North Central State College Nursing Programs Face High-Stakes Accreditation Review — With Little Time Left for Public Input

A dual accreditation review Sept. 1–3 will determine whether Richland County students can earn a bachelor's nursing degree without leaving home and whether the associate program that supplies nurses to area hospitals keeps its credentials — but the window for public comment has nearly closed with little fanfare from the college.

North Central State College will host evaluators from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing for initial accreditation of its baccalaureate nursing program and continuing accreditation of its associate degree nursing program. The only remaining chance for public input is an in-person meeting at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2, in Room 116 of the Health Sciences building at 2441 Kenwood Circle in Mansfield. The deadline for written comments was Aug. 17 — 10 days before this article's publication on Aug. 27.

What's on the line for local nurses and employers

The BSN program is a four-semester RN-to-BSN completion pathway for students who already hold an associate nursing degree, offering Richland County nurses a local route to bachelor's credentials. The Ohio Department of Higher Education approved the program Sept. 15, 2022, and students began coursework in Fall 2023. Enrollment grew from 15 students in the first year to 27 in later years, according to Ohio program-approval enrollment reports.

The program holds only Candidate status with ACEN, granted April 3, 2025, and set to expire in April 2027. Candidate status is not accreditation and does not guarantee the program will ultimately be accredited.

The associate degree nursing program, already accredited by ACEN, is up for its next scheduled continuing review; evaluators last visited March 5–7, 2019. The five-semester program awards an Associate of Applied Science degree and is approved by the Ohio Board of Nursing. It graduated 45 students in 2023, 44 in 2024, and 55 in 2025 — a three-year average of 48 graduates per year. Those graduates posted a three-year average NCLEX pass rate of 92.8%, well above Ohio's statewide averages of 86.81% in 2023, 86.60% in 2024, and 84.04% in 2025.

Those 48 nurses a year feed directly into a local workforce pipeline anchored by OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital — a 326-bed tertiary-care facility and Richland County's largest employer — and Avita Health System, which serves Richland and Crawford counties with more than 2,300 employees. Avita has ongoing RN and LPN openings amid a local and nationwide nursing shortage. At least one OhioHealth nursing role in the Mansfield/Shelby area explicitly requires a degree from an accredited school of nursing with current Ohio RN licensure.

OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital also provides internships, job shadowing, and volunteer opportunities for high school students and serves as a preceptor site for college students on clinical rotations. In one reported year, Mansfield Hospital awarded 84 nursing scholarships, with 91 total across both Mansfield and Shelby hospitals.

Why accreditation matters beyond the classroom

ACEN accreditation means a nursing program has been reviewed by peer evaluators and found to meet the commission's standards for educational quality. State board approval determines whether graduates can sit for the NCLEX licensure exam, but ACEN accreditation shapes how employers, graduate schools, and some state boards view the degree itself.

The practical consequences are concrete. Graduates of programs without ACEN accreditation may not qualify for jobs at employers that require graduation from an accredited program — the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and many public and private employers among them. Lack of accreditation can also block credit transfer and shut doors to RN-to-BSN, MSN, nurse practitioner, and other graduate programs that require an accredited degree.

What evaluators will examine

ACEN site visit evaluators assess five standards: Administrative Capacity and Resources, Faculty, Students, Curriculum, and Outcomes — including student experience, clinical training, faculty qualifications, NCLEX pass rates, and completion rates.

Initial accreditation, the category the BSN program is seeking, covers a five-year period. Continuing accreditation, which the associate program needs to renew, follows an eight-year review cycle.

A narrow window for public input

ACEN's public comment period closes two weeks before the site visit, per its general guidance. Written comments were due by Aug. 17 and could be emailed to [email protected] or mailed to Accreditation Services, ACEN, 3390 Peachtree Rd NE, Suite 1400, Atlanta, GA 30326, with the full program name included. That deadline passed with little public notice from the college.

The Sept. 2 in-person meeting — scheduled at 4 p.m. on a weekday — is now the sole remaining opportunity for students, employers, clinical partners, and community members to speak directly to evaluators.

What happens next

The ACEN Board of Commissioners typically issues its decision six to eight months after a site visit; programs visited in the fall cycle receive decisions at the board's spring meeting, with notification within 30 days. Current associate students continue under the program's existing ACEN accreditation, while BSN students continue under Candidate status until the board rules.

The timing is tight: the BSN program's Candidate status expires in April 2027, meaning the board's spring decision would come just before that window closes.