Graceland University nursing students in Kentucky
Graceland University's newest licensure chart, dated June 2020, says its MSN will not lead to licensure in Kentucky, and that answer takes in all three NP tracks, the RN-to-MSN and the post-graduate certificates. Kentucky's DNP and RN-BSN rows only describe post-licensure degrees. This page is for Kentucky nurses in those programs, Graceland students moving across the Kentucky line, and anyone confirming where they stand.
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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.
Kentucky's rows on Graceland's four charts
Only the MSN row for Kentucky is a real no; the other rows describe the kind of degree each program is.
| Graceland program | Kentucky answer | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| MSN (FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP, RN-to-MSN, certificates) | NO | The row says the MSN "will not lead to licensure in the state of Kentucky." It gives no reason. |
| DNP (post-master's) | No | Post-licensure. You enter as a licensed nurse and the doctorate adds no license, which is normal. |
| RN to BSN | No | Also post-licensure. You keep working on the RN license you already hold. |
| BSN to RN (on campus) | Unknown | The pre-licensure BSN is built for Iowa licensure and has no Kentucky board approval. |
Kentucky's DNP row calls the program Graceland's "RN-BSN program", a copying slip that repeats down almost the whole DNP chart and one more reason to check the current position. The guide to Graceland's disclosures shows how the four charts fit together.
Kentucky's board leaves room for out-of-state clinicals
KBN, the Kentucky Board of Nursing, approves no nursing programs based outside Kentucky and asks none to apply, even schools with no footprint in the state that send students there for clinical work. Its reach covers prelicensure programs that start in Kentucky and graduate programs that lead to licensure; RN-BSN programs fall outside it.
The board also reads KRS 314.101 as exempting out-of-state nurses who come to Kentucky for a clinical rotation, as long as their school takes part in SARA or is licensed through Kentucky's Council on Postsecondary Education. Graceland's NC-SARA membership dates to February 2016.
The limiting answer comes from Graceland's own chart, and only the School of Nursing can say whether it still stands.
Reduced practice and where Kentucky nurses look
AANP classes Kentucky as reduced practice. Prescribing NPs hold two physician agreements, one for scheduled drugs and one for the rest, unless the board exempts them, and first-year licensees face requirements tied to their employment setting.
For online MSN and DNP programs, KBN wants anyone who precepts or supervises students at a Kentucky site to be licensed there as both an RN and an APRN, active and unencumbered. A preceptor whose home is a compact state can skip the Kentucky RN license but still needs the Kentucky APRN one.
Kentucky nurses usually search around Louisville (UofL Health, Norton Healthcare), Lexington (UK HealthCare), the northern Kentucky side of the Cincinnati metro (St. Elizabeth Healthcare) and Bowling Green, with Baptist Health reaching into southern Indiana. Each system sets its own student process. Our research found no state incentive for Kentucky preceptors.
Your RN license for hours in Kentucky
Kentucky joined the multistate system when the current Nurse Licensure Compact went live in January 2018, so a compact license issued by your home state covers RN work in Kentucky.
Graceland's handbook asks for an RN license without encumbrance where you live and again in each approved state where you log hours, and each must be confirmed through the board itself; a photocopy is not accepted. One Kentucky twist for RN-BSN students: KBN expects their Kentucky preceptors and clinical faculty to hold Kentucky RN licensure, except those living in a compact state. The RN license page walks through verification.
Who this page serves, and how we help
Kentucky nurses in Graceland's post-master's DNP or online RN-BSN can read the chart's no as the post-licensure label it is. The BSN-to-DNP is a different case: it first appeared in the 2025-26 catalog, long after the June 2020 DNP chart, and it contains a full NP track, so ask the School of Nursing how the Kentucky MSN answer applies before you apply. Anyone moving mid-program should start with relocating during the program.
We give Kentucky DNP students a practice site and mentor search shaped around their project and find RN-BSN students an organization that fits NURS4350 or NURS4460. When the School of Nursing confirms an NP student's practicums in a neighboring state the chart marks as meeting, such as Indiana, we match preceptors there with the Appendix A and Appendix B details ready. Tell us your county and program in the form below.
Questions Graceland students ask
Can I do Graceland's online FNP while living in Kentucky?
Graceland's June 2020 chart says the MSN, the degree behind all three NP tracks, will not lead to licensure in Kentucky, so do not enroll expecting a Kentucky NP license from it. Put the enrollment question to the School of Nursing, using the contact listed on its page, and ask KBN about APRN licensure.
Does the DNP chart's No affect Kentucky DNP students?
Not in the way it looks. Every DNP row calls the program post-licensure, because you start it already licensed, and says it leads to no new license. Graceland places DNP practice hours where you live, under a practice mentor at a practice site; your faculty advisor or track coordinator can explain how those are chosen.
Which of Kentucky's neighbors does the chart mark as meeting?
Of the seven states bordering Kentucky, the June 2020 MSN chart marks Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Virginia as meeting, Tennessee as not, and Ohio and West Virginia as unknown. Training across a state line leaves the answer for a Kentucky license unchanged, so bring any cross-border plan to the School of Nursing first.
Does a multistate license work for hours in Kentucky?
It does for RN practice: Kentucky has honored multistate licenses from January 19, 2018. Graceland still asks for board verification of each license involved. APRN licensure is separate: the APRN Compact is not in force in Kentucky, so a Kentucky APRN license is its own application.
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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