A Kentucky guide to TTUHSC's online NP tracks
Kentucky nurses are welcome to apply to TTUHSC's graduate tracks, and the precepted hours can be completed in Kentucky once SON staff and faculty accept the preceptor and the facility. The Kentucky Board of Nursing adds little paperwork for programs from other states; what it does care about is who holds which license.
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KBN leaves out-of-state programs to their home boards
KBN's regulatory overview is blunt about it: the Board neither approves out-of-state nursing programs nor expects any of them to apply, even a program with no Kentucky footprint beyond a clinical component. Its approval power covers prelicensure programs that start in Kentucky. On the graduate side, KBN's reach extends to programs that lead to licensure, while RN-BSN programs fall outside it entirely.
One statute is worth knowing. Under KRS 314.101, as KBN reads it, a nurse licensed elsewhere may do a Kentucky clinical rotation without a Kentucky license so long as the school is a SARA member or holds a license from the state's Council on Postsecondary Education. TTUHSC participates in NC-SARA, which speaks to that condition; your course faculty can confirm how TTUHSC applies it.
License terms for preceptors, faculty and you
KBN's overview puts a license condition on online MSN and DNP APRN programs: nursing faculty supervising students at Kentucky sites, or acting as Kentucky preceptors, need active, unencumbered Kentucky RN and APRN licenses, with compact-state residents needing only the Kentucky APRN credential. How that maps onto your particular preceptor is something TTUHSC checks when it approves the person (preceptor requirements).
Your side is simpler. Kentucky joined the compact in January 2018, meaning a Kentucky-issued multistate license meets TTUHSC's MSN condition of a Texas or compact multistate RN license, provided nothing encumbers it. The DNP wording in TTUHSC's sources is covered on the RN license page.
Reduced practice, with two physician agreements
AANP lists Kentucky as reduced practice. Barring a Board exemption, a Kentucky NP who prescribes keeps a pair of physician agreements that together cover controlled and non-controlled substances, and first-year licensees face conditions on the settings where they may be employed. TTUHSC weighs any preceptor, new or seasoned, on its own criteria.
Louisville, Lexington, Northern Kentucky and Bowling Green
More than 1.1 million Kentuckians live in the Louisville/Jefferson County metro, the state's largest; the Lexington-Fayette area, the Kentucky counties of greater Cincinnati, and Bowling Green follow. Norton Healthcare, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, UK HealthCare, Baptist Health and UofL Health are among the systems where Kentucky NPs practice. Use them to picture the market, since none has a standing TTUHSC arrangement and each facility still needs TTUHSC's approval.
Two of those metros spill into compact neighbors, greater Cincinnati into Ohio and Louisville into Indiana. A site on the far side of the line still brings that state's rules into play, so ask TTUHSC before you build a rotation there.
Where Kentucky stands on TTUHSC's licensure tables
| Program | Kentucky | Clinical hours happen |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Family, AG Acute Care, Pediatric Primary or Acute Care, Psychiatric Mental Health NP | Meets | Around your Kentucky home, preceptor and facility approved by the SON |
| MSN Nurse-Midwifery | Meets | In locations the Program Director approves, organized with TTUHSC's coordinators |
| BSN to DNP, FNP or PMHNP | Meets | Locally, with faculty and the preceptor team helping |
Read those marks as permission to ask rather than an admission decision. TTUHSC's graduate pages explain that, with regulations in motion, the school can't confirm at the application stage that it will accept students from every state, and they direct out-of-state applicants to the Admissions Team first. Anyone who later relocates across a state line must alert TTUHSC at least 60 days before the move, and the new state's clinical approval is handled case by case (moving page).
Why Kentucky students trust us with the search
Kentucky's license rules make the right preceptor matter, and tracking that person down is our core skill. Our desk combs your region for a clinician whose practice fits your TTUHSC course, gathers the license, certification and facility facts TTUHSC reviews, and have them ready ahead of every semester's agreement. If someone steps back mid-plan, the replacement hunt begins without delay. The form below is the place to start.
Questions TTUHSC students ask
Does TTUHSC need Kentucky Board approval for my clinicals?
KBN says it neither approves out-of-state nursing programs nor requires them to seek its approval, including programs whose only Kentucky activity is clinical. What governs your rotation is TTUHSC's approval of the preceptor and facility, plus the electronic preceptor agreement each semester.
Must my Kentucky preceptor hold Kentucky licenses?
KBN's guidance for online APRN programs expects anyone supervising or precepting students at Kentucky sites to hold active Kentucky RN and APRN licenses; for someone residing in a compact state, the Kentucky APRN license is enough. Your course faculty can say how TTUHSC applies that to your preceptor.
Is Kentucky a compact state for TTUHSC's MSN license rule?
Yes. Kentucky's compact participation began January 19, 2018, and a Kentucky multistate RN license that is current and unencumbered fits TTUHSC's MSN requirement. Check your license record for the multistate designation before you apply.
How often do Kentucky students travel to Texas?
MSN NP and midwifery students plan on 7-8 campus days over the program, with OSCEs in Lubbock scheduled a couple of months ahead. BSN to DNP students come at least once each semester for one or two days, to Lubbock, Austin or Dallas. The on-campus page has more.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against TTUHSC's catalog, Student Handbook, program pages and licensure disclosures. Your course faculty, your program director and the plan of study for your cohort have the final word.
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- Preceptors matched to the track: family primary care, adult-gerontology acute care, pediatrics, psychiatric mental health
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