Brightmed Health Institute Student Defense Lawyer — Davie, Florida

Brightmed Health Institute, at 2790 N. University Drive in Davie, holds two approved Florida prelicensure nursing programs — a bachelor’s degree and a practical nursing certificate — and its first-time NCLEX results in 2025 sat a long way below the statutory minimum.

37.50% of 40 first-time candidates

The program passed 37.50% of 40 first-time candidates against a floor of 76.05% — fifteen passes and twenty-five failures. One point of caution worth stating: the Board of Nursing’s pass-rate report codes this program at associate-degree level, while the Department of Health’s records show that associate license (NPRN704121) as Terminated with an end date of 2 May 2024, and list an approved baccalaureate program and an approved practical nursing certificate at the same address. Those records were read on 17 September 2026. An institution can hold more than one approval, so the exact program a particular student was enrolled in should be confirmed from their own enrollment documents rather than assumed — the applicable statutory floor differs between the two.

Under Fla. Stat. section 464.019(5)(a)1 a Florida nursing program’s first-time NCLEX passage rate must stay within 10 percentage points of the national average for comparable programs — in 2025 that floor was 76.05% for associate-degree programs and 77.17% for practical-nursing programs. Section 464.019(5)(a)2 puts a program two consecutive years below the floor at risk of probation and loss of approval, and section 464.019(5)(c) then obliges the program to disclose that probationary status in writing to its students and applicants — a failure to give that notice is an independent, statute-based misrepresentation theory against a school that enrolled a student while on probation. A single year below the floor is not probation, and the Board of Nursing publishes no probation roster — but the Department of Health’s licensing portal does publish a current status for each approved program, so it can be checked there as well as in the board’s minutes and orders. Every Florida program is tabulated on the Florida nursing program pass-rate page.

Either way the program was well below the applicable floor. For a dismissed student that reframes the question: a school failing roughly two candidates in three is not in a strong position to argue that a dismissal reflected the student’s inability to meet a standard the school itself was not meeting.

A private school, so the statute students rely on does not apply

Most writing about Florida student dismissal assumes a public college, where Fla. Stat. section 1006.60(3) supplies notice, a hearing, the right to be accompanied by counsel and a burden that rests on the institution. This is a private institution. None of that section reaches it.

What governs instead is the enrollment agreement, the catalog and the student and program handbooks, read as a contract. Sharick v. Southeastern University of the Health Sciences establishes that a Florida student dismissed in breach of the school’s own contractual undertakings has a claim, and that damages can extend to lost future earning capacity rather than a refund of tuition. So the work is documentary: identify the exact promises the school made about process, and show which it did not keep.

Two further things matter at schools of this kind. Many enrollment agreements contain an arbitration clause, and whether it binds a student depends on the version signed, how broadly it is drafted, whether its cost terms are unconscionable and whether the school has waived it — that question comes first, because it decides whether there is a courtroom at all. And where a school is licensed by the Florida Commission for Independent Education rather than regionally accredited, the CIE complaint route exists alongside any civil claim and is often the faster pressure point.

Where a Brightmed case is filed

Davie is in Broward County, which 28 U.S.C. section 89(c) places in the Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division. The school is variously listed at Davie and Hollywood addresses; both are Broward County, so the answer does not change, but the address of the site where the events occurred should still be confirmed.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

• Resolve the arbitration question first, from the agreement the student actually signed.
• Assemble the enrollment agreement, catalog and program handbook for the correct edition, and pin down the promises about process.
• Test the progression arithmetic — withdrawals, repeats and clinical failures are often counted in ways the handbook does not authorize.
• Use the Commission for Independent Education complaint route where the school is CIE-licensed, in parallel with the civil claim.
• Press on the wording of the decision letter, which follows the student into every future licensure and transfer application.

How Florida student dismissal cases work generally is set out on the Florida student defense page.

What Brightmed publishes, and what it does not

Brightmed publishes no catalog, no student handbook and no academic policies at all. Read on September 17, 2026, its website carried six pages of substance: About Us, Our Programs, an Admissions page containing nothing but a session notice, and one page each for Nursing (Bachelor of Science in Nursing), Nursing (RN-BSN) and the Practical Nursing Diploma.

Not one of those pages states a passing grade, a repeat limit, an attendance rule, a clinical removal rule, a readmission rule, a grade appeal, a grievance procedure, a complaint address, an accommodation procedure or a license number. There is no published enrollment agreement and no published program handbook. The school lists 2790 N. University Drive, Davie, two phone numbers and a Gmail address, and every page carries the same banner: a new session starting October 19, 2026, day and evening sessions available.

At a school like this the written rules are the whole case, so the first task is to obtain them rather than argue about them from memory.

Which Brightmed programs the state actually lists

The Department of Health’s license verification record for Brightmed, read September 17, 2026 and marked “Data As Of 9/17/2026,” shows six records in the school’s name:

• NPRN705141, Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, Approved, original issue date March 4, 2019, address of record 2790 N. University Drive, listed under Hollywood, FL 33024.
• NPPN701118, Practical Nursing certificate, Approved, original issue date July 22, 2016, same street address, listed under Davie, FL 33024.
• NPRN704121, Associate Degree in Nursing, Terminated, original issue date July 22, 2016, end date May 2, 2024.
• RNRC6 and PNRC11, an RN and a PN remedial course, both Approved.
• CNAP1469, a certified nursing assistant program, Closed.

