Arizona: Clarkson College Clinicals After the Exclusion List
Clarkson College now enrolls graduate nursing students from Arizona. The 2026-27 state workbook reads Meets for Graduate Nursing, though every catalog from 2018-19 through 2023-24 put Arizona among the states Clarkson could not take. Two rules still set Arizona apart: Clarkson's November 2023 sheets bar physician assistant preceptors here, and the Arizona State Board of Nursing must approve a nursing program from another state before its APRN students log clinical hours in Arizona.
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From the exclusion list to Meets
Six catalogs in a row, 2018-19 to 2023-24, said Clarkson was unable to enroll graduate nursing students from a list of states with Arizona on it. The 2024-25 catalog dropped the list, and the workbook Clarkson dated Aug. 28, 2026 now reads as below, naming azbn.gov as the licensing contact.
| Clarkson source | Arizona |
|---|---|
| Catalogs 2018-19 to 2023-24, graduate nursing | Listed among states Clarkson could not enroll from |
| 2026-27 workbook, Graduate Nursing tab | Meets Requirements |
| 2026-27 workbook, CRNA tab | Meets Requirements |
| 2026-27 workbook, RN-BSN tab | Does Not Meet Requirements |
If an old document or a former classmate told you Arizona was closed, that advice has aged out; the current file, summarized on the state authorization page, governs. The RN-BSN tab is the exception: it reads Does Not Meet for Arizona.
Arizona Board approval comes first
Arizona's Board counts APRN education, not only pre-licensure schooling, as its business. Its advisory opinion for schools based elsewhere (revised November 2020) makes approval a precondition: the program applies and gains approval first, and only then may any of its students start clinical work in Arizona. A shorter review is open to out-of-state APRN programs when the school's home board has signed off on that particular track and the school's national accreditation is current and in good standing.
An approved program keeps records afterward too: who holds which license among its director, faculty, preceptors and students, which sites each student uses, and figures the Board requests in its annual survey or during audits. The research behind this page holds no record of Clarkson's Arizona approval, and the streamlined path raises a question only Clarkson can settle, because Nebraska's Board leaves post-licensure programs outside its regulation. Before any site signs, ask your Graduate Nursing advisor to confirm Clarkson's Arizona standing for your track, in writing.
Preceptors and licenses in Arizona
PAs are out: the November 2023 FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP sheets list Arizona, with Florida, Oklahoma and Maryland, as a state where Clarkson will not accept a PA preceptor. For everyone else, Arizona's opinion sets its own license terms. An APRN who precepts in Arizona needs Arizona APRN certification on top of an unrestricted RN license that Arizona recognizes, its own or multistate; a physician preceptor needs an unrestricted Arizona medical license. Clarkson's own standard sits on the preceptor requirements page.
Your side is a clean RN license that Arizona recognizes. Arizona's compact membership dates to Jan. 19, 2018, so your compact home state's multistate license is accepted there; the RN license guide covers single-state holders. Arizona has not enacted the APRN Compact. AANP classes it as full practice, so an Arizona NP preceptor answers to no physician agreement.
Phoenix, Tucson and the preceptor grant
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, a metro of more than five million, dwarfs second-place Tucson; Prescott Valley-Prescott is far smaller, and so is Lake Havasu City-Kingman. Banner Health, which includes the academic Banner - University Medicine centers, anchors the Phoenix area. HonorHealth in Scottsdale, the Arizona campus of Mayo Clinic, Tucson's TMC Health and Phoenix Children's, a pediatric system, are others. Each keeps its own student intake, and this page claims no Clarkson tie to any of them.
Arizona also wrote a Preceptor Grant Program for Graduate Students into law (A.R.S. 36-1806). It was meant to reward volunteer preceptors of graduate students, NP students among them, with rural primary care favored. The legislature's FY 2027 budget report shows zero funding in fiscal 2026 and 2027, and unspent money went back to the General Fund after June 30, 2026, so the grant appears dormant.
Why Arizona's Clarkson students choose us
Arizona students choose us because the Board's checks are built into our search from day one. Every candidate is an MD, DO or NP holding the Arizona credentials the advisory opinion names, with two or more years in practice. We raise the Board approval question with you at the first conversation, so Clarkson's answer for your track is on file before any preceptor commits, and we collect the license and site details that Clarkson's DocuSign agreement and Arizona's tracking both call for. All five clinical courses are planned at once. Begin with the contact form.
Questions Clarkson students ask
Did Clarkson College once turn away Arizona students?
For graduate nursing, yes: Arizona sat on the no-enrollment list in every catalog from 2018-19 through 2023-24. Catalogs from 2024-25 on name no states, and the 2026-27 workbook marks Arizona Meets on the Graduate Nursing and CRNA tabs. Go by the current workbook and your advisor, not by the older documents.
Could an Arizona PA serve as my Clarkson preceptor?
Not under the November 2023 rotation sheets, which name Arizona as one of four states where PAs are ruled out for all three NP tracks. Physicians with an Arizona medical license and NPs with Arizona APRN certification are the pool instead. Course faculty can tell you whether the current handbook keeps the rule.
Is an out-of-state RN license enough for a clinical in Arizona?
Yes, as long as a compact state issued it as a multistate license. The Board's opinion is satisfied by an Arizona license or that multistate kind, and neither may carry discipline or restrictions. A license good only in a non-compact state falls short.
What does Clarkson's workbook say about the RN to BSN in Arizona?
Does Not Meet. Arizona is among the 43 states that tab turns down, even though its graduate tabs read Meets. An Arizona RN considering that program should ask Clarkson how the answer applies before enrolling.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Clarkson College's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and Graduate Nursing advisor have the final word.
- Clarkson College: State Authorization and Licensure Information (AY 2026-27 workbook)
- Arizona State Board of Nursing
- Arizona State Board of Nursing advisory opinion: APRN clinicals in Arizona for out-of-state programs
- Clarkson College Academic Catalog 2023-24 (state enrollment list)
- Clarkson College FNP Clinical Rotation Information, revised Nov. 2023 (archived)
Clarkson asks you to find your preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Clarkson track, your city and your next clinical course. We line up preceptors who fit the NRS course and Clarkson's rules, gather the details the site and preceptor agreement asks for, and flag early whether the site needs a new affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages primary care for FNP, acute care units for AGACNP, psychiatric providers for PMHNP
- License, experience and site details checked against Clarkson's rules before the agreement is filed
- Every clinical course planned in sequence, close to home in a state where Clarkson's graduate nursing meets requirements
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