Academy for Nursing & Health Occupations Lawyer | WPB

The Academy for Nursing and Health Occupations is a private nonprofit nursing school in West Palm Beach, and one of the stronger small providers in the state. I am based in Boca Raton, in the same county.

Above the floor at both levels

The associate-degree programme passed 86.67% of 90 first-time candidates in 2025 against a 76.05% floor, and the practical-nursing programme 89.09% of 55 against a 77.17% floor. Both comfortably clear, on cohorts large enough for the figures to be meaningful.

For a dismissed student that is worth knowing rather than glossing over. A school performing at this level is under no statutory pressure to protect its numbers, so it cannot explain a removal by pointing at its own outcomes, and it cannot argue the cohort was unprepared when nearly nine in ten passed. What remains is a narrow, factual question: did the school apply its own published progression and remediation rules to this student? Comparative figures for every Florida programme are on the Florida nursing programme pass-rate page.

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 enrolment agreement, the catalogue and the student and programme 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.

Two further things matter at schools of this kind. Many enrolment 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 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, the CIE complaint route exists alongside any civil claim and is often the faster pressure point.

Where a case here is filed

West Palm Beach is in Palm Beach County, which 28 U.S.C. section 89(c) places in the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

  • Resolve the arbitration question first, from the agreement the student actually signed.
  • Assemble the enrolment agreement, catalogue and programme 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 authorise.
  • 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 on the Florida student defence page.

Other Florida nursing programs

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 nursing programs:

Common questions about Academy for Nursing and Health Occupations cases

What were the pass rates?

86.67% of 90 first-time associate-degree candidates and 89.09% of 55 practical-nursing candidates in 2025, against floors of 76.05% and 77.17% respectively.

Does a strong pass rate change my position?

It narrows the school’s available arguments. It cannot attribute a dismissal to a weak cohort or to statutory pressure on its own numbers, so the case turns on whether it followed its own progression rules for you.

Is this a public or private school?

Private nonprofit, licensed by the Florida Commission for Independent Education. Fla. Stat. section 1006.60 does not apply; the enrolment agreement and handbooks govern as a contract.

Which court covers West Palm Beach?

The Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division, for Palm Beach County.