited, the other one just paid extra for national accreditation. Make sure both programs are approved by ACEN or CCNE and you should be fine with either.