Samford clinicals outside Alabama
Samford's NP programs are built for nurses who live well beyond Birmingham, and every NP page says clinical experiences may be completed in your community across the United States. Three conditions come with that: your RN license must be valid wherever you rotate, the other state's rules can stop a rotation, and Samford does not take NP applicants from 16 states. If you move, your program coordinator should hear about it before the moving truck arrives.
Plan clinicals in your state
Tell us your state, your track and your next clinical course. We check the state's rules as part of the search.
Where Samford lets NP students do clinicals
In their own communities, in any state where Samford accepts them and their license reaches. The FNP and PMHNP program pages open clinicals to your own community anywhere in the country, and Samford's graduate nursing page describes web-based learning with clinical experiences near home.
That reach comes with a condition in the 2026-27 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook. Students who plan Samford distance education or clinicals in a state other than Alabama are told to contact that state's board of nursing and department of education about rules for students in out-of-state programs, and the handbook warns that clinical rotation requests can be turned down because of state rules and regulations.
So two separate yeses are needed for every out-of-state rotation. Samford approves the preceptor and site, and the state where the clinic sits must allow an Alabama program to place a student there. A perfect preceptor in the wrong state is still the wrong preceptor.
The 16 states Samford's NP tracks do not accept
Samford's NP program pages and its NP licensure disclosure, dated as of September 3, 2025, carry the same list. Samford does not take applications to the nurse practitioner tracks from people who live in, or hold a license only in, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Wisconsin.
The list is an admission rule, not a verdict on the degree. The disclosure places every state, these 16 included, in its table of states where the NP tracks are sufficient to meet licensure requirements, and it says Samford alumni may apply for licensure there. The program pages add that students living in states with strict distance-education rules may not receive an offer of admission at all.
Our state authorization page walks through the disclosure and the lists Samford keeps for its other programs.
State rules that can stop a rotation
States treat out-of-state programs very differently. Some leave graduate programs alone; others want paperwork from the school, or from the student, before anyone sets foot in a clinic. A sample of what our state research found for graduate and NP clinicals:
| State | What the state asks |
|---|---|
| Alaska | Each APRN student registers a preceptorship with the Alaska Board of Nursing, backed by an agreement among school, site, student and preceptor |
| Washington | The out-of-state program needs board approval before placing students, and approved placements are for Washington residents |
| Utah | The program must satisfy the Division and Board on accreditation, faculty and a plan for supervising preceptors and sites |
| Wyoming | Post-licensure programs skip board approval but notify the board in writing and hold a signed contract with the site |
| Mississippi | The state's higher education board reviews out-of-state programs placing students there, a process that can take up to three months |
| Delaware | Schools notify the board and file site agreements plus preceptor names and licenses before using a Delaware facility |
| Georgia | No board approval for post-licensure programs, but Georgia residents need a Georgia or multistate license and APRN clinical instruction needs Georgia APRN authorization |
| Tennessee | A 2026 bill would pause approvals for out-of-state programs for two years; its enactment could not be confirmed |
These summaries are a starting point, and rules change. Each state page carries the detail and its source: see Georgia, Mississippi or the full list of states.
Your license, and your preceptor's, in the clinical state
The handbook asks for a current, unencumbered RN license in your practice state and in each state that hosts a rotation. Most Samford students meet that with a multistate license under the Nurse Licensure Compact. Rotate in a jurisdiction outside the compact, such as Illinois, Michigan or the District of Columbia, and you need that jurisdiction's own license before the first clinical day. The RN license requirements page maps compact status for every state Samford accepts.
Your preceptor's license matters as well. Delaware asks schools for copies of preceptors' Delaware or multistate licenses, and Georgia applies its licensure rule to faculty and preceptors who teach students there. Confirm the preceptor is licensed in the clinic's state, not only in the state where they trained or once worked.
Students who live near a state line sometimes assume a clinic ten miles away is as simple as one at home. It may be, or it may need a second license and a state review. Check before you ask the preceptor.
