Incompletes, stop-outs and delays in Graceland's NP tracks
An unfinished Graceland University practicum can become an incomplete only with your instructor's approval, and it has to be finished by the end of the next term, with no further extension. The real cost is to the chain: you cannot progress until it is done, so your next practicum starts a term later.
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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.
How a graduate incomplete works
The graduate catalog and the handbook describe the same policy. It is narrow, and it runs on a fixed clock.
- Ask in writing, earlyYou start the request for an incomplete in writing at least two weeks before the course end date.
- Be passingThe handbook adds that you must currently be passing the course.
- Finish by the end of the next termA course in the A session of a trimester is due by the last day of that trimester's B session; a Spring course is due by the last day of Summer.
- Expect no second chanceThe I converts to an F automatically if the work is not done by the end of the next scheduled term, and graduate courses cannot be extended beyond one term.
Undergraduate rules are different: an RN-BSN incomplete runs to the end of the next major semester, and an extension can be filed with the Registrar's Office. Everything below concerns the graduate NP tracks.
What an incomplete practicum does to the next one
Each NP track section of the handbook spells out the knock-on effect. Hours not finished inside the 16-week trimester can earn an incomplete if the instructor approves; you then finish the course in the following semester and "will not be allowed to progress in the program until the incomplete work has been completed". That pushes the start of your next practicum back a term.
Picture an AGACNP student who ends Fall 2026 short on NURS5460 hours. The remaining hours are finished in Spring 2027, NURS5470 moves from Spring to Summer 2027, and every later date moves one trimester with it. Because Appendix A and Appendix B are filed per term, the delayed practicum's paperwork has to be redone for its new term, by that term's deadline.
Late preceptor evaluations cause a similar stall. The handbook warns that when midterm or final evaluations are not completed on time, a student cannot progress within the course and may be administratively blocked. Preceptor evaluations and site visits covers how to keep them moving.
The 12-month practicum rule
The handbook sets an outer limit on spreading practicums out: "All Practicum courses in tracks associated with didactic courses must be taken within 12 months of each other." It adds that program-specific practicum support courses expire after one year of inactivity and must be retaken.
Three consecutive 16-week trimesters make up a year, so a track that runs its three practicums back to back fits the window with nothing to spare. A single incomplete or one term sat out tests the limit, and a longer gap can mean retaking support courses. The handbook does not list which courses count as practicum support, so ask Program Advising once any course in your sequence is close to a year old.
The rule also explains why a stalled first practicum matters. Once one practicum is on your transcript, the clock for the others is running.
Stop-outs, sitting out and withdrawing
Graceland uses "stop out" in more than one sense, so be sure which one you mean when you talk to advising.
- A one-term stop-out: under the graduate catalog, you may step away for a single trimester and remain an enrolled student rather than an officially withdrawn one.
- Sitting out for want of a preceptor: the handbook estimates that each term sat out because no preceptor was found postpones graduation by about four months.
- Late practicum paperwork: the practicum may be delayed, and you rearrange your completion plan to take another course that term, which extends your completion date. Contact the School of Nursing two weeks before the deadline to see whether it can help or extend the due date. The 2023 and 2025 handbooks also offered a stop-out for that term.
- Stopping out with a degree: RN-to-MSN students may stop out with a BSN, while BSN-to-DNP students cannot stop out with an MSN.
A full withdrawal has one more consequence. From August 2026, anyone coming back after withdrawing from Graceland is a returning student on the new catalog, with the higher practicum hours; after Fall 2026 begins, all returning and new students are on 750. A student who started before August 2023 on 540 hours and then withdraws comes back to 750. See the 750-hour rule.
Completion plans and Program Advising
Your completion plan belongs to Program Advising (programadvising@graceland.edu): course changes, withdrawals and added electives go through it. Registration follows the plan automatically every term, as long as no hold sits on your account. Everyone is admitted to the full-time plan, and the plans themselves are posted on the myGraceland SON Resources page.
- Tell the people running the courseYour instructor first; for anything touching a preceptor or site, the contract coordinators at soncontracts@graceland.edu.
- Put the change in writingSend Program Advising your name, student ID and the affected courses.
- Get the revised planConfirm the new term for each remaining practicum, and check it against the 12-month rule.
- Refile for the new termSubmit a fresh Appendix A and ask your preceptor for a new Appendix B by the new term's deadline.
Keep an eye on pace as well. Graceland's satisfactory academic progress policy expects a 75% pace of completion, and withdrawals and incompletes count as attempted credits. The catalog's overall limits are six years for the MSN, with one one-year extension, and six years for the NP certificates.
Other things that stall progress
- Background check: if Castle Branch has not completed it before your first term closes, you leave the program until it is done.
- Compliance items: you cannot register for any practicum until every Castle Branch item is complete, and they must stay current each term.
- Focus session: failing a required session may delay progression, and you cannot withdraw from the course once a failure is assessed there; see focus sessions.
- Financial clearance: a hold from Student Financial Services stops automatic registration, and practicum hours cannot begin until you are cleared.
- Missing paperwork at the deadline: the practicum may slide to a later term.
Most of these are dates you can see coming. The trimester calendar lays out the 2026-27 deadlines that sit behind them.
Keeping a delay to a single term
A preceptor problem sits behind several of the delays on this page: no site by the deadline, a preceptor who cuts days, one who leaves mid-term. Those are the problems we solve. We search early enough to beat the paperwork deadline for your term, even when a hospital's own request process adds weeks, bring in an approved second preceptor when hours are slipping, and replace a preceptor who steps away.
If you are already carrying an incomplete, we set up both halves at once: the site where you finish the owed hours, and the next practicum's site and preceptor for its new term, with fresh Appendix A and Appendix B details ready. That is how one delay stays one delay. Tell us where you stand on our contact page.
Questions Graceland students ask
Can I get an extension on a graduate incomplete at Graceland?
No. The graduate incomplete policy sets the completion date no later than the last day of the next scheduled term, and extensions beyond one term are not allowed for graduate courses. If the work is not finished by then, the I becomes an F automatically. Plan the make-up hours and their preceptor before the new term begins.
Will an incomplete practicum delay my graduation?
Expect it to, by about a term. You cannot progress until the incomplete work is done, which moves your next practicum back one trimester, and later courses shift with it. The handbook's estimate for a term sat out is roughly four months added to graduation, and an incomplete in the final practicum moves the finish line the same way.
What is a stop-out at Graceland?
In the graduate catalog, it means pausing for one trimester while staying an enrolled student. Graceland also uses the phrase for leaving the RN-to-MSN with a BSN, which BSN-to-DNP students cannot do with an MSN. Before stopping out, ask Program Advising how it affects your practicum order and the 12-month rule.
If I withdraw and come back, do my practicum hours change?
They can. From August 2026 a student who returns after withdrawing is treated as a returning student on the new catalog with the higher practicum hours, and after Fall 2026 starts every returning student is on 750. If you began on the 540 or 600-hour total, expect the larger figure when you return.
Who do I contact to change my completion plan?
Program Advising at programadvising@graceland.edu handles course changes, withdrawals and added electives. Include your full name, student ID number and the courses involved. For anything that affects a preceptor, a site or an approval, copy the contract coordinators at soncontracts@graceland.edu so your practicum paperwork moves with the new plan.
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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