
Matteson, ILprivate nonprofitcaanacademy.org/
CAAN Academy of Nursing is a hyper-focused, no-frills vocational school in suburban Matteson, Illinois, with a singular mission: to turn out working nurses, fast. It operates on an open-admission model, accepting virtually all applicants, and boasts a 100% pass rate on nursing exams. This is not a traditional college experience—it’s a 63-week, high-intensity bootcamp for a specific, in-demand career, where the campus life is the classroom and the outcome is a job.
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Outcomes & value
Earnings = median of students working ~10 years after entry; debt = median of graduates. Value divides 10-yr earnings by one year’s net price — read it as earnings per dollar of annual cost, not a full lifetime ROI; it favors lower-cost schools. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~2 years and reflect all students, not your intended major.
Campus & location
On-campus criminal offenses classed as violent (murder/non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) for the most recent reported year. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education Campus Safety and Security (Clery Act). Counts reflect what’s reported to the school, and urban campuses often report more partly due to non-student incidents nearby — read alongside campus size and setting, not as a standalone safety verdict.
Pleasant days counts days per year with a mean temperature of 55–75°F, a high at or below 90°F, a low at or above 45°F, and little precipitation — a transparent comfort measure, not a weighting we invented. Computed from Open-Meteo ERA5 daily history (2019–2023). Natural-hazard risk is the county’s composite rating from the FEMA National Risk Index.
CAAN Academy of Nursing operates on an open admission policy, meaning virtually all secondary school graduates or students with GED equivalency diplomas are admitted without regard to academic criteria like GPA or test scores. The school's own materials and external data sources confirm this policy is in place. This results in a reported 100% acceptance rate. The process is straightforward: there is a $35 application fee, and the institution does not require or focus on SAT or ACT scores for admission. Concepts like Early Decision, which are common in traditional undergraduate admissions, are not applicable in this context, as the school uses a rolling, open admissions process. Similarly, demonstrated interest—tracking visits or engagement—is a consideration more relevant to selective liberal arts colleges and is not a factor in CAAN's admissions calculus.
Academic life at CAAN is a single-minded, intensive pursuit of nursing credentials. The school offers two primary pathways:
The defining feature of the curriculum is its 63-week program length, which demands that students remain "focused, driven, and dedicated." There is no traditional general education curriculum; every course is directly tied to nursing practice. The student-faculty ratio is reported as 13:1, suggesting the potential for more direct instruction in clinical and classroom settings. The school's central claim to academic excellence is its 100% pass rate on nursing board exams, a statistic it prominently advertises as evidence of producing "the best nurses."
Do not expect a typical residential college experience. CAAN is a suburban, commuter-style institution with a small, focused enrollment of approximately 90 undergraduate students. The phrase "campus life" is largely synonymous with the academic program itself. The school promotes a sense of community through the language of family, referring to students and staff as part of the "CAAN Family" on its social media. There is no indication of traditional collegiate extracurriculars, athletics, or Greek life. The student body, as reflected in available data, is diverse: reported demographics include Asian (70.5%), Black (39.8%), and White (60%) students, though these figures should be viewed with caution as they sum to over 100%. The environment is likely one of shared, intense purpose among career-focused adults.
Outcomes are the entire point of CAAN Academy, and its reported numbers are striking. The school claims a 100% graduation rate, a figure that speaks to its focused cohort model and the high stakes for students who enroll. More importantly, it reports a 100% pass rate on the nursing licensure exams (NCLEX), which is the critical gateway to employment. For graduates, the median earnings one year after graduation are reported as $36,427. While debt is incurred, the average debt for graduates is a relatively modest $12,766 compared to many four-year institutions. Completion data shows significant variation by demographic, with reported rates of 100% for Black students, 48% for Asian students, 45% for Hispanic students, and 25% for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students.
As a private, for-profit career academy, CAAN's pricing is transparent and career-focused. The full sticker price (Cost of attendanceThe full estimated yearly cost of a college: tuition, fees, housing, food, books, and other expenses, before any financial aid.) is $36,416, which includes $21,200 in tuition and fees plus living expenses. The Net priceWhat a family actually pays after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the sticker price — usually far less than the published cost.—what students typically pay after grants and scholarships—is estimated at $17,004 per year. The average financial aid package is $8,093. Students are expected to utilize federal aid programs, including Pell Grants and federal student loans, to finance their education. The school provides a Net Price Calculator on its website for prospective students to get individualized estimates. There is no indication of a "no-loan" policy or a commitment to meet full financial need, which are typically features of elite, endowed non-profit colleges; aid here is based on federal eligibility.
CAAN Academy of Nursing stands apart in the higher education landscape as a pure, uncompromising trade school. It rejects the holistic, exploratory model of a traditional college. Its identity is built on three pillars:
1. Absolute Accessibility: Its open-admission policy removes the gatekeeping of selective admissions, creating a path for any high school graduate or GED holder to enter the nursing field. 2. Unmatched Efficiency and Focus: The 63-week, single-major model is a direct shot from education to employment. There are no electives, no dorms, no football games—just the essential training required to pass the board exams. 3. Demonstrable Results: The 100% pass and graduation rates are its ultimate marketing tools. In a field plagued by nursing shortages, CAAN presents itself as a reliable, fast-acting pipeline producing job-ready graduates with a manageable debt load. It serves a specific, pragmatic student: someone who knows exactly what career they want and needs the fastest, most direct route to get there, with success measured solely by licensure and a paycheck.