Arkansas and Clarkson College's Graduate Nursing Programs
Arkansas is one of the 12 states where Clarkson College's 2026-27 state workbook says Graduate Nursing does not meet requirements, and the CRNA and RN-BSN tabs agree. No Arkansas clinic can hold Clarkson NP or DNP hours under that answer. Most of its borders face Meets states, so this page also serves Clarkson students in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi.
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The workbook's answer for Arkansas
| Clarkson tab | Arkansas |
|---|---|
| Graduate Nursing (every MSN, certificate and DNP track) | Does Not Meet Requirements |
| CRNA | Does Not Meet Requirements |
| RN-BSN | Does Not Meet Requirements |
| Licensing contact on the row | Arkansas State Board of Nursing |
Read at face value, Clarkson is telling Arkansas residents that its FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP and DNP options are not built to lead to an Arkansas license, and that Arkansas preceptorships fall outside what it approves. That is not a recent shift. Arkansas was among the states named in the enrollment exclusion list that Clarkson's catalogs carried from 2018-19 to 2023-24, before the workbook took over that job. The state authorization guide explains the workbook as a whole.
Arkansas's own rules, and why Clarkson's answer governs
A search of Arkansas's rules turned up no step requiring an outside program to get approval before one of its students begins clinicals in the state. The prelicensure standards come into play for a school from elsewhere only once it tries to set up shop in Arkansas, while the APRN program rules defer to national accreditation. Nobody at the Board has confirmed this reading, so treat it as provisional.
None of this changes the result. The workbook is Clarkson's own determination, and it governs Clarkson students; plan as though Arkansas sites are off the map until a future workbook says otherwise.
Arkansas RNs choosing between NP programs should know the practice climate as well. On AANP's three-tier scale, Arkansas lands in the middle tier, reduced practice. Part of an Arkansas NP's work hinges on a regulated agreement with a physician, and certain medications need a physician protocol agreement before an NP may prescribe them.
Arkansas RN licenses and the compact
Multistate RN licenses have worked in Arkansas since Jan. 19, 2018, and the Nurse Practice Act carries the compact as one of its subchapters. All six bordering states belong to it too.
The same Practice Act exempts from licensure only student practice that belongs to a program the Arkansas board has approved. Graduate students are already RNs, so for them the question is simply which license they hold. Arkansas is not an APRN Compact state, so each NP license there is Arkansas's alone. For Clarkson's license rule and the preceptor's, see the RN license guide.
Arkansas's borders in Clarkson's workbook
- Missouri (Meets): students in southern Missouri search their own side; see the Missouri guide.
- Oklahoma (Meets): Clarkson's clinical sheets bar PA preceptors there; see the Oklahoma guide.
- Texas (Meets): its rules are in the Texas guide.
- Mississippi (Meets): out-of-state programs with clinicals there go through a review by IHL, Mississippi's higher education board.
- Louisiana and Tennessee (Does Not Meet): closed to Clarkson graduate clinicals, as is every part of the three-state Memphis metro except its Mississippi side.
Arkansas's metros sit mostly inside its borders: Little Rock (with Conway and North Little Rock), Jonesboro, the Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers corridor, and Fort Smith, whose metro reaches a little way into Oklahoma. For anyone relocating the rule is short: an Arkansas address puts you on Arkansas's row.
How we help Clarkson students around Arkansas
Clarkson students in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi choose us because the state line is built into the search. Each proposed clinic is confirmed to sit in a Meets state before you contact it, and each preceptor is checked for a license in that state and for the limits Clarkson sets there, such as Oklahoma's PA rule. Badges settle nothing. Mercy is based in St. Louis, yet its Fort Smith hospital and its Northwest Arkansas hospital are Arkansas addresses, as are UAMS Health and Arkansas Children's, and in Little Rock both Baptist Health and CHI St. Vincent.
Arkansas RNs get the honest answer first: Clarkson's enrollment page tells people living where a program lacks authorization to consult a program director before they apply. A current student planning a move to Arkansas needs that talk too, since Clarkson warns such a move can end aid eligibility or the chance to complete the degree. After that, contact us and we will lay your remaining clinical courses against the move date.
Questions Clarkson students ask
Can I do Clarkson AGACNP clinicals at a Little Rock hospital?
Not under the 2026-27 workbook. Arkansas reads Does Not Meet on the Graduate Nursing tab, and that one answer covers the acute care track along with FNP, PMHNP and the DNP. A hospital's size or standing does not change it. Take any Arkansas plan to a Clarkson program director before looking for a preceptor there.
Is there an Arkansas preceptor tax credit?
The state research used for this page recorded no Arkansas preceptor incentive. Credits do exist in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, but each is limited to students of schools in that state, so a Clarkson rotation would not qualify there either.
I live in Fort Smith. Could I train across the line in Oklahoma?
Clarkson has not published a rule for residents of a Does Not Meet state who train in a neighboring Meets state. Policy OG-33 bases your state on the permanent home address Clarkson records, which for Fort Smith is Arkansas. Ask a Clarkson program director before applying, and remember that Oklahoma rules out PAs as Clarkson preceptors.
I live in Missouri but work at an Arkansas hospital. Can I train at work?
Not at the Arkansas hospital. Clarkson looks at the state where the clinical happens, and Arkansas reads Does Not Meet whether or not you work there every day. Look for a site on the Missouri side with a preceptor licensed in Missouri; Clarkson also sends employed students to a department other than their own.
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 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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