Tennessee, Its Neighbors and Clarkson's Graduate Nursing
Clarkson College's 2026-27 state workbook puts Tennessee in the Does Not Meet column for Graduate Nursing and CRNA. No Clarkson FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP or DNP hours can be logged in Tennessee, and the degree is not a path to a Tennessee license. Tennessee borders eight states, five of which read Meets, so this page is as much for Clarkson students in Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Mississippi and Missouri as for Tennessee nurses.
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Tennessee's line in the workbook
| Clarkson tab | Tennessee |
|---|---|
| Graduate Nursing (every MSN, certificate and DNP option) | Does Not Meet Requirements |
| CRNA | Does Not Meet Requirements |
| RN-BSN | Does Not Meet Requirements |
| Licensing contact on the row | Tennessee Board of Nursing (Department of Health) |
Because the Graduate Nursing tab speaks for every graduate option at once, no single track escapes the answer. Tennessee has been on the closed side of Clarkson's map for years: the catalogs from 2018-19 to 2023-24 shut it out of graduate nursing enrollment by name, and later catalogs hand the question to the workbook, explained on the state authorization page.
A 2026 bill aimed at out-of-state programs
Tennessee is tightening rather than loosening. Under SB 2013/HB 1905, a 2026 measure, the Board is to stop taking applications for two years from nursing programs based beyond the state line that want to run classes, enroll Tennesseans or send clinical students into the state's clinics. Nothing in the text treats APRN programs differently from pre-licensure or RN-BSN ones, and the bill's findings say outside programs have been placing students in Tennessee with too little oversight.
Programs approved earlier would keep their standing but owe the Board and the state's nursing advancement center whatever data they request, down to preceptor lists. That center's recommended standards for outside programs are due by June 30, 2027. A secondary report says the bill became law on April 27, 2026, though no official record confirming it turned up, and no Board rule now in force was found that expressly demands advance approval.
Clarkson's workbook does not mention the bill, and its Tennessee answer is older than it. For a Clarkson student the result is the same either way: Tennessee is not a place to plan hours.
Eight neighbors, five open
| Neighbor | Graduate Nursing | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | Meets | Named on Clarkson's older exclusion list; open now |
| Virginia | Meets | Its board does not regulate out-of-state post-licensure programs |
| North Carolina | Meets | Left the older exclusion list from 2020-21 |
| Mississippi | Meets | IHL reviews out-of-state programs holding clinicals |
| Missouri | Meets | Nebraska's neighbor and a compact state since 2018 |
| Georgia | Does Not Meet | Also on the older list |
| Alabama | Does Not Meet | Also on the older list |
| Arkansas | Does Not Meet | Also on the older list |
Memphis shows why the table matters. Its metro takes in parts of three states, and only the Mississippi part reads Meets; Chattanooga's metro crosses into Georgia, which is closed too, while the Nashville and Knoxville metros lie wholly in Tennessee. A clinic belonging to Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare or Erlanger, to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Ballad Health or Covenant Health, is judged by the clinic's own address. For the open side, see the Mississippi, Kentucky and Virginia guides.
Licensing and practice for Tennessee nurses
Tennessee has accepted multistate RN licenses since Jan. 19, 2018, and all eight surrounding states belong to the compact, so a Tennessee multistate license crosses every border. APRN licensure is different: Tennessee has not enacted the APRN Compact. AANP ranks Tennessee restricted, the tightest of its three categories, with NPs practicing under physician supervision and facing limits on Schedule II through IV prescribing and on opioid supply. The RN license guide shows which license Clarkson wants in the clinical state.
Why Clarkson students around Tennessee choose us
Clarkson students in the five open neighbors choose us because the Tennessee line is drawn into every search. Each clinic we propose is checked for its state before you reach out, each preceptor for a license there, and all your clinical courses are planned together, one per term, so no course opens without a preceptor. We collect what the DocuSign agreement needs well before the deadlines on the clinical deadlines page.
If you live in Tennessee, or a move to Nashville, Memphis or Knoxville is coming, you hear the workbook's answer from us first, along with a pointer to a Clarkson program director, who can speak to what a move means for aid and for finishing. Contact us with your state and track.
Questions Clarkson students ask
I live on the Mississippi side of Memphis. Can I train at a Memphis clinic?
Only if the clinic is in Mississippi. The Memphis metro reaches into three states, and Clarkson's workbook closes both Tennessee and Arkansas. Mississippi, for its part, asks outside programs to pass a review by IHL, its higher education board, before clinicals begin there; the Mississippi guide covers that step.
Does Tennessee's 2026 moratorium bill change anything for Clarkson students?
Not in practice. Clarkson's workbook closed Tennessee before the bill, so graduate students plan outside Tennessee either way. The bill would pause Board approvals of outside programs for two years while standards are drafted, with recommendations due June 30, 2027. Official confirmation of its enactment date was not found.
Is there a Tennessee preceptor incentive my preceptor could use?
Tennessee has one, funded by state grants and run through the Tennessee Hospital Association while money lasts, but a Clarkson rotation falls outside it. Eligible students attend accredited Tennessee schools, or schools in a short list of nearby states when their hours are logged in Tennessee, and Nebraska is not on that list.
Has Tennessee ever been open to Clarkson's graduate nursing students?
Not in any Clarkson document since 2018. It appears on the exclusion list in the 2018-19 through 2023-24 catalogs, and every licensure disclosure since, through the workbook dated Aug. 28, 2026, marks it Does Not Meet.
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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