Affiliation agreements: the contract behind each Clarkson clinical site
Each site named on a Clarkson College agreement form needs a contract with the College, and the Compliance office either confirms one is already in place or starts a new one. A new contract can take up to two months by Clarkson's own estimate, so the first question to put to any site is whether it already holds a Clarkson agreement.
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Tell us your Clarkson program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
What the Compliance office does with your form
Start with the current rule: Clarkson's catalog makes approval of the site, and not only the preceptor, a condition of registering for a clinical course, and site approval rests on a contract. Clarkson's DocuSign instructions, in both the 2017 and 2021 versions, give the Compliance office one task at this step, to "confirm or initiate an affiliation agreement" for the site named on your form.
Confirming means finding a current agreement with that site already on file. Initiating means drafting and negotiating a new contract between Clarkson and the site's legal entity, which is where the time goes. The November 2023 clinical sheets describe the Compliance Department completing the agreement and returning it to the student to upload in the course. Those documents are no longer on Clarkson's public site, so check today's steps with the Compliance office or your Graduate Nursing advisor.
Up to two months, set against the calendar
Clarkson's 2021 DocuSign instructions put the lead time in writing: anything further is the College's responsibility "and may take up to two months for the College to complete your paperwork (Affiliation Agreement, Negotiations, etc.)." The same document warns that inaccurate information pushes it out further.
Lay that beside the last published paperwork dates and the gap is tight. Two months is roughly 61 days. A contract started on the deadline day itself leaves under a week of margin before a spring start, under two weeks before summer and under three before fall.
| Term | Agreement due (2021-22 handbook, 2023 sheets) | Classes begin | Days between |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2027 | Nov. 1, 2026 | Jan. 7, 2027 | 67 |
| Summer 2027 | Mar. 1, 2027 | May 13, 2027 | 73 |
| Fall 2027 | Jun. 1, 2027 | Aug. 19, 2027 | 79 |
The handbook's first-week rule adds a few days, but not many. If your site will need a new contract, the search has to finish well before the deadline, not on it. Every date sits together on the clinical deadlines calendar.
Sites likely to need a new contract
Clarkson publishes no list of sites that already hold agreements, so only the Compliance office can confirm a given clinic. What the College's documents and the health systems' own pages do show is where the contract question tends to arise.
- A private practice or small clinic that has never hosted a Clarkson student has nothing on file for Compliance to confirm, so a new agreement begins.
- Your employer, if you train there in another department, still goes on the form and still passes through the Compliance step like any other site.
- Children's Nebraska says on its own advanced practice page that a contract between Children's and the college is required, along with prerequisite training.
- Nebraska Medicine's own 2018 placement memo, covered below, was built on an academic affiliation agreement.
- A practice that changed owners or joined a larger group may now operate under a different legal entity, so give Compliance the current registered name.
Terms used to run longer. Clarkson's 2013-14 MSN handbook kept clinical site agreements on file for five years and preceptor agreements for one; the per-semester preceptor form described on the site and preceptor agreement page has since replaced the second half of that. How long a site contract lasts today is not published, so ask Compliance when you name a site you have used before.
Nebraska Medicine and the academic affiliation
Clarkson calls Nebraska Medicine its educational partner, and the footer of every Clarkson page reads "An educational partner with Nebraska Medicine." Clarkson's partnership page lists preceptorship and clinical opportunities among the benefits for Nebraska Medicine employees who study at Clarkson. A 2018 memo from Nebraska Medicine, posted on Clarkson's site, said that under an Academic Affiliation Agreement linking UNMC, Clarkson and Nebraska Medicine, students of those two schools were placed first.
Priority still runs through Nebraska Medicine's own process. Its student placement page requires an online application, warns that the process needs a month at minimum and asks students to apply rather than reach out to preceptors themselves; spring NP applications run from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1. Clarkson also hosted Nebraska Medicine's earlier request spreadsheet, which cautioned that sending it in secured no placement by itself. The Nebraska Medicine and health-system requests guides walk through each route.
Liability certificates and site onboarding
A site may ask for proof of malpractice coverage along with the contract. Clarkson's Graduate Nursing Resources page, up to its July 2025 version, directed requests for a certificate of liability insurance to the Compliance office, so that request goes to the same office that handles the agreement.
Large health systems also run onboarding of their own, from CHI Health's attestation for non-employees to the Epic training and Iowa Mandatory Reporter training that Clarkson's 2025 page named for Nebraska Medicine and CHI. Our health and safety page sets those beside the Qualified First/Verified checklist, so you can weigh a site's full onboarding load before you commit to it.
How we keep the contract off your critical path
Clarkson students pick us because we treat the affiliation question as part of the first conversation with every site. When we approach a practice, we ask whether it has hosted Clarkson students and holds a current agreement, collect its registered legal name and the contact who signs student contracts, and tell you at once whether Compliance will be confirming a contract or starting one.
When the calendar is short, we favor sites that already hold an agreement. When a new contract is needed, we deliver the site's details early enough for the College's two-month window to fit before your course begins. You file the agreement with everything Compliance needs in hand; how it works explains the rest of our process.
Questions Clarkson students ask
How long does a new affiliation agreement take at Clarkson?
Clarkson's DocuSign instructions, revised in 2021, say the College's paperwork, including the affiliation agreement and any negotiation with the site, may take up to two months, and longer if information on the form is wrong. Plan the search so a new contract can begin well before your agreement deadline.
Who at Clarkson handles affiliation agreements?
The Compliance office, which the 2023 clinical sheets call the Compliance Department. It confirms an existing agreement or starts a new one when your site and preceptor form arrives, then completes the agreement. Questions about a particular site go there directly or through your Graduate Nursing advisor.
Does an affiliation agreement mean the site has to take me?
No. The agreement is a contract between Clarkson and the site that lets students train there; the site and the preceptor still decide whether to host you. Health systems with their own request routes, such as Nebraska Medicine and Children's Nebraska, make their own placement decisions on their own timelines.
Do I need a new agreement for a clinic I used last semester?
You need a new site and preceptor form, since Clarkson's 2023 sheets require one for every preceptor, course and semester. The site contract itself may still be in force from your earlier course, which is the quick case for Compliance. Confirm with the office, because contract terms are not published.
What details help the Compliance office move faster?
Accurate ones. Give the site's full registered name, suffix and any trade name included, its street address and the person who handles student contracts. Clarkson's own instructions say inaccurate information adds to the time the College needs for its paperwork.
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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