What shapes the cost of a Samford placement

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Samford Preceptor placement team

A quote from us is written for one student: your Samford track, the clinical course ahead, where you live and how soon that course starts, and it lists what it covers before you decide. Samford's own rules bring separate costs, from background checks and insurance to clinical travel and trips to Birmingham, and this page sets those out in Samford's terms.

Get matched Chat now

Get your placement plan

Tell us your Samford program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your Samford course.

Table. Samford-side clinical costs, in Samford's terms: Background check, The student covers all costs of obtaining it.; Random drug testing, The cost of random screening is included in the student's safety fee.; Extra checks for a site, Added background checks, drug tests and fingerprinting a clini — Samford-side clinical costs, in Samford's terms: Background check, The student covers all costs of obtaining it.; Random drug testing, The cost of random screening is included in the student's safety fee.; Extra checks for a site, Added background checks, drug tests and fingerprinting a clinical fac

Why every quote is individual

No two Samford students need quite the same search. An FNP student in Hoover heading into NURG 723 next summer faces a different task from a PMHNP certificate student in rural Alabama looking for a psychotherapy preceptor for NURG 767 in the spring. The course, the place and the calendar change how much searching, checking and coordination a placement takes.

So each request is quoted on its own. Your quote names the courses it covers and the work included, and it stands apart from anything Samford or a clinical site charges. Samford One Stop, the university's student financial services office, handles tuition and Samford's fees, and a site's onboarding charges come from the site.

What moves a quote

The factors we weigh

The course. Psychiatric and psychotherapy preceptors for NURG 767 through NURG 790 are harder to find in many areas than adult primary care preceptors. HRSA's summary as of June 30, 2026 puts the share of need met in Alabama's designated shortage areas at about 28 percent for mental health, against about 63 percent for primary care.
How many courses. A single rotation, or a full sequence: three FNP clinicals, four in the FNP BSN to DNP, four in the PMHNP tracks.
The hours. A 75-hour psychotherapy course and a 300-hour practicum ask very different things of a preceptor's calendar.
Where you live. A metro area, a rural county or another state, where that state's rules can shape Samford's review.
The agreement. Whether the site is already under a Samford affiliation agreement or needs a new one.
Lead time. A course two terms away leaves room to choose; one opening in a few weeks narrows the field.
Your limits. A firm driving distance, fixed clinic days around your shifts, or a wish for one practice to host more than one course.

What a quote covers

Your quote spells out which of these apply to your courses:

A search from your home outward for preceptors whose practice fits the exact Samford course.
Checks on each candidate: license, patient population, clinic days and the drive from your door.
Preceptor and site details assembled for your clinical rotation request.
The site's contracting contact, passed along early when Samford needs a new affiliation agreement.
Tracking of site onboarding and your compliance dates against the start of the term.
A placement advisor on call through the rotation, with a fresh search should a preceptor step away.

Samford still reviews the request and approves every preceptor and site. What the quote buys is the work that puts a complete, well-matched request in front of Samford early. How it works walks through each step.

Costs that come from Samford's own rules

These belong to your Samford program whoever finds your preceptor. The wording follows Samford's 2026-2027 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and 2025-2026 Graduate Catalog.

Samford-side clinical costs, in Samford's terms
Item	What Samford's documents say
Background check	The student covers all costs of obtaining it.
Random drug testing	The cost of random screening is included in the student's safety fee.
Extra checks for a site	Added background checks, drug tests and fingerprinting a clinical facility requires are at the student's expense.
Health insurance	Proof of personal coverage, or automatic enrollment each semester in the University sponsored plan unless you waive it.
Personal liability insurance	Required for all graduate nursing students, says the handbook; not required but highly recommended, says the catalog.
BLS	American Heart Association certification with hands-on skills; online courses are not accepted.
Health Data Record	A physical examination, immunizations, TB testing and a flu vaccine each fall, on the CHS forms.
RN license	Current and unencumbered where you practice and in every state where you rotate.
Graduate Nursing NP fee	Listed per term on Samford's 2026-27 graduate supplemental fee sheet.

More detail sits on background checks and drug testing and liability and health insurance. Samford One Stop can explain any charge on your student account.

