Studying with EKU from Vermont: open programs, a narrow preceptor rule
Every EKU online nursing program is open to Vermont residents: EKU places Vermont on its no-restrictions SARA list, and both of its licensure tables say Meets Requirements. The detail to plan around is Vermont's own guidance on who may teach an APRN student, which is narrower than Kentucky's and leaves physician assistants out.
Find a Vermont preceptor
Share your EKU program, your town and your clinical term. Your placement advisor screens every Vermont candidate against the Board's test first.
Where Vermont stands on EKU's authorization page
EKU attaches no special note to Vermont, so the answer comes straight from its tables and its unrestricted SARA list.
| Program | EKU status for Vermont | Licensure table result |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | Yes | Meets Requirements |
| MSN Psychiatric Mental Health NP | Yes | Meets Requirements |
| Post-MSN FNP and PMHNP certificates | Yes | Meets Requirements |
| Doctor of Nursing Practice | Yes (listed without restrictions) | No DNP table published |
| RN to BSN | Yes | Meets Requirements |
Open status is a starting point rather than approval of any one practice. EKU's programs need no campus visits, so your clinical hours happen in Vermont, and EKU's graduate catalog expects you to report the physical location of clinical activity held outside Kentucky. EKU then reviews each site and preceptor you propose.
Who can precept an APRN student in Vermont
The Vermont Board of Nursing answers this in its FAQ, and the list is short. Only APRNs and physicians qualify, and three more conditions follow: a current, unrestricted Vermont license; experience in your program's role and patient population; and direct collaboration with your faculty.
Kentucky's regulation is broader, since it counts physician assistants among eligible NP preceptors, so a Vermont search has to follow the Vermont list. For an EKU FNP student that points to a family NP or a physician in family practice; for a PMHNP student, a psychiatric NP or psychiatrist who treats the population your course covers. What EKU itself checks is on the preceptor requirements page.
Rule out physician assistants before you ask. A Vermont PA may be a superb clinician, but the Board's FAQ does not allow PAs to serve as preceptors for APRN students.
Practice rules, hospitals and Vermont's approval question
AANP counts Vermont among full practice states. Newer NPs are the exception: until someone has practiced for 24 months and logged 2,400 hours, Vermont has them work under a collaborating agreement with a Vermont-licensed physician or APRN. That is a fair question to put to a prospective preceptor, next to the Board's experience test.
Board approval is required before anyone runs a nursing education program in Vermont, though the rules exempt online-only programs that the state's Agency of Education has approved. Vermont's rules and FAQ are silent on clinical rotations arranged by schools in other states, so ask EKU whether any added step applies.
The state's larger employers include three University of Vermont Health hospitals (UVM Medical Center, Central Vermont and Porter), Rutland Regional, and Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, a Dartmouth Health member. Greater Burlington is the one metropolitan area, while Rutland and the Lebanon-Claremont micropolitan area, which spills over from New Hampshire, are smaller centers. Treat them as landmarks for your search, not as known EKU sites.
Licensing: your compact license can do the job
Vermont entered the Nurse Licensure Compact in February 2022. Board Rule 4.1 ties the need for a Vermont license to residence: only a nurse whose primary home state becomes Vermont must get one, and a nurse holding an active multistate license from a fellow compact state can practice here on it. So a Vermont resident trains on a Vermont multistate license, and a Maine or New Hampshire resident crossing the line for a clinical can use the license from home.
Your preceptor, by contrast, needs a Vermont license under the Board's FAQ. EKU wants each of your own licenses, wherever issued, unencumbered; see RN license and Nursys. Vermont has not enacted the APRN Compact.
Why EKU students in Vermont work with us
A short preceptor list rewards careful groundwork. Your placement advisor screens each Vermont candidate against the Board's test (APRN or physician, Vermont license, matching role and population) and against your EKU course before anything reaches EKU, then pulls together the preceptor details and site paperwork EKU asks for. We search near your town and at your workplace if you want, and we stay on call to replace a preceptor who leaves mid-term.
Kentucky's rule leaves preceptor placement to EKU while protecting your input (Kentucky's regulation), and a Vermont option that already meets the Board's test is input worth having. Request a Vermont search.
Questions EKU students ask
Is EKU's PMHNP open to Vermont residents?
Yes. EKU's MSN licensure table lists Vermont under Meets Requirements, and that single table covers the PMHNP track and its post-MSN certificate alike. Your psychiatric clinicals in NSC 800 and the NSC 886 internship would run at Vermont sites, with a preceptor who passes the Board's role and population test. See the PMHNP program.
Do I need a Vermont license if I hold a Maine multistate license?
Not for RN practice. Board Rule 4.1 lets you work in Vermont on an active Maine multistate license for as long as Maine stays your primary residence. Moving to Vermont would change that and call for a Vermont license. EKU also wants to hear about any move in advance, since its page says a move after admission may lead to losing your place.
Could my Vermont hospital host my EKU DNP hours?
EKU sets no Vermont limit on the DNP, and its DNP page describes projects completed in your organization or community. EKU's archived DNP handbook (2020 revision) tied each clinical course to a site approval form and had students wait for the Clinical Placement Coordinator's go-ahead before logging hours. Confirm current steps; see the DNP guide.
Does Vermont offer incentives to preceptors of out-of-state students?
None is on record. Vermont's Act 183 of 2022 funded preceptor incentive grants for fiscal 2023 only, aimed at nurses in the state's critical access hospitals who took students from Vermont's own nursing schools. Nothing shows the grants renewed after that year, and students of schools based in other states, EKU included, were outside the program.
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
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.