If you move during the program
- Tell your program coordinator firstThe handbook makes students who relocate responsible for notifying their program coordinator or director and for meeting the clinical and distance-education rules of the new state.
- Update your address in the Samford PortalSamford's Student Location Policy sets your state from the permanent address in Banner, and enrolled students are responsible for keeping it current.
- Read the disclosure for the new stateSamford's consumer information page tells students thinking about a move to check the licensure disclosure for the new state. Samford commits to emailing enrolled students within 14 days of learning that a program's licensure status has changed for their state.
- License the new stateHold the license you need before any rotation there, and find out whether the new state reviews out-of-state programs.
- Rebuild the clinical planA preceptor lined up in your old town cannot help in the new one. Restart the search early, because a new affiliation agreement may be needed.
Samford is silent on an enrolled student relocating into a state on the list of 16, because the rule is written for applicants. Ask your program coordinator before you sign a lease there.
What SARA covers and what it leaves open
Samford takes part in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement, and the NC-SARA directory lists it as a participant. SARA is what allows an Alabama university to teach online students who live in other member states, and today every state except California belongs.
Samford's own consumer information page adds the catch: distance education under SARA comes with some restrictions related to clinicals and internships. Its state authorization list also reminds students that each state may set different professional licensure requirements. In short, SARA lets Samford teach you from Kentucky or Texas; it does not clear a clinical rotation in either. That work happens through your license, the state's own rules and Samford's review of your rotation request.
Trips to Birmingham continue wherever you live, because each NP track requires on-campus intensives. Our intensives guide shows where they fall in each plan of study.
How we plan out-of-state rotations
Out-of-state students need the connection Samford's pages describe more than anyone, because Samford's existing agreements lean toward the Southeast. Your placement advisor searches in your own community, checks each preceptor's license in the clinic's state and the site's student process, and flags state rules before they reach your rotation request.
For students near a state line or outside the compact, we check your license and the preceptor's against the clinic's state before any introduction, so a license question surfaces at the start rather than after a preceptor has said yes. We also plan past the course in front of you, because Samford's clinical courses run back to back and the next preceptor search should start while the current rotation is still underway.
We time the search so a new affiliation agreement or a state review has room to finish, and we stay on call if a preceptor drops mid-semester. Tell us your state and start term through the form below.
Questions Samford students ask
Can I do a Samford rotation in a neighboring state instead of my own?
Samford's pages frame clinicals around your community, and nothing public rules out a clinic across a state line. You need a valid RN license there, a site Samford can approve and room within that state's rules for out-of-state programs. Raise the plan with your course before you commit to the preceptor.
Do I still travel to Birmingham if I live in another state?
Yes, for the on-campus intensives in your plan: FNP pages list two or three, PMHNP pages one or two, and some PMHNP sessions are described as on-campus or telehealth. Your clinical hours stay near home; the intensives are the part of the program that happens in Birmingham.
Does Samford's licensure disclosure cover the post-graduate certificates?
Not by name. The NP disclosure names the MSN and DNP nurse practitioner tracks, and Samford's consumer information page has no disclosure link for the certificates, although the certificate pages carry the same 16-state admission table. If you are a certificate student planning to practice outside Alabama, confirm licensure with that state's board directly.
Can I start the program in one state and finish in another?
Yes in principle, as long as both are states Samford accepts and you follow its relocation steps. Every clinical course after the move needs a preceptor, a site and a license in the new state, so expect to rebuild the placement plan. If you can, time the move between semesters rather than in the middle of a clinical course.
Do I need to tell Samford if I rotate out of state but stay put?
The handbook's relocation duty is about moving. A rotation in another state reaches Samford through your clinical rotation request, which is where state rules come into play. Have the license for that state in hand, and ready to show, before the request goes in.
Related pages
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 forNURG 724, psychiatric care forNURG 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.