South Dakota residents and Keiser's nursing programs
Keiser's November 2025 FNP licensure disclosure puts South Dakota among the thirteen states where the program does not meet educational requirements for NP licensure, and the WHNP disclosure agrees. The Graduate School FAQ's restriction list leaves South Dakota out. Treat the disclosure as the live barrier and ask Keiser's Graduate School about your situation in writing.
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Tell us your Keiser program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Keiser course.
Where South Dakota lands in Keiser's paperwork
The disclosure speaks to the licensure outcome: whether Keiser's FNP coursework lines up with what South Dakota asks of a new nurse practitioner. Keiser reports that it does not, and gives no reason. The FAQ, a separate page about MSN/FNP/DNP restrictions, never names South Dakota, which is why the post-master's DNP looks more open here than in states on that list.
Both documents and their gaps are compared on our licensure disclosures page. Keiser's FNP baseline applies from any state: online study with two Fort Lauderdale residencies, an active Florida RN license plus a license where you train, and a preceptor you find yourself, approved by Keiser and backed by an affiliation agreement.
| Program | Standing for South Dakota | Clinical location |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP | Does not meet, per the FNP disclosure | A local site and preceptor you secure, Keiser-approved |
| MSN WHNP | Does not meet, per the WHNP disclosure | A site you select outside South Florida |
| Post-master's DNP | No disclosure and no FAQ entry; ask Keiser | Your practice organization and community |
| RN to BSN, online | Open question; confirm with Keiser | One 45-hour community course, NUR4636 |
How the South Dakota Board of Nursing treats outside programs
South Dakota's Board of Nursing does not approve schools headquartered in other states. When a student from such a school trains in South Dakota, the clinical deal is struck between the school and whichever South Dakota clinician or facility says yes. The Board's one firm expectation concerns faculty: for RN students in the state, somebody on the school's faculty must hold a South Dakota RN license or a privilege to practice, and for APRN students, a South Dakota APRN license or the equivalent privilege. Section 20:48:07:49 of the state's administrative rules, covering distance education, puts that expectation in writing.
Programs the Board itself approves meet a preceptor test as well. Nobody may precept a student toward a license higher than their own, and an APRN student's preceptor should share, or closely mirror, the student's role and population focus.
South Dakota's gate for APRN students is a faculty member licensed at the APRN level in South Dakota, which falls on the school, not the student.
Licensure and practice once you finish
An APRN license in South Dakota rests on graduate education that includes 500 or more clinical hours inside the student's role and population, along with graduate-level courses in pharmacology, pathophysiology, and health and physical assessment. On AANP's map South Dakota is a full practice state with an on-ramp: before practicing alone, each newly licensed NP completes 1,040 hours bound by a written collaborative arrangement, partnered with an MD or DO, a certified nurse midwife or a certified NP.
The Nurse Licensure Compact took effect for South Dakota nurses on January 19, 2018. South Dakota adopted the APRN Compact in February 2024, yet that pact stays idle until seven states have enacted it, and five had as of 2026. No state preceptor incentive appeared in research.
Sioux Falls, Rapid City and the wider state
South Dakota's large health systems include Sanford Health, Avera Health and Monument Health. Sioux Falls is the largest metro and edges into Minnesota; Rapid City is second; Aberdeen is a smaller micropolitan center. The South Dakota Department of Health handles public health statewide. We mention these as examples of practice settings, not as places holding Keiser agreements.
Questions to put to Keiser before you apply
- Does the FNP or WHNP disclosure finding for South Dakota still stand, and does it rule out admission from your address?
- Would the post-master's DNP, a degree without a license attached and absent from both Keiser lists for this state, accept you with your South Dakota RN license?
- Would the online RN to BSN, which admits nurses licensed in their home state, place its community clinical in South Dakota?
- Does Keiser have faculty holding South Dakota licensure at the level South Dakota's Board expects?
Keep Keiser's replies in writing. The out-of-state FNP guide covers the home-state verification Keiser asks applicants outside Florida to supply.
Why South Dakota nurses choose us
Once Keiser confirms your program, we run a search built around Sioux Falls, Rapid City and the towns between, matched to your course and assembled for Keiser's Preceptor/Mentor Information Form about three months before the term. Licenses, CVs, agreement contacts and clinical dates arrive complete, and if a preceptor drops out we source the next one. Start with a message.
Questions Keiser students ask
Can I earn Keiser's FNP and get licensed as an NP in South Dakota?
Keiser's November 2025 FNP disclosure says the program does not meet South Dakota's educational requirements for NP licensure. That is Keiser's own finding, so an application from South Dakota starts with a direct question to the Graduate School about whether that finding has changed.
Does South Dakota's board have to approve Keiser before I do clinicals there?
No. The South Dakota Board of Nursing says approving schools based elsewhere is outside its role; a placement rests on an agreement between the school and the South Dakota clinician or agency hosting you. The Board does look for a school faculty member with South Dakota APRN licensure or privilege when APRN students train in the state.
How many clinical hours does South Dakota want for APRN licensure?
South Dakota asks for 500 or more clinical hours in the APRN role and population, earned in a graduate program that also teaches pathophysiology, health and physical assessment, and pharmacology. Keiser's own FNP hour totals differ by source, which our clinical hours page sets out.
What does full practice mean for a new NP in South Dakota?
AANP places South Dakota in its full practice group, with a transition period first: 1,040 hours of practice tied to a written collaborative agreement. The partner in that agreement can be a certified nurse midwife, a physician or a certified NP. Once those hours are logged, the NP may practice without that arrangement.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Keiser's catalogs, graduate nursing manuals, licensure disclosures and program pages. Your course, the Clinical Coordinator and the 2026-27 Graduate Catalog have the final word.
Keiser asks you to find your own preceptor. Let us run that search.
Tell us your Keiser program, your next practicum and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the CV, license and site details your Preceptor/Mentor Information Form needs, about three months ahead.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult and older-adult primary care for
NUR602AandNUR603A, pediatrics forNUR604A, women's health forNUR605A - CV, license, certification and site contact ready for Keiser's review and the affiliation agreement
- Across Florida, from Miami to Jacksonville, and in the other states where you are licensed
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