AACC Defends Associate-Level Nursing Schools

Amid recommendations that all registered nurses be required to attain bachelor’s-level nursing degrees, the American Association of Community Colleges defends associate-level schools of nursing in its latest policy brief. Released Tuesday, the brief argues that these two-year programs have their place alongside bachelor’s-level schools of nursing, “because they contribute individually to collectively building a strong nursing workforce.” It notes that “the majority of the nation’s new R.N.'s are educated in associate-level schools of nursing” and that these programs “provide the nation its greatest number of minority R.N.'s” and “educate the majority of R.N.'s in rural settings.” Furthermore, the brief asserts that health care employers are “equally likely to hire” R.N.'s prepared in associate-level and in bachelor’s-level schools of nursing.