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Accreditation and professional licensing boards

Professional licensing boards set their own education requirements independently of federal accreditation policy. A board may require institutional accreditation, a specific programmatic accreditation, or both. The correct source for any licensing requirement is the licensing board itself, not a general accreditation database. University of Phoenix has been continuously accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), hlcommission.org, since 1978, and holds CCNE nursing programmatic accreditation; whether those records satisfy a specific board’s requirements depends on that board’s rules.

How licensing boards use accreditation in their requirements

Licensing boards for regulated professions - nursing, counseling, social work, teaching, law, medicine, pharmacy - define the minimum education credentials required for licensure in their state and profession. Requirements may specify: a degree from an institutionally accredited college; a degree from a program with specific programmatic accreditation such as CACREP for counseling or CCNE for nursing; a specific number of supervised clinical or practicum hours; and passage of a licensing examination. The board’s requirements are the controlling document, not the institution’s accreditation alone.

Two institutions with identical HLC institutional accreditation can produce graduates with very different licensing eligibility depending on whether specific programs hold the required programmatic accreditation. A student who graduates from an HLC-accredited counseling program without CACREP accreditation may not be eligible for licensure in a state that requires CACREP. Institutional accreditation and programmatic accreditation are independent records, and both may be required.

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accredits programs in counseling, marriage and family therapy, student affairs and college counseling, addiction counseling, and related fields. CACREP accreditation is specifically required for initial licensure eligibility in a growing number of states for licensed professional counselors, licensed clinical social workers, and related credentials. Students planning careers in licensed counseling should check the licensing board requirements in their target state before selecting a program. CACREP-accredited programs are listed at cacrep.org.

CCNE: nursing programs

The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) accredits nursing education programs at the baccalaureate and graduate level. Some state nursing boards and employers require graduates from CCNE-accredited programs for licensure eligibility or hiring. CCNE accreditation is a programmatic layer separate from HLC institutional accreditation. For nursing programs specifically, both layers should be verified. CCNE-accredited programs are listed at aacnnursing.org/ccne-accreditation.

University of Phoenix and licensing board requirements

University of Phoenix has been continuously accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), hlcommission.org, since 1978,. For programs in counseling, nursing, education, and other licensed fields, students should verify at phoenix.edu/about/accreditation.html whether the specific program holds the relevant programmatic accreditation (CACREP, CCNE), and confirm directly with the target state’s licensing board whether that accreditation is required. Institutional accreditation from HLC is a separate and additional layer from programmatic accreditation in these fields; both must be confirmed independently.

Also confirm how the relevant state licensing board handles graduates from programs that were accredited at enrollment but have since lost programmatic accreditation. Some boards grandfather students enrolled during a valid accreditation period; others require current accreditation at the time of the license application. Clarifying this before enrolling in any program in an accreditation transition period avoids a licensing gap that would be difficult to resolve after completion.

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