Travel to clinicals and to Birmingham

Samford's NP pages say travel may be needed for clinical requirements and that the school does not arrange or reimburse it, and the graduate catalog makes transportation to clinical experiences the student's responsibility. At 10 to 20 clinical hours a week, the drive repeats on every clinic day for a full semester, which makes distance one of the largest costs you can control.

The intensives add planned trips: two to three on-campus intensives in most FNP tracks and one or two for PMHNP students, with sessions of two to four days on the pages that give a length. Budget for the journey, lodging, meals and time away from work. Because our search starts at your address, the weekly drive stays as short as the course allows. Travel for clinicals and the intensives guide go further.

Timing, offers and your quote

Starting early keeps a placement simplest. A request made a semester or more before the course leaves time to compare preceptors, to start a new affiliation agreement and to finish a site's onboarding. Some health systems set their own student deadlines a full term ahead: East Alabama Health's ACEMAPP pages ask for spring preceptorship requests by the last Friday of October.

A course that opens in a few weeks still deserves a request, and it gets the same thorough search, but the field is narrower and the nearest fit may sit farther away. If that is where you are, read no preceptor yet alongside this page.

When a seasonal offer is running, you will see it in this site's pop-up.

For a quote, send your Samford track, the next clinical course, its term and your city through the request form, the chat, or WhatsApp and text from your phone. Your placement advisor sends back a written quote for the courses you name.

Questions Samford students ask

Does Samford charge a separate fee for NP clinical placement?

No separate placement fee appears in Samford's public documents. The NP costs Samford does publish, including the per-term Graduate Nursing NP fee and the safety fee that covers random drug screening, are in the table above. Samford One Stop can tell you what each charge on your student account pays for.

Are a clinical site's onboarding charges included in your quote?

They sit outside it. A site may run its own background check, drug screen, fingerprinting or student badge process, and Samford's handbook places those added checks on the student. We find out what each proposed site requires before you commit, so the full picture is in front of you when you choose.

Does Samford reimburse mileage for NP clinicals?

No. Samford's program pages say the school neither arranges nor reimburses clinical travel, and the catalog leaves transportation to the student. That makes a preceptor near home worth more than it first appears, because every mile saved is saved again on each clinic day of each course.

Is a placement service worth it compared with my own search?

It depends on your connections and your time. A student with a willing, well-matched preceptor nearby may need little beyond help with the details. A student without one, or with a course close, gains a full search and a complete request. Own search vs placement help compares both routes fairly.

Can a quote cover only my next clinical course?

Yes. A quote can cover only your next course, and later courses can be added as your plan of study reaches them. Each course a quote covers is named in it, so you can see what one rotation involves before planning the rest of the sequence.

Placement helpHow it worksStep by step, how we find a Samford NP student a preceptor near home, prepare the rotation request details and stay with you through the last clinical hour.Placement helpOwn search vs placement helpA fair side-by-side for Samford NP students: finding a preceptor through your own connections or with a placement service, and when each route fits best.TravelTravel for clinicalsSamford does not arrange or reimburse clinical travel. How often NP students drive, what the trips cost and how to keep your preceptor close to home.ComplianceBackground check and drug testingHow background checks and random drug testing work for Samford graduate nursing students: who runs them, site extras, who pays and what ineligibility means.ComplianceLiability and health insuranceSamford's graduate handbook says personal liability insurance is required; its catalog says not required. The conflict, health insurance and the waiver.IntensivesOn-campus intensivesHow many on-campus intensives each Samford NP program requires, how long they run, where they fall in your plan of study and how to plan clinicals around them.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against Samford's own program pages, plans of study, the 2026-27 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and Alabama rules. Your course, your program coordinator and Graduate Student Services have the final word.

Samford says connections are essential. We are the connection.

Tell us your Samford track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare the details Samford needs to approve the rotation, including a new affiliation agreement where one is needed.

Preceptors matched to the course: adult primary care for NURG 723, family practice across the lifespan for NURG 724, psychiatric care for NURG 788
Preceptor, license and site details ready for your clinical rotation request
In your own community, anywhere Samford accepts you and your RN license is valid

Start your placement plan

Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.