North Dakota and Graceland University's nursing programs
North Dakota's MSN line reads unknown on Graceland University's licensure chart, a June 2020 document nothing newer has replaced. Graceland built that degree around Iowa licensure, North Dakota's board never approved it, and so the question was left open. The state adds a layer of its own for schools from elsewhere, a Board of Nursing recognition that takes in nurse practitioner programs. Raise both with Graceland's School of Nursing ahead of any practicum plans here.
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Graceland's North Dakota answers, dated June 2020
None of Graceland's four licensure charts has changed since June 2020. North Dakota is one of 13 unknown states on the MSN chart, whose single row also speaks for the RN-to-MSN, the certificates and all three NP tracks.
| Graceland program | Chart answer for North Dakota | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| MSN (all NP tracks, RN-to-MSN, certificates) | Unknown | North Dakota's board has not approved it for ND licensure, so Graceland made no determination |
| DNP | No | Post-licensure: it creates no license in any state, which is normal |
| RN to BSN | No | Post-licensure: it builds on the RN license you already hold |
Why the answer is unknown rather than no
Graceland's North Dakota row begins with what the MSN was built for: licensure in Iowa. North Dakota's board has not approved it for licensure there, so Graceland says it "cannot determine whether the program meets the educational requirements for licensure in this state." Anyone aiming to work in North Dakota should check in with the state board before enrolling, the row advises.
Read that as a gap in the record, not a refusal: five other states carry the chart's outright no, and North Dakota is not among them. Whether Graceland takes North Dakota residents into an NP track is a separate matter for the School of Nursing. The licensure chart guide explains every column.
North Dakota's recognition list for distance programs
Here the Board of Nursing keeps its own list of recognized distance programs. It applies to any school sending students into North Dakota facilities on a path toward LPN, RN or APRN licensure, which sweeps in nurse practitioner tracks. The school applies 60 days ahead of the first student activity and proves it may teach across state lines, through NC-SARA or the State Board of Higher Education. Graceland's NC-SARA membership dates from February 2016.
Recognition repeats every semester. Before students arrive, the school sends a roster of incoming students with the North Dakota or multistate license each one carries, the clinical facilities and the courses involved, the preceptors and faculty with their resumes and licenses, the signed affiliation agreements, and each facility's written word that it has clinical space.
State law adds two conditions: the school must be approved by the board in its headquarters state, and its students may begin once the North Dakota board has received notice in writing and a facility confirms it can take them. Graceland's pages are silent on North Dakota recognition; the contract coordinators can tell you where it stands.
Licenses, compacts and the Red River
Graceland's handbook wants an unencumbered RN license where you reside and in each approved state where your hours happen, confirmed by the board rather than a photocopy. North Dakota's compact membership has been live since January 19, 2018, so RNs whose multistate license was issued by another member state can work here on it.
Fargo and Grand Forks both straddle the Minnesota line. Minnesota never joined the compact, so a clinic across the Red River means holding a Minnesota RN license as well. North Dakota's 2021 vote for the APRN Compact is real but idle: it switches on only after seven states enact it, and it would govern NP licenses, not student hours. The RN license guide covers verifications and PMHNP telehealth.
Where North Dakota NP students search, and how we help
AANP puts North Dakota in its full practice category. Around Fargo, students tend to know Sanford Health's Broadway Medical Center and Essentia Health-Fargo; Bismarck has Sanford's medical center and CHI St. Alexius Health, part of CommonSpirit; Grand Forks has Altru Health System, and Minot has Trinity Health. Each sets its own student process.
Readers here tend to be Graceland students relocating to North Dakota, DNP or RN-BSN students (both degrees are post-licensure), or residents whose status Graceland has yet to confirm. For whichever state Graceland approves, we match you with preceptors suited to your practicum course, check each license, and assemble every Appendix A and Appendix B detail well ahead of the coordinators' deadline. Start with the form below.
Questions Graceland students ask
Is Graceland's online PMHNP open to North Dakota residents?
Only if Graceland holds approval to offer practicums to North Dakota residents. It posts no list of those states, so the School of Nursing is where you confirm it. The June 2020 chart also leaves the MSN's North Dakota licensure status unknown and points you to the North Dakota Board of Nursing before enrolling.
Who files North Dakota's recognition paperwork, me or Graceland?
The program. Recognition and the semester reports are school filings. Your part is giving accurate site and preceptor details on Appendix A, keeping your license verification current in Castle Branch, and asking the contract coordinators whether North Dakota's step is in place for your term.
Does North Dakota's APRN Compact vote matter for my practicum?
Not for your hours. The state voted it in during March 2021, but it remains inactive until seven states have enacted it, and five had by 2026. Your practicum depends on your RN license, and multistate RN licenses have been honored here since 2018.
Can my practicum site be across the river in Minnesota?
It can, if Graceland approves the site and you hold a Minnesota RN license. Minnesota stays outside the Nurse Licensure Compact, so a North Dakota multistate license stops at the river. Graceland's chart gives Minnesota a meets answer, unlike North Dakota's unknown. The Minnesota guide covers that side.
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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