Your RN license, your preceptor's license and the state you train in
Clarkson College asks for an unencumbered RN license that is effective in the state where your clinical hours take place, and it expects your preceptor to be licensed in that same state. If your RN license is a compact (multistate) license, it already reaches most of the states Clarkson's workbook opens to graduate nursing, though a few fall outside it. Sort out the license question before deciding where to search for a preceptor.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Clarkson program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
What Clarkson asks for, program by program
Every Clarkson admission rule ties the license to the place where you will train, not to the place you studied or first passed the NCLEX. The MSN page asks for a "Valid state unencumbered RN license effective in the state of practice or where clinical experience will occur." Policy AD-1 in the 2026-27 catalog repeats the idea for the other programs.
| Program | What the license must cover |
|---|---|
| MSN (FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP, Nursing Education, Healthcare Administration) | An unencumbered RN license effective where you practice or where the clinical happens |
| Post-Graduate Certificate | RN license, plus any APRN license you hold, effective where the clinicals happen |
| BSN to DNP (FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP) | RN license effective where the clinicals happen |
| DNP Post-Graduate option | RN and APRN licenses effective where clinical or residency experiences occur |
| RN to BSN | Current unencumbered RN license effective where clinical or residency experiences occur |
| Nurse anesthesia BSN to DNP | RN license valid in the compact (eNLC) or in both Nebraska and Iowa |
Two more rules sit behind the table. Clarkson's 2021-22 graduate handbook required every graduate nursing student to work as an RN throughout the program, and the Qualified First/Verified checklist lists RN and APRN licensure among the items it tracks, so your license lives in the same file as your immunizations. Clarkson bars students who are out of compliance from clinical, as the health and safety guide explains.
Where the compact carries you, and where it stops
The Nurse Licensure Compact lets a multistate RN license issued by one member state count in the others. Nebraska and all six neighbors belong: Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota since Jan. 19, 2018, and Kansas since July 1, 2019.
Seven states that Clarkson's 2026-27 workbook marks Meets for Graduate Nursing sit outside the compact today, so a clinical in any of them means holding a license issued by that state:
- Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois and Minnesota: not members, with no compact bill pending on NCSBN's map
- Michigan: not a member, with a compact bill (HB 4246) pending
- Massachusetts: passed the compact in November 2024, yet its board says other states' multistate licenses gain no practice rights in Massachusetts before its rollout, which it aims to finish in May 2027
A single-state license from a compact state also ends at that state's line. If that is what you hold, you train in the issuing state or add a license for the clinical state. Nevada, New York and Oregon are outside the compact too, but Clarkson's workbook already marks them Does Not Meet, so they are closed to Clarkson graduate clinicals for a different reason.
Your preceptor's license follows the clinical, not you
Clarkson's November 2023 clinical sheets for all three NP tracks required each preceptor to be "currently licensed in the state where you intend to do your clinical." The APRN Compact is not in effect, so a nurse practitioner's advanced practice license is still issued one state at a time, and physicians and PAs hold state licenses as well. A provider licensed only in Nebraska cannot fill that role for hours logged at a clinic in Iowa.
Some states add their own wording. Iowa's rule on ARNP preceptorships (chapter 616 of the Board's rules) ties the preceptor's license to the state of their own practice, and the Iowa Board looks for a current Iowa or multistate license on anyone precepting inside Iowa. Kansas asks for more: its nursing board expects an APRN preceptor there to be licensed as a Kansas APRN in the same role the student is preparing for.
Clarkson's DocuSign agreement has the preceptor fill in the license and credential fields personally, which is where a mismatch comes to light if nobody caught it sooner. The complete checklist is on the preceptor requirements page.
Faculty licensure: the same principle, Clarkson's burden
State boards apply the location principle to faculty as well. Nebraska's licensing office holds that nursing practice takes place at the student's physical location, which means teachers must be licensed there too: "Faculty teaching APRN students require APRN licensure in Nebraska." South Dakota's distance-education rule applies the same standard to faculty whose APRN students sit in that state.
That obligation belongs to Clarkson rather than to you. Your part is to train only where Clarkson's workbook clears graduate nursing, because the catalog cautions that "some specific state board requirements do not authorize Clarkson College graduate nursing preceptorships and clinical placements." The state authorization guide lists the 12 states the 2026-27 workbook marks Does Not Meet and explains the footnotes.
Kansas describes the student side plainly. Its board treats an APRN student in a Kansas clinic as working on whatever RN license Kansas accepts, compact or Kansas-only, in the capacity of an advanced practice student. The principle travels well: until the APRN license arrives, your RN license is the one doing the work.
Moving, and life after graduation
Clarkson treats the permanent address in MyCC as your state of location under Policy OG-33. If you move, update it, and talk to your program director before the move, since a new state can change both the workbook answer and the license you need for clinicals. The student systems guide covers what that address controls.
After graduation you will need an APRN license from every state whose patients you plan to treat. The APRN Compact would change this, but it switches on only when a seventh state adopts it, and the official record shows five so far (Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming); Nebraska and Iowa are not among them. Nebraska's own path, including the 2,000-hour transition-to-practice agreement, is explained on the Nebraska NP practice page.
The license checks we run before Clarkson sees a form
Clarkson students choose us because licensing problems are cheapest to fix before a preceptor has said yes. Every placement we propose has already passed these checks:
- Your RN license type, multistate or single-state, matched to the state where the clinical will happen
- Each preceptor's license confirmed for that state, including partners in a practice you will see patients with
- An early flag when the clinical state is one of the seven outside the compact or carries a workbook footnote
- Two or more years of practice for every preceptor, the floor Clarkson's clinical sheets set with no exceptions
Send your license state and upcoming course from the contact page; the first thing your placement advisor settles is the license.
Questions Clarkson students ask
Can I do Clarkson clinicals in Iowa with a Nebraska RN license?
Yes, if your Nebraska license is multistate. Both states have been compact members since Jan. 19, 2018, and Iowa's board lets post-licensure students train there on an active Iowa or multistate license. Your preceptor must be licensed for practice in Iowa, and Clarkson's workbook marks Iowa Meets for Graduate Nursing. A single-state Nebraska license would not reach Iowa.
I live in California. Can I do Clarkson clinicals there?
Clarkson's workbook marks California Meets for Graduate Nursing but adds a note that NC-SARA covers every state except California. California has not joined the Nurse Licensure Compact either, so you need a California RN license and a California-licensed preceptor. Ask your program director how the footnote affects you before you commit; the California guide has more.
Must my preceptor be licensed where I live or where I train?
The clinical state. Clarkson's November 2023 sheets tied the preceptor's license to the state where you intend to do the clinical. When home and clinic sit on opposite sides of a state line, the preceptor must be licensed where the patients are seen, and so must your RN license.
My RN license expires in the middle of a clinical course. What now?
Tell your Graduate Nursing advisor and course faculty right away. Clarkson's admission rules call for an unencumbered license effective where you train, the 2021-22 handbook required graduate students to work as RNs throughout, and students out of health and safety compliance cannot attend clinical. Renew well before the expiration date on your file.
After graduation, can one APRN license cover several states?
Not yet. The APRN Compact needs seven member states before it operates, and Utah, Delaware, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota are the five that official sources record. Until a seventh joins and the compact starts, each state licenses its own APRNs, so apply wherever you intend to see patients.
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
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next clinical course is all we need to begin.