Tennessee and Keiser's online nursing degrees
Tennessee is one of the thirteen states where Keiser's November 2025 FNP licensure disclosure says the program does not meet educational requirements, and the WHNP disclosure matches. The Graduate School FAQ's restriction list does not name Tennessee. On top of Keiser's own position, a 2026 Tennessee bill would stop the Board from approving any new out-of-state nursing school for two years.
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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.
Keiser's position, program by program
Keiser does not explain its Tennessee finding. Its general terms for NP students are clear, though: online courses with on-campus residencies in Florida, an active Florida RN license alongside the license for the clinical state, written word that the home state allows the rotations and later NP licensure, and a Keiser-approved preceptor under a signed affiliation agreement. Each line below still needs a direct answer from Keiser's Graduate School.
| Program | From Tennessee? | Where the clinical work sits |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP | Disclosure: does not meet | A preceptor and site you find, approved by Keiser |
| MSN WHNP | Disclosure: does not meet | A site of your choosing outside South Florida |
| Post-master's DNP | No disclosure; not on the FAQ list; ask | Organizational and community practice settings |
| RN to BSN, online | Possibly; confirm with Keiser | NUR4636 in a community setting you choose |
Tennessee's two-year pause on outside programs
Tennessee lawmakers took up SB 2013 and its House twin, HB 1905, under the title Nursing Education Integrity and Oversight Act, creating new Code sections 63-7-501 to 506. The core instruction to the Board of Nursing: for two years, take no new applications from, and grant no approvals to, schools headquartered in other states that hope to run programs, sign up students or send students into Tennessee clinicals. Any program not based in Tennessee falls under it, whether pre-licensure, RN to BSN or APRN.
Schools already approved before the effective date keep that approval, provided they give the Board and Tennessee's Center for Nursing Advancement any data asked of them, such as their preceptor rosters and placement numbers. By June 30, 2027 the Center must propose fresh standards for outside schools relying on Tennessee preceptors or clinical sites.
The bill's findings describe a significant number of outside schools placing students in Tennessee clinicals without adequate oversight or accountability. A secondary source puts enactment at April 27, 2026, a date research could not verify officially, and no present Board rule was found that plainly demands approval before a clinical placement.
Even a Tennessee preceptor who says yes cannot carry an outside program past a state moratorium, so settle the program question first.
Restricted practice and the compact
AANP classes Tennessee as restricted. Every NP here works with a supervising physician, and state law limits Schedule II through IV prescribing as well as how much opioid medication an NP may order. For a student, that means a physician is part of nearly every NP practice, and Keiser accepts MDs and DOs as FNP preceptors.
On NCSBN's implementation table, Tennessee's Nurse Licensure Compact date is January 19, 2018. The state has passed no APRN Compact law.
Tennessee's preceptor incentive and who it covers
Tennessee backs a grant-funded preceptor incentive administered through its hospital association's workforce center. Eligible preceptors are LPNs, RNs and APRNs who give a student 70 or more hours of individual teaching, carry an unrestricted Tennessee or multistate license, are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and complete a UTHSC preceptor course that has a separate NP module. Autumn 2026 claims cover the stretch from the start of August to the start of December, with documents owed by December 10.
Student eligibility is the sticking point. It extends to accredited in-state programs and to schools from seven nearby states, from Virginia and Kentucky down to Georgia and Alabama and across to Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri, when the hours are logged in Tennessee. Florida is not among them, so a Keiser student's preceptor would not appear to qualify.
From Memphis to Knoxville: examples of NP settings
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Ballad Health, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Covenant Health and Erlanger are among Tennessee's major systems. Nashville's metro is the largest, followed by Memphis (which crosses into Mississippi and Arkansas), Knoxville and Chattanooga (which reaches into Georgia). The Tennessee Department of Health runs statewide public health. None of these is presented as a site with a Keiser agreement.
What may still work, and our part in it
Keiser's post-master's DNP ends in a degree rather than a license, has no disclosure and is missing from the FAQ list; it asks for an RN license in your home state. The online RN to BSN asks the same. Because Tennessee's bill treats every program type alike, confirm with Keiser that either can place you in Tennessee.
Once Keiser clears a route, we comb Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga for the right clinician and practice for your course, with the Preceptor/Mentor Information Form details ready about three months ahead and a new match lined up if anyone drops out. Our licensure disclosures guide covers Keiser's lists, and the contact page starts your search.
Questions Keiser students ask
Does Keiser's FNP prepare me for NP licensure in Tennessee?
Keiser's own November 2025 disclosure says no: the FNP is listed as not meeting Tennessee's educational requirements, and the WHNP disclosure agrees. The Graduate School FAQ does not list Tennessee, so ask the Graduate School directly whether it admits FNP students from your address.
Has Tennessee's freeze on outside nursing programs taken effect?
The act applies from the day it becomes law. April 27, 2026 is the date one secondary source reports, though research could not confirm it from an official record. Ask the Tennessee Board of Nursing for current status before counting on a Tennessee clinical placement through any school based outside the state.
Can my Tennessee preceptor claim the state's preceptor incentive?
Probably not for a Keiser student. Eligibility reaches students of accredited Tennessee schools plus schools in seven nearby states whose hours are logged in Tennessee, and Florida is not one of the seven. Under Keiser's own rules, its preceptors serve as volunteers.
Who can precept an NP student in a restricted-practice state like Tennessee?
Keiser prefers a master's-prepared FNP and also accepts some other NPs and MDs or DOs with an active license and a year of experience. In Tennessee, where NPs practice under physician supervision, the physician side of a practice is a realistic place to ask. Our preceptor requirements page has the details.
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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