New Mexico nurses have four NKU choices: the online RN-to-BSN, the DNP for nurses who already hold a master's, and the Nursing Education or Nurse Executive Leadership MSN. The NP tracks are the exception, admitting only from eleven other states. Two New Mexico education rules are worth raising with NKU early: one on clinical approval, one on paying preceptors.
Tell us your NKU track and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site that fit NKU's rules for you.
On NKU's graduate state-authorization table New Mexico is authorized for the MSN, the DNP and the RN-to-BSN. The NP admission list, which also governs the post-master's NP certificates, leaves New Mexico off.
| NKU program group | New Mexico |
|---|---|
| NP programs: MSN FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP and the four NP certificates | Not open: not an NP application state |
| MSN Nursing Education and Nurse Executive Leadership | Authorized |
| Post-master's DNP | Authorized |
| RN-to-BSN | Authorized |
New Mexico's trigger is time. Under 16.12.3.11(A)(2) NMAC, once a program keeps students in clinical or field work here beyond one semester, it owes the Board an application for clinical placement approval. Schools already approved by a board in their home state still have to satisfy New Mexico's minimum standards, found at 16.12.3.12 NMAC.
That part of the administrative code is written with New Mexico licensure candidates in mind, and graduate or RN-to-BSN study gets no mention of its own. NKU's clinicals run in 7-week sessions, but a track can stack several across a year. Whether your NKU clinical time here adds up to something the Board expects to approve is a question for NKU; ask before your first session.
Under the state's definitions, a preceptor should bring two or more years of nursing experience and a license at least as high as the one you are studying toward. NKU's own floor is one year in the current role, so where New Mexico's definition applies, the two-year mark is the one to plan around.
The payment point is sharper. 16.12.3.12(D)(2) NMAC, read with the definitions in 16.12.3.7 NMAC, keeps preceptors from taking money or other incentives from a nursing program in return for a student. NKU pays its preceptors a professional development provision once each term ends, and any preceptor may opt out. How NKU squares the two for a New Mexico placement is worth confirming through studentclinicalinfo@nku.edu before your preceptor signs anything.
Albuquerque is by far the largest market, with Las Cruces, Santa Fe and Farmington some way behind. Employers students tend to know include UNM Health System, which runs the state's only academic medical center, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, Lovelace Health System and, in Santa Fe, CHRISTUS St. Vincent. AANP lists New Mexico as full practice for NPs, though the open NKU tracks mostly use educators and nurse leaders: see Nursing Education for that preceptor profile, and the DNP page for project sites.
New Mexico joined the compact's first wave on January 19, 2018, and its Board issues multistate licenses. A New Mexico resident holding one is covered for clinicals at home, and NKU's admission check is simply an active, unencumbered RN license from your home state of licensure and practice. For the wider picture, read our RN license page.
The NP tracks take applications from Colorado, New Mexico's neighbor to the north, and from Nevada, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky (the list). A nurse moving to one of them should recheck NKU's list in the term of application, secure a license for the new home state, and tell NKU's advisors before moving once enrolled.
We find educators, nurse leaders and project sites that meet NKU's rules and New Mexico's longer experience standard, collect the CV, license and Preceptor Responsibilities form, and raise the approval and payment questions with you before they can stall a term. NKU makes the final call; our part is a request that arrives complete and fits. Plan your New Mexico placement.
No. NKU's PMHNP track, the other NP tracks and the NP certificates accept applicants from eleven states, and New Mexico is not one. New Mexico residents can apply to NKU's MSN in Nursing Education, MSN in Nurse Executive Leadership, post-master's DNP and RN-to-BSN.
Possibly. Once clinical or field work in New Mexico stretches past a semester, 16.12.3.11(A)(2) NMAC expects the program to seek placement approval. The rule lives in a part aimed at licensure-track education and does not single out graduate study, so NKU is the one to say whether it reaches your plan.
New Mexico's education rules keep preceptors from being paid by the nursing program for taking a student. NKU pays preceptors a professional development provision that they may decline. Ask NKU how it handles New Mexico placements before your preceptor completes any payment setup.
NKU requires at least a year in the current role at the current education level. New Mexico's definition asks for two years or more of nursing experience and a license no lower than the one you are working toward. If the state definition reaches your placement, the two-year standard is the one to meet.
The site is where the project lives. In DNP 882 you write the proposal in collaboration with the site, and in DNP 883 you carry it out there. Across the practicum courses you reach NKU's 1,000-hour post-baccalaureate total, and clinical hours from your MSN count if they can be verified.
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against NKU's own published sources. NKU's School of Nursing and your Canvas clinical shells have the final word.
Tell us your NKU track, where you live and which 7-week session your clinical starts. We find a preceptor and site that fit NKU's rules for your track and have your self-placement request ready well inside the 90-day window.
A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site that fit NKU's rules for you.