Relocating during your Graceland program
A move to another state can decide whether you stay in your Graceland University program, so check before you pack. Confirm the new state with the School of Nursing, secure an unencumbered RN license there, and expect each practicum site to need fresh approval, because Graceland approves practicum sites by term, site and street address.
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.
What Graceland says about moving
Graceland's Licensure Disclosures page, under Tuition & Financial Aid, carries a note for students who relocate. It warns that moving to another state mid-program "could impact whether that student can continue in the program", whether the student meets that state's eligibility requirements, and whether financial aid still applies.
Those are three different questions, and three different offices answer them. The School of Nursing decides whether it can keep you from the new state, the new state's board of nursing speaks to licensure, and Student Financial Services handles aid. Ask all three before the moving truck is booked, not after.
The School of Nursing only takes students living in states where it holds approval to offer practicums, and it answers state questions one at a time rather than posting a list. BSN-to-DNP students face the same rule in plainer words: they must reside in approved states and plan their practicums there.
Checks to finish before you sign a lease
- Ask whether the new state is approvedWrite to the School of Nursing through the contact on its web page, name the state and your track, and keep the answer.
- Read the new state's chart rowGraceland's MSN chart, dated June 2020, says the degree will not lead to licensure in five states and cannot say either way in thirteen. The state licensure disclosures page lists them.
- Line up the RN licenseGraceland wants a clean, unencumbered RN license both where you live and in each approved state that hosts practicum or practice hours, and it checks with the board rather than accepting a copy of the card.
- Tell the people who plan your termsYour completion plan belongs to Program Advising (programadvising@graceland.edu), and every practicum approval runs through the contract coordinators at soncontracts@graceland.edu. Both need your new address early.
Missouri and Iowa both entered the Nurse Licensure Compact on January 19, 2018. A multistate license can satisfy Graceland's rule in other compact states, but the board of your new home state decides when you need a new primary license, so ask it directly. The RN license page covers verification.
What happens to practicum sites you already set up
Approval at Graceland is tied to a place. You file Appendix A per term, site and address, and every location where you give hands-on care needs a signed affiliation agreement first. Graceland also points out that a contract with one clinic in a network says nothing about the network's other clinics or addresses.
So a preceptor you lined up in your old city does not travel with you, even inside a national chain. A new clinic near your new home needs its own Appendix A, possibly its own affiliation agreement, and a preceptor who holds a current license in the state where that clinic sits. Appendix B is filed again each term regardless.
Once a preceptor has said yes and the forms are filed, Graceland wants that commitment kept, since every switch slows approvals for other students too. A move is a genuine reason, so tell the contract coordinators before you tell the preceptor, and ask how they want the change handled. The page on changing or adding a preceptor explains the substitute and second-preceptor rules.
Timing a move around the practicum calendar
Each term's paperwork date stays fixed when you move, and anything sent too early simply waits for the term before the practicum. Contracting can take a year or more, so a move in spring before a Fall practicum leaves little room. The deadlines page lists the three dates.
| When you move | What needs attention |
|---|---|
| Before your first practicum | Approved-state answer, the new RN license, Castle Branch items and a new preceptor search aimed at the next deadline |
| Between practicums | A new Appendix A for each new site and address, Appendix B from the new preceptor, and an affiliation agreement if the site has none |
| In the middle of a practicum | Hours count only at approved sites, so speak with your course faculty and the contract coordinators about finishing, a new site or an incomplete |
If the move leaves you without a site, give the coordinators two weeks' warning ahead of the deadline. Late paperwork can delay a practicum, an incomplete has to be wrapped up during the following term, and a track's practicum courses all need to sit inside a 12-month span. Sitting out a term pushes graduation back by roughly four months; see incompletes and delays.
Compliance and telehealth after a move
Your RN license for the practicum state sits in the Castle Branch GF47 medical packet, so upload the new verification once you have it. The background check runs through a Missouri package (GF47bgmo) or an out-of-state package (GF47os); ask the contract coordinators whether your move calls for anything new. Each Appendix A also carries a checkbox confirming no new criminal charges.
Remote hours seldom rescue a move. An FNP needs the instructor's sign-off before any telehealth counts, the AGACNP track rules it out, and PMHNP students have a ceiling of two terms or 450 hours, with every visit requiring licensure wherever the patient sits during the call.
If you opted into Graceland's optional placement service, its search is built around where you live, so let the coordinators know your new address as soon as it is settled.
A preceptor approved at your old address is not approved at your new one. No approval email for the new site means no countable hours there.
Why Graceland students who move choose us
Moving is when a placement plan most needs rebuilding fast. We restart your search around the new address the day you tell us, check what license the new state expects of you and of your preceptors, and gather the new site's contract contact and the preceptor's credentials so Appendix A and Appendix B go in complete.
Your placement advisor aims the package at the next Graceland deadline, lines up the second preceptor the two-preceptor rule requires, and stays reachable all term. Share your moving date and track in the form below.
Questions Graceland students ask
Can I keep my old preceptor after I move?
Only if you can still train in person at that approved site, since approval follows the site and address. Telehealth is a narrow bridge: the FNP track allows it only with the instructor's approval, AGACNP bars it, and PMHNP caps it at two terms or 450 hours with licensure in each patient's state.
What if I move to a state where the chart says the MSN does not lead to licensure?
Graceland's June 2020 chart lists Kentucky, Maryland, New York, North Carolina and Tennessee that way. Talk with the School of Nursing before the move, and with that state's board about licensure after graduation. Their answers decide whether you can continue from there and what your license path would be.
Will moving to another state affect my financial aid?
It can. Graceland's relocation note lists aid as one of the things a move may change, alongside continuing in the program and meeting the new state's requirements. Student Financial Services is the office to ask, and it also has to clear you before practicum hours can begin.
Who should I tell first when I know I am moving?
Start with the School of Nursing to confirm the new state, then the contract coordinators at soncontracts@graceland.edu, who handle every practicum site, preceptor and affiliation agreement. Program Advising adjusts your completion plan if the move shifts a practicum to a later term.
Does a move within the same state change anything?
Your license and approved-state status stay the same, but practicum approvals do not follow you. A new site or a new address for the same practice needs its own Appendix A, and a site without an agreement needs one before any clinical activity.
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.