The department’s prelicensure program comparison directory, read the same day, lists only the bachelor’s program and the practical nursing certificate at the Davie address, and records both as not accredited. The associate program does not appear there, because that directory excludes terminated and closed programs.

Two practical points follow. A student who believes they were enrolled in an associate degree program should confirm from their own transcript and enrollment agreement which program and which license number they were actually taught under, and when. And the same street address appears as Hollywood on one license record and Davie on another, so any letter, subpoena or complaint should use the address on the student’s own paperwork.

The admission rules are the only written standards on the site

Brightmed’s three nursing pages do publish entry requirements, and they are the only numbers the school prints anywhere.

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing. High school diploma or GED; TEAS with 54 points in Reading, 50 in Math and 54 in Language, waived for applicants who already hold a bachelor’s degree or higher; at least 18 years old; an interview with the Director of Nursing; clearance on an FDLE Level II background check; a negative drug test; proof of a physical examination and a BLS card; accident and liability insurance; forms by the stated deadlines; attendance at orientation. Total credit hours: 120.
• RN-BSN. The same checks plus an unencumbered RN license, with no TEAS. This page also gives the total as 120 credit hours, the same figure as the entry-level degree, so ask in writing how many credits a licensed RN is actually required to complete.
• Practical Nursing Diploma. TEAS with 50 points in each of Reading, Math and Language, plus the same background check, drug test, immunization, BLS and insurance requirements. The page opens by saying the program “prepares students for a career as a registered nurse” and then says graduates are eligible for the NCLEX-PN. Those two sentences describe different credentials.

What to ask for in writing, and where else a complaint can go

Ask by email, date the request, and keep the reply. A school that has published nothing still relied on something when it acted, and a written request puts that on the record. Request, by name: the catalog or institutional handbook in force on your start date and on the date of the decision; the signed enrollment agreement with every attachment and any later version; the program handbook for your program; the grading and progression policy, including the minimum grade and the number of failures or withdrawals that ends the program; the attendance and clock-hour policy; the clinical removal policy; the grade appeal and grievance procedure, with the deadline and the name of the office that receives it; the accommodation request procedure; and the complete file behind the decision letter.

Two outside routes exist that the school’s website does not print. Brightmed appears in the Florida Department of Education’s Commission for Independent Education institution list, and the Commission takes student complaints at 325 West Gaines Street, Suite 1414, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400, toll free 888-224-6684. Questions about the accuracy of the nursing program records above go to the Department of Health’s nursing unit, at the address shown on the license verification page. Because Brightmed prints neither of these, a student has to find them without help, which is itself worth saying in any written complaint.

Other Florida technical and career institutions

Every school writes its own dismissal, appeal and conduct rules, and the filing deadlines are rarely the same from one campus to the next. These pages set out the procedure at other Florida technical and career institutions:

• Cambridge College of Healthcare & Technology
• Cape Coral Technical College Dismissal
• CBT Technology Institute
• Chancellor Institute
• Charlotte Technical College Dismissal
• Compu-Med Vocational Careers

Common questions about Brightmed Health Institute cases

What was Brightmed’s NCLEX pass rate?

37.50% of 40 first-time candidates in 2025 — fifteen passes and twenty-five failures — against a statutory floor of 76.05% for associate-degree programs.

Is Brightmed an associate or a bachelor’s program?

Both appear in official records: the Board of Nursing’s pass-rate report codes it at associate level, while the Department of Health’s program record shows an approved bachelor’s program at the same address. Schools can hold more than one approval, so confirm from your own enrollment documents.

Does Florida’s public-college discipline statute apply?

No. Fla. Stat. section 1006.60(3) governs public colleges. Brightmed is private, so the enrollment agreement and handbooks govern as a contract, under Sharick v. Southeastern University of the Health Sciences.

Which court covers Brightmed?

The Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division. Davie is in Broward County, which is in the Southern District under 28 U.S.C. section 89(c).

Brightmed has no catalog on its website. What should I ask for, and how?

Ask by email so the request is dated, and ask for documents by name: the catalog or institutional handbook in force on your start date, the enrollment agreement you signed with every attachment, your program handbook, the grading and progression policy, the attendance policy, the grade appeal and grievance procedure with its deadline, and the accommodation procedure. If the school cannot produce a written rule, it cannot show you broke one, and the absence of the document is itself worth recording in writing.

I thought I was in Brightmed’s associate degree nursing program. Why can I not find it listed?

The Department of Health’s license record for Brightmed’s Associate Degree in Nursing program, NPRN704121, showed a status of Terminated with an end date of May 2, 2024 when it was read on September 17, 2026. Only the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and the Practical Nursing certificate were listed as Approved at the Davie address on that date. Check your transcript and enrollment agreement to see which program you were actually enrolled in and when.