Studying with Graceland University from Arkansas
Arkansas asks little of Graceland University's online NP students beyond the usual Graceland steps. The June 2020 licensure chart says the state approves licensure from Graceland's MSN, Arkansas has shared the Nurse Licensure Compact with Missouri and Iowa since January 2018, and research found no Arkansas requirement for schools elsewhere to seek approval before clinical placements. Your one essential step is confirming with the School of Nursing that Arkansas is on its current approved list.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Graceland program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Arkansas on Graceland's licensure chart
Graceland has not replaced its June 2020 licensure charts, so they remain the official word. The Arkansas MSN entry is among the shortest on the chart: "This state approves licensure of Graceland University's School of Nursing MSN program." That sentence answers for every NP track as well as the RN-to-MSN and the certificates.
| Graceland program | Chart answer for Arkansas | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| MSN (every NP track, RN-to-MSN, certificates) | Yes: the state approves licensure from the program | Recognized for Arkansas licensure as of 2020; confirm nothing has changed |
| DNP | No: post-licensure | Normal for a doctorate completed by licensed nurses |
| RN to BSN | No: post-licensure | The degree builds on the RN license you already have |
Licensure is one question and practicum approval is another. The licensure chart guide explains why a Yes on the chart still calls for a note from Graceland confirming your state.
How NP practice and precepting work in Arkansas
AANP rates Arkansas as reduced practice. The state requires each NP to hold a regulated physician agreement for some part of practice, and a protocol agreement with a physician governs prescribing of select drugs. Arkansas clinics therefore tend to run NP and physician teams, and either clinician can serve as your preceptor if they meet Graceland's standards.
The Arkansas State Board of Nursing's program rules look inward. Part 125 of Title 17 of the Arkansas Code of Rules applies to schools from other states only when they set up a new program inside Arkansas; the APRN program provisions in Part 123 lean on national accreditation instead. Research found no Board filing a school elsewhere must make before its students log clinical hours in Arkansas, though Board staff were not asked, so check any Arkansas site with the contract coordinators as usual.
Where Arkansas NP students look
Central Arkansas leads: roughly 778,000 people live in the metro around Little Rock, Conway and North Little Rock, where Baptist Health, CHI St. Vincent, UAMS Health and Arkansas Children's are based. The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers metro in Northwest Arkansas follows at about 622,000, and Mercy, a system based in St. Louis, runs hospitals there and in Fort Smith. Jonesboro anchors the northeast corner. Treat these as places NP students commonly search; each system runs its own student process.
For AGACNP students there is one drive north to Independence, Missouri, where that track's focus session happens in person on Graceland's campus. FNP and PMHNP students attend theirs by Zoom, and the focus sessions page covers the timing.
Licensing: the compact does most of the work
Arkansas entered the compact on January 19, 2018, sharing that start date with Missouri and Iowa, and its Nurse Practice Act carries the compact in its own subchapter. A multistate license issued with Arkansas as your primary residence also reaches practicum hours in compact neighbors such as Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Graceland wants each license you rely on confirmed by the issuing board, with that confirmation uploaded to Castle Branch.
Across the Mississippi, Tennessee is also a compact state, yet it is one of the five states where Graceland's chart answers no for the MSN, so a clinic on the Tennessee side is a question for Graceland before it is a question of license. PMHNP students seeing telehealth patients must be licensed wherever each patient is located during the visit; the telehealth hours page explains the limits.
Why Arkansas students choose us
We search Arkansas clinic by clinic in your own metro, checking each preceptor's license, role and patient mix against your Graceland course before we ever reach out. Your placement advisor packages what Appendix A and Appendix B need so the contract coordinators can begin the affiliation agreement early, and plans the second preceptor that Graceland's two-preceptor rule calls for. Use the form below to send your track and nearest town.
Questions Graceland students ask
Can I complete Graceland's online FNP while living in Arkansas?
Graceland's June 2020 chart lists Arkansas as a state that approves licensure from its MSN, and the FNP is one of the MSN tracks. Enrollment still turns on whether Arkansas is on Graceland's current approved list, available by asking the School of Nursing; get that answer in writing before you apply.
Does my Arkansas multistate license cover a practicum in Missouri or Oklahoma?
For licensing, yes. Missouri and Oklahoma belong to the compact too, so the multistate license Arkansas issued you reaches both. Graceland still wants the board verification on file, and each out-of-state site needs its own affiliation agreement with Graceland before a single hour counts.
Is a Tennessee clinic an option for an Arkansas student near the river?
Ask Graceland first. Tennessee shares the compact with Arkansas, but it is among the five states where the June 2020 chart gives the MSN a no, and approving practicum sites there is Graceland's call. The Tennessee guide walks through that row.
Is there an Arkansas incentive I can mention to a preceptor?
No Arkansas preceptor incentive turned up in research for this guide. What you can offer is a well-organized request: bring the one-page handout Graceland prepares for prospective preceptors, your course objectives and a proposed weekly schedule, so the clinician sees exactly what precepting you involves.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Graceland's own catalog, program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your handbook, your track coordinator and the contract coordinators have the final word.
Graceland's practicums are arranged by you, with Graceland's help. We do the searching.
Tell us your Graceland track, your city and your next practicum. We find preceptors who fit the course, line up what Appendix A and Appendix B ask for, and aim everything at Graceland's paperwork deadline for your term.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, hospital and ICU clinicians for AGACNP, psychiatrists and PMHNPs for PMHNP
- Site address, contract contact and preceptor details ready before the June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline
- Close to home in your approved state, with a second preceptor planned for Graceland's two-preceptor rule
Start your placement plan
Track, city and practicum start is all we need to begin.