South Dakota, Graceland University and the unknown MSN answer
Graceland University's June 2020 licensure chart, the most recent it has published, gives South Dakota an unknown for the MSN. South Dakota's board supplies the context: it approves no nursing programs based in other states, and it leaves practicum arrangements to the school and the South Dakota site. Residents and movers should check with the School of Nursing before enrolling.
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South Dakota on Graceland's licensure charts
Graceland has not reissued its charts since their June 2020 printing. On the MSN chart, South Dakota lands in the unknown group beside North Dakota and 11 other states. The chart treats every MSN option as one, so the row covers all of them.
| Graceland program | South Dakota answer | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| MSN (NP tracks, RN-to-MSN, certificates) | Unknown | No South Dakota board approval for SD licensure, so Graceland reached no conclusion |
| DNP | No | Post-licensure; no new license results in any state, as expected |
| RN to BSN | No | Post-licensure; your existing RN license is the starting point |
Two June 2020 documents, side by side
Graceland's row walks from cause to conclusion. The MSN was designed for students pursuing licensure in Iowa; South Dakota's board has not approved it to lead to South Dakota licensure; so Graceland says it cannot determine whether the degree satisfies the state's educational requirements. It then urges would-be South Dakota nurses to contact the board first.
The board's own FAQ for out-of-state programs, revised the same month the chart was printed, puts that answer in context: South Dakota approves no nursing programs located in other states. That FAQ also sketches the education behind a South Dakota APRN license: graduate preparation with no fewer than 500 clinical hours spent in one role and population, backed by graduate pharmacology, pathophysiology, and health and physical assessment. Only the board can weigh a Graceland transcript against it. The licensure chart guide covers the rest of the map.
How an out-of-state practicum is set up here
With no program approval in play, a practicum here rests on a direct deal between Graceland and whichever clinic, agency or clinician hosts you. At Graceland, that deal is the affiliation agreement a contract coordinator sends to each site.
The board does expect one thing of the school: someone on its faculty who is licensed for South Dakota. Under ARSD 20:48:07:49, APRN students located in the state are to be taught by faculty holding South Dakota APRN licensure or a privilege to practice there. Graceland's pages say nothing on this point for South Dakota, so raise it with the School of Nursing early.
For programs the board itself approves, ARSD 20:48:07:34 looks for preceptors whose license matches or exceeds the one the student is working toward, and APRN preceptors whose role, focus or specialty resembles the student's. Graceland layers its own preceptor requirements over any state standard.
Practice rules, licenses and the Minnesota edge
AANP files South Dakota under full practice, though new NPs pass through a transition first: 1,040 hours in written collaboration, whether with a physician, another certified NP or a certified nurse midwife. If a recently licensed NP offers to precept you, ask how far along that stretch they are.
South Dakota's multistate RN licenses date from the compact's January 19, 2018 start. Graceland wants your RN license valid at home and in each approved practicum state. Part of the Sioux Falls metro lies in Minnesota, which sits outside the compact, so hours on that side call for Minnesota's own RN license. The APRN Compact South Dakota signed in February 2024 waits on a seventh enacting state before it does anything. The RN license guide has the detail.
Where students look in South Dakota, and who we serve here
Most South Dakota NP searches center on Sioux Falls and Rapid City, with Aberdeen as a smaller hub. The three systems students run into most are Avera Health, Monument Health and Sanford Health, and each keeps its own student process.
This guide is for Graceland students moving to South Dakota, DNP and RN-BSN students in post-licensure programs, and residents still waiting on the School of Nursing to confirm their state. Once Graceland approves where you will train, we find preceptors whose role and population match your track, verify their licenses and experience, and ready the Appendix A and Appendix B details ahead of Graceland's paperwork deadline. Use the form below to start.
Questions Graceland students ask
Will Graceland's online FNP lead to an NP license in South Dakota?
Graceland's June 2020 chart does not say. It marks the MSN unknown for South Dakota because the state's board has not approved the program for South Dakota licensure. The South Dakota Board of Nursing decides, so contact it before enrolling, and ask the School of Nursing whether it currently accepts students from South Dakota.
Does South Dakota's board have to approve Graceland before my practicum?
No. The board approves no out-of-state nursing programs; the agreement runs between Graceland and your South Dakota site or preceptor. Graceland still needs its own signed affiliation agreement with every site before your first hour, and your RN license must be valid in South Dakota.
Could an NP in South Dakota's transition period be my preceptor?
Check two things first. South Dakota's new NPs work through a 1,040-hour collaborative stretch, and Graceland sets its own minimum experience for NP preceptors. Ask the NP how many of those hours remain, then compare their history with the preceptor requirements before anyone fills in Appendix B.
Will my South Dakota multistate license cover practicum hours in North Dakota or Iowa?
For RN practice, yes: both belong to the compact. Graceland must also approve the practicum state, and North Dakota's board runs its own recognition step for distance programs, covered in the North Dakota guide. Iowa, Graceland's home campus state, gets a meets answer on the chart; see the Iowa guide.
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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