The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is the membership organisation for university schools of nursing. It began in 1969 with 121 member institutions and now represents more than 890 schools, which between them enrol about 570,000 students and employ over 58,000 faculty.
Its membership is the reason its data matters. Because it surveys nearly every baccalaureate and graduate nursing programme in the country, its annual figures are the standard source for enrolment, faculty vacancies and applications turned away for lack of capacity. Most public statements about the nursing pipeline trace back to them. See the nursing shortage and the nurse faculty shortage.
The Essentials
The association publishes The Essentials, which sets out the competencies expected of graduates from baccalaureate, master's and doctor of nursing practice programmes. Schools use it to design curricula, and accreditation is assessed against it, so a document produced by a membership body ends up shaping what nearly every university-educated nurse is taught.
The current edition is organised around competencies rather than course content, which was a substantial change in how nursing education describes its own output.
Its accrediting commission
The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education is an autonomous arm of the association and is recognised by the United States Secretary of Education as a national accrediting agency. It accredits baccalaureate, master's and doctor of nursing practice programmes, along with entry-to-practice nurse residency programmes and nurse practitioner fellowships.
The residency standards are worth knowing separately, because they define what a residency is: a series of learning sessions and experiences running continuously for at least twelve months, offered jointly by a health care organisation and an accredited academic programme. See nurse residency programs.
The interest to keep in mind
This is an association of schools. On the recurring question of whether the bachelor's degree should be the entry requirement for registered nursing, its members are the institutions that would gain from the answer being yes, and it has argued for a more educated workforce for decades.
The argument has evidence behind it, including the international study associating a higher proportion of bachelor's-prepared nurses with lower surgical mortality. It also has an interested party making it, and both things are true at once. See levels of nursing and nurse staffing and patient outcomes.
Related
- Nursing organizations
- The nurse faculty shortage
- Nurse residency programs
- National League for Nursing
- The nursing shortage
Sources
- About AACN. American Association of Colleges of Nursing, for the 1969 founding, membership, student and faculty numbers, the Essentials and CCNE. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- Standards for Accreditation of Entry-to-Practice Nurse Residency Programs. Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, April 2026. Accessed September 9, 2026.
- Nursing faculty shortage fact sheet. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Accessed September 9, 2026.