Policies

NursingCAS is the Centralized Application Service for accredited nursing programs. NursingCAS is a cloud-based system that provides colleges with a robust admissions platform to efficiently manage data-driven application reviews. This service is administered by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and information technology partner, Liaison International.

Programs that are eligible to participate are those that grant RN diplomas, 2nd degree, associate, certificate/non-degree, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degrees in nursing. Programs must have or must be seeking accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), the Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation (CNEA), the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs (COA), or the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME). Programs must notify the NursingCAS team of all accreditation status changes within 1 week via nursingcas@aacnnursing.org.  Additionally, NursingCAS programs that lose accreditation are responsible for notifying applicants immediately of the status change and refunding NursingCAS fees to applicants. NursingCAS is not responsible for refunding fees to these applicants. If a program has new applicant status or is currently seeking accreditation from CCNE, ACEN, CNEA, COA, or ACME then AACN will decide whether or not and at what point that program will be eligible to participate in NursingCAS. Participation is open to non-AACN member schools.

There is no cost to schools to participate in NursingCAS and process applications through the service. Applicants are charged a nominal fee to submit an application via NursingCAS.

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and Liaison International are committed to maintaining a high level of technical, security, and compliance standards for NursingCAS as outlined on the Technical, Security, and Compliance Overview page. Additional information, including the Data Breach Incident Response Plan, Information Security Policy, and Higher Education Vendor Assessment Tool (HECVAT), can be found in the Technical Documentation Repository. These terms are standardized via the contract for NursingCAS held between AACN and Liaison International and cannot be modified on a case-by-case basis for any institution.