GW Nursing's accreditation and board approvals
CCNE accredits all four of GW Nursing's program levels, baccalaureate, master's, DNP and post-graduate APRN certificate, most recently on April 7, 2025, with every term running to December 31, 2035. Midwifery is less tidy: ACME lists GW's program as preaccredited, while the 2026-27 Bulletin describes it as fully accredited. State approval is split, with Virginia's board over the BSN and DC's board over the APRN programs.
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CCNE: all four levels through 2035
The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) is the national accreditor for GW Nursing's degree and certificate programs. Its directory carries four GW entries, each with a most recent accreditation action dated April 7, 2025 and a term ending December 31, 2035. The baccalaureate program's last on-site review took place in April 2025, and the directory schedules the next on-site evaluation for each level in spring 2035.
| Program level | First accredited | Most recent action | Term ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baccalaureate (BSN) | February 24, 2010 | April 7, 2025 | December 31, 2035 |
| Master's (MSN) | April 8, 2006 | April 7, 2025 | December 31, 2035 |
| Doctor of Nursing Practice | February 24, 2010 | April 7, 2025 | December 31, 2035 |
| Post-graduate APRN certificate | March 18, 2015 | April 7, 2025 | December 31, 2035 |
The university as a whole holds regional accreditation, which the Bulletin credits to the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. For clinical placements, the CCNE entry usually carries more weight, because several state boards ask specifically for national nursing accreditation before an out-of-state program's students can train there.
Midwifery and ACME: two different answers
Nurse-midwifery education has its own accreditor, the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME). ACME's directory, checked in September 2026, lists GW's program under Preaccreditation, with its last action on July 20, 2023 and a next review due by July 31, 2028. GW's own nurse-midwifery program page also uses the term pre-accredited. The GW Bulletin 2026-27, by contrast, says the program is fully accredited by ACME.
Those two descriptions cannot both reflect today's status. ACME's directory is the accreditor's own record, and the midwifery program director can say whether any ACME action since 2023 has changed it. Birth centers and hospital units that host midwifery students may ask which status applies, so have the ACME directory entry ready. The nurse-midwifery MSN and clinical immersion pages cover the program itself.
Virginia approves the BSN and the Master's Entry program
The Virginia Board of Nursing approves GW's prelicensure programs, which are taught in Ashburn. Its program list shows the GW BSN, program code US28501500, as Current Active, and GW's Master's Entry program, which the Bulletin calls the Direct-Entry MSN (code US28512400), as Initial - Current Active. GW's 2023-24 undergraduate handbook ties the ABSN's 540 clinical hours to Virginia Board of Nursing requirements.
GW's NP, DNP and post-master's programs do not appear on Virginia's list, and that is expected rather than a gap: Virginia's board describes out-of-state and post-licensure nursing programs as outside what it regulates or approves. The BSN and Direct-Entry MSN page covers the Ashburn programs, where GW arranges the clinical placements.
DC approves the APRN programs
GW's advanced practice programs are approved at home, in the District. The DC Board of Nursing's approved-programs list for 2025, which the board adopted on September 4, 2025, names George Washington University Graduate School of Nursing APRN, without the asterisk the list uses for conditional approval. The Bulletin credits the DC board with approving the MSN, the DNP and the post-master's APRN certificates, and GW's accreditation page puts it in one line: Virginia approves the BSN, DC approves the APRN programs.
That home approval matters when a site sits in the District. DC's regulations ask programs seeking DC clinical placements to show full approval from their own state's board plus national accreditation, and an August 2025 DC board memo set further conditions for online programs from other states. Whether DC facilities classify GW's online graduate programs as DC-based, and whether GW holds a DC Letter of Authorization, is not public. The District of Columbia guide and the DC APRN practice page go further.
What clinical sites and boards ask about
Accreditation questions come up because other rules depend on the answer. Arizona's board gives out-of-state APRN tracks a streamlined review when the home state has approved the track and the school is nationally accredited. Utah requires home-state approval and accreditation by a nursing accreditor the U.S. Department of Education recognizes. Louisiana asks for home-state approval, regional accreditation and national nursing accreditation. GW's state authorizations page shows where those rules have limited GW's online admissions.
What a site or board may ask, and where the answer is
- National nursing accreditation: the CCNE directory entry for the GW program level
- Home-state program approval: the DC Board of Nursing list for APRN programs, or Virginia's list for the BSN and Master's Entry program
- Institutional accreditation: Middle States, as the Bulletin states
- Midwifery accreditation: ACME's directory, plus the program director on the Bulletin conflict
- Liability coverage: GW's 2023-24 undergraduate handbook says students in clinical courses are covered by the university's liability insurance; graduate students should ask the Clinical Placement Team
One practical snag: the CCNE directory, ACME's directory and the DC board's list still show GW at 1919 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. GW moved its DC offices to Lisner Hall and 714 21st Street NW on June 25, 2026, so a site comparing records may notice the mismatch. The contract itself is handled as described on the affiliation agreements page.
Why GW students choose us
A clinician who has never hosted a GW student often opens with the same question: is this program accredited, and who approves it? We answer it before it is asked. Every outreach we make for a GW student carries the facts that settle it, CCNE accreditation through 2035, DC Board of Nursing approval of the APRN programs, and the accurate ACME status for midwifery, so a willing preceptor does not stall on paperwork doubts.
That keeps the search on what counts: a preceptor who fits your course, a site ready to sign GW's agreement, and a Site Prospector entry with every document attached. The approvals belong to GW's program director and Clinical Placement Team; the preparation is ours. Start with the contact form.
Questions GW students ask
Is GW's online nurse practitioner program accredited?
Yes. CCNE accredits GW's master's, DNP and post-graduate APRN certificate programs, each with a most recent action on April 7, 2025 and a term through December 31, 2035. The DC Board of Nursing also lists GW's APRN programs as approved. That holds whether you enter NP practice through the MSN, the post-BSN DNP or a post-master's certificate.
Is GW's nurse-midwifery program fully accredited?
GW's sources disagree. ACME's own directory lists the program under preaccreditation, last acted on in July 2023 with a next review by July 2028, and GW's program page says pre-accredited. The 2026-27 Bulletin says fully accredited. Check ACME's directory for the current entry and ask the midwifery program director which status applies to your cohort.
When does GW Nursing's CCNE accreditation come up for review?
Each of the four CCNE terms runs to December 31, 2035, and CCNE's directory lists the next on-site evaluation for spring 2035. The most recent visit was in April 2025 and led to the April 7, 2025 accreditation actions, so students enrolling now will finish well inside the current term.
Why isn't GW's NP program on the Virginia Board of Nursing list?
Virginia's board approves prelicensure programs, such as GW's BSN and Master's Entry program, and leaves post-licensure and out-of-state programs outside its approval work. GW's NP, DNP and post-master's programs are post-licensure, so their state approval comes from the DC Board of Nursing instead.
Who accredits George Washington University as a whole?
The Bulletin says the university is accredited by its regional accrediting agency, the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. That institutional accreditation sits alongside the program-level accreditation from CCNE and, for midwifery, ACME. Nursing boards and clinical sites tend to ask about the nursing-specific accreditation, so keep the CCNE directory entry handy.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against GW's Bulletin and GW Nursing's own program and clinical pages. Your course, CORE and GW's Clinical Placement Team have the final word.
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