The Graceland background check and the attestation each term
Every Graceland University graduate student completes a criminal background check through Castle Branch by the end of the first term, using either the Missouri package (GF47bgmo) or the out-of-state package (GF47os). After that, each Appendix A you submit carries a checkbox confirming you have no new charges, a duty the handbook traces to the Iowa Board of Nursing.
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Tell us your Graceland program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
The deadline and what happens if you miss it
The 2026 Graduate Student Handbook is short on this point: all graduate students must initiate and complete a background check through Castle Branch by the end of their first term of enrollment. The rule reaches every graduate student, not only those in the NP tracks, so post-master's DNP and certificate students are covered too.
The penalty is a hold on the whole program. A student who fails to complete the check is removed from the program until the requirement is met, which stops coursework as well as practicum planning and can push back a completion plan.
Graceland's other pages describe the timing differently. The graduate catalog's MSN page says a satisfactory background check is required prior to enrollment, and the program pages ask for a satisfactory criminal background check after acceptance. Finishing it as soon as you are accepted satisfies every version. If the timing affects your start, check the current handbook or ask your track coordinator.
Missouri package or out-of-state package
The handbook presents the background check as a choice between two Castle Branch packages. You order one, not both:
- GF47bgmo, which Graceland names "Missouri Background Check"
- GF47os, which Graceland names "OUT of STATE Background Check ONLY"
The names separate Missouri from everywhere else. If your home state and your likely practicum state differ, which is common for Kansas City students who live on one side of the state line and work on the other, ask the contract coordinators at soncontracts@graceland.edu which package fits before you pay for one. Both are ordered through the GD23 portal described on the Castle Branch page.
The attestation on every Appendix A
A clear result in your first term does not end the requirement. The handbook quotes the Iowa Board of Nursing: "Students enrolled in nursing courses are required to report any potential criminal charges that may disqualify them from attending the clinical portion of the course." Graceland puts that duty into practice with a checkbox on Appendix A, and students must attest before each term that they have no new charges.
A new Appendix A goes in for every term, site and address, so you make that attestation many times over a program. Tick the box only when it is true. If something has changed since your last one, contact your track coordinator before you submit the form. The Appendix A page covers the rest of what the form asks.
The Appendix A checkbox is a fresh statement every term. A charge that arises after your first-term check still has to be reported.
The Iowa rule behind Graceland's policy
Graceland's nursing programs are approved by the Iowa Board of Nursing, and the handbook cites an Iowa Administrative Code rule that keeps certain people out of clinical courses, including a person "who has not satisfactorily passed a background check." The handbook gives the old citation, section 2.5(5) of chapter 2 in 655 IAC.
Iowa moved its nursing rules from 655 IAC to 481 IAC in June 2025, and the chapter on nursing education programs is now 481 IAC chapter 616. Its current rule, 481-616.10(6), lists people who may not take nursing courses with a clinical or practicum component, among them anyone denied licensure by the board or holding a license that is suspended, surrendered or revoked in any United States jurisdiction. Graceland's own requirement stands either way: the Castle Branch check by the end of your first term, then the attestation. The accreditation page explains the Iowa Board's role.
Checks a practicum site may add
Graceland's check clears you for its programs; a hospital or clinic can still run its own. The health systems' student pages show how much this varies. Mayo Clinic's NP clinical education program, for example, says academic experiences in Minnesota require a Minnesota Department of Human Services background study along with an unencumbered Minnesota nursing license.
When a site you are considering runs its own screening or onboarding, tell the contract coordinator early. Graceland's handbook asks students to report any site that has its own process for requesting student placements, and the site's steps sit on top of Graceland's June 15, October 15 or February 15 paperwork deadline, not in place of it. The page on sites with their own request systems covers the lead times.
If you have a record or a pending charge
The handbook states the requirement and the duty to report. How a particular charge is weighed is a conversation for your track coordinator, and it is best had privately and early, before you order a package or submit an Appendix A. A question raised a term ahead leaves room to plan; the same question discovered in the first week of a practicum leaves very little.
The same thinking applies to your nursing license. Graceland requires an RN license with no adverse action from any state, even one still considered unencumbered, and the RN license page explains what that covers. Anything on either record is worth raising before a preceptor has agreed to take you, so no one is left waiting on an answer.
Why Graceland students choose us
Our placement advisors treat the compliance side with the same care as the preceptor search. Your timeline carries your background package and its first-term deadline, and when we confirm a site we check whether it runs its own screening or onboarding portal, so you and the contract coordinator hear about it early.
Every site and preceptor we bring you comes with the details Appendix A asks for, ready for you to submit with your attestation. That is how Graceland students reach the approval step with nothing missing. Tell us your track and first practicum term in the form below to get started.
Questions Graceland students ask
When is the Graceland background check due?
The 2026 Graduate Student Handbook says all graduate students must initiate and complete it through Castle Branch by the end of their first term of enrollment, or be removed from the program until it is done. The catalog and program pages word it as before enrollment or after acceptance, so finishing it right after you are accepted meets every version.
Should I order GF47bgmo or GF47os?
You need one of the two. GF47bgmo is Graceland's Missouri Background Check and GF47os is its OUT of STATE Background Check ONLY. If you live in one state and expect to do practicums in another, ask the contract coordinators at soncontracts@graceland.edu which one to buy before you order, so you pay for the right package once.
Does my employer's background check count for Graceland?
Graceland's handbook requires the check to be completed through Castle Branch, in Graceland's GD23 account, so an employer's check or one run for another school does not replace it. Separately, the hospital or clinic hosting your practicum may run its own check as part of onboarding, on top of Graceland's.
What if I am charged with something during the program?
Graceland's handbook, quoting the Iowa Board of Nursing, says students must report any potential criminal charges that may disqualify them from the clinical portion of a course, and each Appendix A asks you to attest to no new charges. Contact your track coordinator before your next Appendix A goes in rather than ticking the box.
Does the Graceland background check need to be repeated?
The handbook describes one Castle Branch check completed by the end of the first term, followed by a no-new-charges attestation on every Appendix A. A practicum site may ask for its own check during onboarding. If the contract coordinators or a site ask you for a newer check, follow that instruction.
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
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