South Dakota: open on every Clarkson nursing tab
South Dakota is fully open to Clarkson College nursing students: the 2026-27 workbook marks it Meets for Graduate Nursing, CRNA and RN-BSN, with no footnote. It is also one of three states Clarkson once named as home to its most-used clinical sites, and its Board of Nursing leaves clinical arrangements to the program and the host. What remains is your preceptor search.
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.
South Dakota's answers in the workbook
Meets straight across; Clarkson lists sdbon.org as the licensing contact.
| Clarkson tab | Answer for South Dakota |
|---|---|
| Graduate Nursing (every MSN, certificate and DNP track) | Meets Requirements |
| CRNA | Meets Requirements |
| RN-BSN | Meets Requirements |
That last row is the uncommon one. Clarkson's RN-BSN tab says Meets in only seven states, and South Dakota is on that short list, so a nurse here can take the RN to BSN and do its practicum at home (see the RN to BSN guide). One graduate answer covers every NP track.
Sioux Falls, Rapid City and the Avera and Sanford route
Clarkson's Graduate Nursing Resources page, archived in July 2025 and since taken down, introduced "the most frequently used sites (Nebraska, Iowa, & South Dakota)." Avera Health and Sanford Health were on it. Under that page, requests for either system went through Clarkson's MSN advising office rather than to the system itself, with fall requests due July 1, spring Oct. 1 and summer Mar. 1, and both systems used My Clinical Exchange. Confirm with your Graduate Nursing advisor that the route still runs in 2026; the health system requests guide has the fuller story.
Sioux Falls and Rapid City form the state's metro areas; Aberdeen trails them. Alongside Sanford and Avera, Monument Health is the state's third large system. Independent primary care and psychiatric practices can host you too; South Dakota's Board treats such placements as a deal between Clarkson and the clinic.
What the South Dakota Board of Nursing expects
South Dakota's Board stays out of your placement. Its guidance for schools based in other states, last revised in mid-2020, says it approves none of them; a direct-care clinical is a matter for Clarkson and whichever South Dakota clinic or preceptor takes you on. Where the Board does look is Clarkson's teaching side. It wants someone on the faculty who can lawfully practice in South Dakota, and for NP students that means an APRN license or practice privilege good there; administrative rule 20:48:07:49 applies the same test to anyone teaching APRN students while those students sit in South Dakota.
The state's preceptor rule, 20:48:07:34, is written for South Dakota's in-state programs. It asks that a preceptor's license sit at the student's intended level or higher, and that an APRN preceptor's specialty resemble what the student is studying. Clarkson applies its own standard from the preceptor requirements page instead, but a preceptor who clears both leaves nothing to question.
When you later apply for a South Dakota APRN license, the Board checks for a graduate program of at least 500 clinical hours in your role and population, with graduate-level pathophysiology, assessment and pharmacology. Every Clarkson MSN NP track delivers 750.
Licenses now, and practice after graduation
Compact RN licenses have been honored in South Dakota since Jan. 19, 2018, the day the compact launched, so yours covers clinical hours (the RN license guide explains the rule). The Sioux Falls metro reaches a little way into Minnesota, which stays outside the compact; a site over that line would need a Minnesota RN license and a Minnesota-licensed preceptor.
South Dakota also signed the APRN Compact into law on Feb. 5, 2024, and Wyoming is the only other Nebraska neighbor to have done so. It has no effect until seven states are in. After graduation, AANP's summary has a new South Dakota NP work 1,040 hours under a signed collaborative agreement, partnered with a physician or with a certified NP or nurse midwife, before practicing alone. That is roughly half the 2,000 hours Nebraska's transition-to-practice agreement asks for (see Nebraska NP practice).
Why South Dakota students choose us
Because Clarkson expects you to find your own preceptor (Clarkson's model), Clarkson students in South Dakota choose us to run the system request and an independent search in parallel. While an Avera or Sanford request waits, we keep a second lane open with Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Aberdeen practices whose providers fit your course, so a declined request is only a detour. We keep sites on the South Dakota side unless you hold a Minnesota license, and we plan all five courses together. Start from the contact page.
Questions Clarkson students ask
Can I study at Clarkson College online from South Dakota?
Yes. Clarkson's 2026-27 workbook marks South Dakota Meets on the Graduate Nursing, CRNA and RN-BSN tabs, with no footnote. Each clinical course still needs a preceptor and site approved through Clarkson's agreement, plus an RN license valid in South Dakota, which any compact state's multistate license provides.
Do Avera and Sanford requests still go through Clarkson?
They did on Clarkson's 2025 Graduate Nursing Resources page, which routed them through the MSN advising office with three deadlines a year. That page is gone, and no current Clarkson page describes the route. Ask your Graduate Nursing advisor before the next agreement deadline, and search independently meanwhile.
Does South Dakota's Board need to approve Clarkson before I start?
No approval step exists for programs from other states. The Board leaves each direct-care clinical to be arranged between Clarkson and the clinic or preceptor hosting you. Its one expectation of Clarkson concerns faculty able to practice in South Dakota, which is Clarkson's responsibility rather than yours.
How soon can a new NP practice independently in South Dakota?
Per AANP, a newly licensed South Dakota NP first spends 1,040 hours in a written collaboration before full practice begins; the partner may be a physician, or a certified NP or nurse midwife. The clock starts after licensure, so none of your Clarkson clinical hours count toward it.
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.