What You Need to Know About Nursing School Accreditation

Picking the right school is so important. Too many students have been devastated by choosing a school for the wrong reasons or without knowing how to perform due diligence. Here's an informative article on accreditation.

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What You Need to Know About Nursing School Accreditation

Maria is an LPN who simply can't afford to take out a loan for nursing school, but she is very bright and wants to be an RN with all her heart. She is a 27-year-old divorced single mother of 3 and wonders if she should apply to the nursing program at her local community college. She has heard the term accreditation in relation to schools but really doesn't know what it means or how it applies to herself and her situation.

What You Need to Know About  Accreditation 

Institutions (universities and colleges) can be accredited either nationally or regionally. Regional accreditation is preferable to national accreditation. Credits from regionally accredited institutions are more readily transferable.

Institutional accreditation is not the same as nursing program accreditation.

But just because a university is accredited doesn't mean its nursing program is accredited. Nursing program accreditation is separate and distinct from university or college accreditation.

Nursing programs are accredited by one of 2 accrediting bodies

Either the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). Neither one is better than the other. CCNE focuses on baccalaureate and graduate programs, including online; ACEN accredits nursing programs at all levels.

It's pretty easy to find out if a program is accredited once you know to look for either the CCNE or ACEN abbreviation. They both have distinctive logos, and usually, the accreditation is prominently displayed on the nursing school's website page because it's bragging rights for the school and a competitive feature. 

You can also go to the ACEN and CCNE websites, where accredited schools are listed. 

Aside from signaling a commitment to quality, accreditation ensures that students may be eligible for federal aid and that credits are readily transferable.

BON/BRN program approval is mandatory, ACEN/CCNE accreditation is voluntary (in most states)

State BONs/BRNs approve nursing programs. They do not accredit nursing programs.

BONs/BRNs typically keep a list of the approved programs on their website. The purpose is to list schools that meet that particular state's educational requirements. Students who attend non-approved schools will not be eligible to take the NCLEX. However, attending an accredited program is not required for testing eligibility in most states.

Not all non-accredited programs are bad

Most students will choose an accredited school for good reasons, but it would be wrong to say non-accredited schools are bad. There are some non-accredited nursing programs that are excellent. Here's an example. 

A small midwestern town has a regionally accredited community college with an outstanding ADN nursing program. The program is not accredited because the cost is too high. The community college has a transfer agreement with partnering universities, so that transfer of credit is seamless between schools, enabling higher education. The program has a 98% NCLEX pass rate. Their graduates are snapped up by local hospitals because of the nurses' reputation for hitting the ground running. (The same town also has a state university with an accredited BSN program.)

So while it's important to look at accreditation, there are several things to consider. 

When choosing a nursing program, ask yourself the following:

  • Do hospitals in the area hire graduates from the program?
  • Does the program have an agreement of transfer credits with higher-level schools to pursue BSN and MSN?
  • What are the graduation and retention rates?
  • What is the NCLEX pass rate? 
  • How many qualified applicants are waitlisted or denied entrance?
  • How many graduates find employment?

You can find out about transfer of credit policies through the institution's admissions and registration department. 

In Maria's case above, carefully considering the local non-accredited program may give her the opportunity she needs to better herself and her family's life.

Note: Nurse Anesthesia programs are accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA), while midwifery programs are accredited by the American College of Nurse-Midwives Division of Accreditation (ACNM).

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Nurse Beth

About Nurse Beth, MSN

Career Columnist / Author

Hi! Nice to meet you! I love helping new nurses in all my various roles. I work in a hospital in Staff Development and am a blogger and author.

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Specializes in CNA telemetry progressive care ICU.

This was informative thank you

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This article should be pinned to both the Pre-Nursing and General Students, Support, Stories topics pages.  I have lost count how many times I read stories on AN about students not being able to take NCLEX, after pouring money into a school program, due to accreditation being pulled or some other "scam." Very unfortunate. 

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.
18 minutes ago, Mergirlc said:

This article should be pinned to both the Pre-Nursing and General Students, Support, Stories topics pages.  I have lost count how many times I read stories on AN about students not being able to take NCLEX, after pouring money into a school program, due to accreditation being pulled or some other "scam." Very unfortunate. 

It seems some of these schools target vulnerable students who are trying to better their life.

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Specializes in oncology.
Nurse Beth said:

small midwestern town has a regionally accredited community college with an outstanding ADN nursing program. The program is not accredited because the cost is too high

No. I disagree. Accreditation by NLN-ACEN shows the program has been evaluated from the top to the bottom. Financial stability,  Course work, Evaluation of the curriculum, protection of students' rights, Outcome of program with feedback upon graduation, faculty academic achievements,,  and so much more.......including NCLEX rates (and how the students were prepared for NCLEX....throughout the curriculum....not an EXIT EXAM. )

 

Nurse Beth said:

A small midwestern town has a regionally accredited community college with an outstanding ADN nursing program. The program is not accredited because the cost is too high.

Let's face it. If the College does not have enough faith in their program to meet NLN ACEN accreditation because "it costs too much", how much are they invested in your education!? If they are outstanding they would fly through accreditation. 

PS program accreditation is " an on line item" on budgets. Nursing programs provide the most enrollment  dollars  (pre reqs and nursing courses income).

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Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.
londonflo said:

No. I disagree. Accreditation by NLN-ACEN shows the program has been evaluated from the top to the bottom. Financial stability,  Course work, Evaluation of the curriculum, protection of students' rights, Outcome of program with feedback upon graduation, faculty academic achievements,,  and so much more.......including NCLEX rates (and how the students were prepared for NCLEX....throughout the curriculum....not an EXIT EXAM. )

 

Let's face it. If the College does not have enough faith in their program to meet NLN ACEN accreditation because "it costs too much", how much are they invested in your education!? If they are outstanding they would fly through accreditation. 

PS program accreditation is " an on line item" on budgets. Nursing programs provide the most enrollment  dollars  (pre reqs and nursing courses income).

There are always exceptions. I'm actually referring to my alma mater, which is an excellent community college program that allowed me to change my life.

It has relationships with state universities and I was able to seamlessly pursue grad work.

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Great info, gives some context to all of these acronyms.

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Specializes in Health Education.

Hi Nurse Beth, can you provide any additional information about the Board of Nursing approval?  I've applied to a program that has an "Approval with Warning" status.  The Admissions Office told me that they should be hearing soon about their status as they just had another site visit a couple of months ago -- they are expecting the warning to be removed.  Does the Board of Nursing typically pull the approval status without much warning or is there always a remediation period?  I ask because they have shared that you can sit for the NCLEX if there is a warning but I'm concerned about the program going from warning to loss of approval while I'm enrolled.  Is this a major red flag?  From what I have gathered it is due to some poor administrative tracking, lower NCLEX scores and fast growth of class size.  The school has a new Dean and I do believe they are working to rectify things.

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Good to know! So to clarify I am look into ECPI university in Florida there BSN program is accredited but they just started up a ADN program that is approved , due to schedule commitment I would like to do the ADN so I was wondering if approved is a safe option as far as continuing my education and getting a job or am I better off finding an accredited program ?

 

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Wow thank you for all of this valuable information!!

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