Arkansas residents in EKU's online nursing programs
EKU's licensure tables mark Arkansas as Meets Requirements for the MSN, both post-MSN certificates and the RN to BSN, and the DNP is open as well, so an Arkansas nurse can enroll in any EKU online nursing program. With no campus visits required, your clinicals run in Arkansas, a reduced-practice state, and EKU remains responsible for securing and approving your preceptor.
Start your Arkansas search
Share your town, your EKU program and the clinical course coming up. Your placement advisor takes it from there.
Arkansas at a glance on EKU's page
| Program | Status for Arkansas | Licensure table |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP and MSN PMHNP | Enrolling | Meets Requirements |
| Post-MSN FNP and PMHNP certificates | Enrolling | Meets Requirements (same MSN table) |
| Post-master's DNP | Enrolling; Arkansas is on the SARA list without restrictions | Not a licensure program, so no table |
| RN to BSN | Enrolling | Meets Requirements |
EKU lists Arkansas among SARA member states without restrictions and adds no Arkansas nursing note. FNP and PMHNP students get one shared result because EKU keeps a single MSN table for both concentrations. Recheck the page before each clinical course, since EKU edits it during the year, and follow the graduate catalog's rule to report where any placement outside Kentucky physically takes place.
Reduced practice and Arkansas preceptors
AANP puts Arkansas in its reduced-practice group. Some part of every Arkansas NP's practice sits inside a regulated physician agreement, and some drugs stay off-limits unless a physician protocol agreement covers them. Any NP preceptor you consider will have that physician arrangement in the background, so ask how prescribing is handled at the practice before you propose it.
Under Kentucky's APRN program regulation, the people who may precept are APRNs, physicians and physician assistants, and EKU has published no narrower standard; whether a given clinician suits the course is your faculty's call. The same regulation gives EKU the duty of securing its NP students' preceptors while leaving you a voice in the choice, so naming a clinic near Jonesboro or Conway is a legitimate use of it. See using your input and the Kentucky rule.
What the Arkansas board asks of out-of-state programs
Arkansas appears to ask nothing extra of a school that only sends clinical students into the state: neither the Arkansas State Board of Nursing's rules nor its web guidance, as reviewed, show an approval step for clinical-only placements. Part 125 of 17 CAR, the prelicensure standards, touches outside schools planning a brand-new Arkansas program, and Subpart 10 of 17 CAR Part 123 deals with new and established APRN programs through what the rules call deemed status, based on national accreditation. The board has not confirmed this reading directly, so let EKU's guidance lead.
One clause in the Nurse Practice Act matters for you. Its licensure exemption for students covers practice incidental to study in programs the Arkansas board approves, so lean on your own RN license, valid in Arkansas, at any Arkansas site. The Act also carries the Nurse Licensure Compact, which took effect for Arkansas nurses on January 19, 2018. Arkansas has no enactment of the APRN Compact. On EKU's side, no license you hold anywhere may carry an encumbrance; RN license and Nursys explains.
Little Rock, Northwest Arkansas and the Fort Smith line
Nearly 778,000 people call the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway area home, more than in any other Arkansas metro; Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers comes second, with Fort Smith and Jonesboro smaller. Baptist Health and CHI St. Vincent are based in Little Rock, UAMS Health is the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences system, Arkansas Children's is another, and Mercy's Arkansas hospitals sit in Fort Smith and the northwest corner. They are listed to orient an Arkansas search, not as sites hosting EKU students.
The Fort Smith metro crosses into Oklahoma. A site on the Oklahoma side brings in that state's rules, among them the need for an unencumbered RN license that is good in Oklahoma, and for the faculty member supervising the clinical to hold an Oklahoma license, so check with your faculty first. The Oklahoma guide covers those conditions.
What Arkansas students get from us
We search for family practice or psychiatric preceptors within reach of your home, from Fayetteville to Jonesboro, and confirm each preceptor's license and physician arrangement before anything goes to EKU. Your placement advisor drafts the preceptor information and collects site documents for EKU's review, then stays with you through NSC 800 and the internship, ready to start a replacement search should a preceptor leave. See how it works.
Questions EKU students ask
Can I take EKU's post-MSN FNP certificate from Arkansas?
Yes. The MSN licensure table that covers the certificates lists Arkansas as Meets Requirements. The certificate runs 32 credits, including 9 prerequisite credits, and shares the MSN's clinical courses: NSC 800 taken with FNP I through III, then the NSC 876 internship, so your Arkansas preceptor search looks the same as an MSN student's.
Can I train in Missouri or Tennessee while living in Arkansas?
Nothing on EKU's public pages addresses clinicals in a state other than the one you live in, so your faculty are the ones to clear it. The two states also sit differently on EKU's page. Missouri takes EKU NP students, with site contracts kept short-term and sites subject to EKU program approval, whereas EKU is not accepting nursing students in Tennessee. Your RN license also has to cover the state where the site sits.
Can I do EKU's RN to BSN clinical in Arkansas?
Yes. The RN to BSN table lists Arkansas as Meets Requirements. Its lone clinical course is NSC 442C, set at 60 clock hours over 8 weeks in an archived handbook, and an EKU news story says the capstone clinical project can be completed at your current place of employment. The RN to BSN clinical guide covers the setting.
Is EKU's online DNP open to Arkansas nurses?
Yes. EKU names no DNP restriction for Arkansas, which sits on its unrestricted SARA list, and no DNP licensure table exists since the degree leads to no license. Under EKU's archived 2020 DNP handbook, a Request for DNP Experience Site Approval Form went in for each clinical course, so ask your faculty what the current process requires.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against EKU's own catalog, program pages and handbooks, and Kentucky's regulations. The current MSN Student Handbook, your course and your faculty have the final word.
EKU secures your preceptor. Your input decides how well it fits your life.
Tell us your EKU program, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors in your community who fit the course and prepare everything EKU reviews, so the option you put forward is ready to approve.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family primary care for
NSC 800andNSC 876, psychiatric care forNSC 886 - Preceptor, license and site details organized for EKU's preceptor information form
- In your own community, wherever EKU enrolls students and you hold your RN license
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