Can Louisiana nurses study at TTUHSC?
Not in the graduate programs while Louisiana is home. TTUHSC's professional licensure page marks Louisiana with its note that the School of Nursing is unable to accept graduate students from the state, even though Louisiana borders Texas. Relocating to Texas, or to a state TTUHSC accepts, is what opens those tracks.
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The mark on Louisiana, and what it covers
Louisiana's MSN APRN row on TTUHSC's disclosure says "Meets," followed by the double asterisk that carries the "unable to accept graduate students" note. The midwifery and BSN to DNP tables repeat it. Because TTUHSC is unable to enroll students physically located where requirements are not met, the deciding fact is your address during the program.
| Program | Status for Louisiana residents | Where clinical hours run |
|---|---|---|
| Online MSN NP tracks | Closed while you reside in Louisiana | Close to home, once home is Texas or an accepted state |
| Nurse-Midwifery (MSN and certificate) | Closed | Program Director-approved sites after relocating |
| BSN to DNP, FNP or PMHNP | Closed | Local preceptors, with preceptor team help, after relocating |
| Traditional and Accelerated BSN | Campus programs in Texas | Faculty-placed at TTUHSC clinical sites across Texas |
Of the four states touching Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas carry the mark, while New Mexico and Oklahoma do not.
Moving west into Texas: what shifts and what stays
Make Texas your home and the mark stops applying. Clinical hours then run near your new Texas home, with SON staff and faculty approving both preceptor and facility and an electronic preceptor agreement for each preceptor every semester. Campus days still pull you farther west, to Lubbock OSCEs for the MSN NP tracks or to doctoral intensives in Lubbock, Austin and Dallas.
Ask TTUHSC's Admissions Team to confirm eligibility at your new address, and read the Texas guide for home-area clinicals there. Already enrolled with a Louisiana move ahead? The moving guide covers the 60-day notice.
Louisiana's rule for nursing programs based elsewhere
Louisiana watches visiting programs closely. Under LAC 46:XLVII.3539, a nursing program run from another state, graduate or undergraduate, must hold the Louisiana State Board of Nursing's approval before holding courses or clinicals inside Louisiana. An approval runs as long as three years, and a petition renews it.
What the Board expects from an out-of-state program
- A written request filed six months or more ahead, listing the agencies and units to be used and enclosing syllabi, curriculum, catalog, a facility survey, faculty qualification forms and exam results.
- Approval from its own state, regional accreditation, and a national nursing accreditor the Board accepts.
- Louisiana-licensed faculty, RN or APRN, with graduate nursing preparation and two or more years of clinical practice.
- Weekly check-ins among faculty, preceptor and student in precepted clinicals, a site visit every semester or quarter, and a cap of nine APRN students per faculty member on a clinical day.
- A Board spreadsheet of each graduate student's clinical experience, due two weeks into it.
Since the rule covers clinicals offered by out-of-state programs, an East Texas student eyeing a Louisiana practice should ask course faculty first.
Practice, systems and cities in Louisiana
Louisiana NPs work under AANP's reduced-practice label: at least one element of their practice runs through a regulated collaborative agreement with a physician. Louisiana has no APRN Compact law, LPNs report to their own Board of Practical Nurse Examiners, and the state lists no preceptor incentive.
Shreveport-Bossier City, Lafayette, Baton Rouge and the New Orleans-Metairie area are the main population centers. Among the large systems are Baton Rouge General, Ochsner Health, Willis-Knighton Health, LCMC Health and FMOL Health, listed to describe the landscape rather than as TTUHSC sites.
Why relocating nurses start with us
Every state TTUHSC accepts is a state we cover. For a Louisiana nurse settling in Texas, the search begins in the new home area well before the first clinical course, matched to your TTUHSC course and packaged with the preceptor, facility and agreement details TTUHSC's approval calls for. Share your target Texas city and program through the form below.
Questions TTUHSC students ask
Is TTUHSC's online PMHNP open to me in Louisiana?
Not while you live in Louisiana. TTUHSC's disclosure marks the state as one its School of Nursing is unable to accept graduate students from, which covers the MSN PMHNP and the BSN to DNP PMHNP along with the other graduate tracks. If you plan to move to Texas or an accepted state, ask the Admissions Team first.
Does my Louisiana RN license work for TTUHSC's MSN after I move to Texas?
Louisiana started using the compact on July 1, 2019, so its RNs can hold multistate licensure, and TTUHSC's MSN accepts a compact multistate license or a Texas one. How a change of primary residence affects your license is a board question, so confirm it with the Texas Board of Nursing and with TTUHSC's Admissions Team.
Can I start TTUHSC's traditional BSN from Louisiana?
The Traditional BSN is a campus program taught in Abilene, Amarillo, Lubbock, Mansfield and the Permian Basin, with clinicals placed by faculty, so you would study in Texas. TTUHSC's "unable to accept" mark is written for graduate students; confirm undergraduate eligibility with admissions.
How does NP practice in Louisiana compare with Texas?
Louisiana sits in AANP's reduced tier, so a physician collaboration agreement governs at least one piece of NP practice. Texas sits in the restricted tier, with physician delegation, prescriptive authority agreements and monthly meetings. A TTUHSC student living in Texas rotates inside the Texas framework.
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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