Participation in NursingCAS is free and voluntary to accredited schools of nursing.  New schools are onboarded throughout the year. Each NursingCAS cycle runs for 17 months, from early August to late January in the following year. Schools may set the start and end dates for their programs for the terms available within an application cycle and within the date range of an open cycle. Review the NursingCAS Cycle Dates and Matriculation Terms table for more information.

Schools can customize program-specific admissions requirements (transcripts, coursework entry, custom questions, essays, references, and document needs) and branding for the nursing program's listing on the application. Below is a summary of the next steps to join and launch a NursingCAS application for your nursing programs:

How to get started:

• Request a one-on-one demo with the NursingCAS Team by visiting the Contact page.
• Submit the NursingCAS Participation Agreement. 
• Complete an Onboarding Call with the NursingCAS Team to learn how to complete your program set-up.
• Complete a basic WebAdMIT training (via live webinar or self-paced, online training). WebAdMIT is a free cloud-based admissions software that allows member schools to manage their backend admissions review process for NursingCAS applicants.
• Complete program set-up on NursingCAS
• Update your website to include information about NursingCAS.
• Open programs on the NursingCAS application.

NursingCAS staff work with institutions to ensure smooth implementation of the application service, provide recommendations, best practices, support, and training. NursingCAS is customizable and can meet the unique needs of any program's admissions requirements. Furthermore, NursingCAS can be integrated with existing processes and technology systems that may already be in place at an institution.

To submit a Participation Agreement, please click "Join NursingCAS" to complete the online form. 

Join NursingCAS

NursingCAS provides member schools with a free cloud-based admissions software (WebAdMIT) to manage data-driven application reviews in a cloud-based software efficiently. WebAdMIT includes tools for scoring candidates based on custom criteria, tracking interviews, conducting an online review of applicants, calculating GPAs, sending and tracking communications, creating queries and custom reports, and exporting data to import into internal systems. Participating schools also have access to unique comparative reports that show how your school's applicant pool compares to the overall applicant pool, which can assist with benchmarking and informing recruitment strategies. Additionally, the system helps schools to facilitate a holistic admissions review. NursingCAS can also lead to cost savings. Use this interactive calculator to learn how.

Exclusive NursingCAS members get access to Analytics by Liaison. Analytics is a robust Enrollment Data Visualization Tool that pulls data from NursingCAS & allows programs to track year over year data points with accompanying infographics.

Prospective nursing students prefer NursingCAS over traditional application methods because it streamlines the collection of materials, provides a portal with status updates on application materials (transcripts, references, etc.), and provides an expansive customer service team for application-related questions. Applicants pay a nominal fee.

NursingCAS is operated by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in partnership with Liaison International, the nation’s leading provider of centralized application services (CAS) to health professions associations. Liaison currently works with many other disciplines, including dentistry, pharmacy, physician assistants, and public health.

Mission

NursingCAS was developed to maximize capacity in schools of nursing and fill all available seats. Even though enrollment and applications to schools of nursing have increased significantly, many schools have room to accommodate additional students each year. Every year, AACN reports that qualified applicants are being turned away from member schools even though thousands of vacant seats remain. For example, in 2023, a total of 65,766 qualified applications were denied entry into baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs, as 106,023 enrollment slots went unfilled. The solution rests with connecting all prospective students who meet admission requirements with open seats. NursingCAS provides a much-needed mechanism to direct potential students to open seats at participating institutions. Learn more about how this is impacting your state.

As states and the nation look for ways to prepare more nurses, maximizing enrollment capacity in nursing schools is critical. NursingCAS is instrumental in providing accurate data to identify workforce trends and inform public policy decisions. The comprehensive data resulting from having a central entry point into nursing assists with developing workforce projections, identifying employment patterns, and tailoring recruitment strategies to reach under-represented populations in nursing. This service also provides health profession advisors with feedback on admissions trends and standards for the profession, in order to help steer qualified students into nursing programs.

History

NursingCAS launched in March 2010 with pre-licensure programs and expanded to graduate level programs in September 2010. The precursor to NursingCAS was a pilot, grant-funded project called WTNEPP by WTNEC (the West Texas Nursing Education Consortium). As a result of the initiative, all nursing applicant spaces were filled in WTNEC programs for the fall 2009 semester. Additionally, 24% of applicants using WTNEC were duplicate applications. NursingCAS seeks to achieve similar results on a national scale once widespread adoption is achieved. Currently, nearly 300 schools of nursing accept applications through the platform. In the recent 2023-2024 NursingCAS cycle, more than 90,000 applications were submitted by over 64,000 prospective nursing students.

Impact

NursingCAS has enormous potential to produce vital data that can positively impact the profession and influence policy. AACN encourages all nursing schools to participate in NursingCAS. With 100% participation, AACN can collect national data on the applicant pool and future workforce.

Nursing students deserve a robust, centralized application service (CAS) so they can easily research and apply to any program. Other health professions such as dentistry, medicine, physical therapy, PA, and pharmacy have a CAS that all schools participate in. AACN wants the same for the nursing profession, and it is not possible without your support and participation.

AACN would like to thank schools for contributing to this important nursing initiative and being a member of the NursingCAS community.