UT Tyler's Texas-only rule for NP clinicals
In a UT Tyler nurse practitioner track you live in Texas for the whole program, and every clinical hour happens in Texas, with a Texas-licensed preceptor at a Texas site. A handful of older UT Tyler pages still talk about other states; they were written before the current rule and are outdated on this point. This page shows where the rule is written, what it covers day to day, and how to read the pages that disagree.
Find a Texas preceptor near you
Tell us your county, track and next UT Tyler course, and your placement advisor searches your own part of Texas.
What UT Tyler's rule says, and where it is written
The rule sits under Student Clinical Requirements on the School of Nursing's graduate programs page, where UT Tyler set it in bold: "Students are required to reside in and complete all clinical hours in Texas." The same passage ties all APRN clinical hours to an unencumbered compact or Texas RN license.
Three newer sources repeat it in their own words. The 2026-27 catalog tells APRN-seeking candidates in the MSN, the post-master's certificates and the BSN-DNP pathways to hold a Texas RN license, a sentence missing from the 2025-26 catalog's MSN section. The PMHNP program page asks for a Texas-licensed facility and a Texas-licensed practitioner. PMHNP syllabi for Fall 2026 go furthest, placing the preceptor, the student and the patients all inside Texas.
Tracks the rule covers
- MSN Family Nurse Practitioner and the post-master's FNP certificate
- MSN Psychiatric-Mental Health NP and the post-master's PMHNP certificate
- The post-master's Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP certificate
- BSN to DNP in an NP concentration
- DNP-Nurse Anesthesia, taught in person with program hospitals in East Texas
Living in Texas: what "reside" asks of you
Residence is about where you live while enrolled, and the rule runs from your first course to your last clinical day. A nurse who lives in Shreveport or Texarkana, Arkansas and commutes to a Texas hospital does not meet the wording, even though the job is in Texas. Holding a Texas RN license is a separate requirement: a Texas license in the hands of someone living in Louisiana still falls short.
UT Tyler publishes no rule for a student who moves partway through. Because a move out of Texas would break the residence requirement, raise it with your program coordinator before you sign a lease elsewhere, not after. A long travel contract outside Texas during a clinical semester raises the same problem, since your hours still have to be logged at a Texas site.
Clinical hours in Texas: sites, preceptors and patients
Every hour logged toward NURS 5453, NURS 5367, NURS 7383 or any other NP clinical course has to be earned at a Texas site, under a preceptor licensed to practice in Texas. That includes the final FNP internships, NURS 5347 and NURS 5349, and all six AGACNP practica.
Telehealth is where the rule catches students out. PMHNP syllabi require the preceptor, student and patients to be in Texas, and cap telehealth at 63 hours per course. The NP Preceptor Guide adds that telehealth teaching happens on site with the preceptor supervising, so watching an out-of-state psychiatrist's video visits from your kitchen table earns nothing toward the course.
UT Tyler's state authorization page lists all 50 states for online courses. That list is about distance education in general and does not open NP clinicals to other states; for NP tracks the School of Nursing's Texas-only rule governs.
Older UT Tyler pages that mention other states
Several live pages predate the rule and still carry out-of-state wording. On this point they are outdated: the graduate programs page, the 2026-27 catalog and the Fall 2026 syllabi govern. Each is listed with its last update so you recognize it when a classmate quotes it.
| Page | Older wording | How to read it now |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP program page (April 2026) | RN license "in the state(s) where clinical practicum will occur" | For NP students that state is Texas |
| NP certificate, AGACNP certificate and certificates pages (April to May 2026) | A note for online out-of-state applicants about reciprocity agreements and clinical hours | Left over from before Texas residence was required |
| BSN-DNP PMHNP pathway, 2026-27 catalog | License in the practicum state | The other BSN-DNP pages and the PMHNP pages ask for Texas |
| NP Preceptor Guide, January 2023 | Preceptor licensed where the student trains | Texas, for every NP track |
| University licensure chart (June 2026) | FNP leads to licensure "in all states" | About recognition of the degree, not where you may train |
When two UT Tyler pages disagree, ask your program coordinator which one applies to your cohort and keep the answer in writing.
UT Tyler tracks that are not Texas-only
The rule is written for APRN clinical hours. UT Tyler's online Nursing Administration, MSN/MBA, Nursing Education and Informatics, Quality and Safety programs, their certificates and the post-master's DNP accept students in other states, with an RN license where the practicum happens. UT Tyler also holds Washington State approval for Administration and MSN/MBA practice experiences there. Students in these tracks outside Texas should also read UT Tyler's licensure chart, which frames each program around the state where you plan to practice.
The BSN runs on the Tyler, Longview and Palestine campuses with faculty-assigned placements, and the online RN to BSN has no preceptor placement at all. For the state-by-state enrollment picture, see who UT Tyler enrolls from outside Texas, and for license details by program, the RN license guide.
How we search inside Texas for you
A Texas-only rule works best with a local search. A preceptor four hours away is not a real option for a nurse working three twelves, so your placement advisor starts in your own region, from East Texas to El Paso, and proposes only Texas sites with Texas-licensed preceptors.
Many Texas sites already prefer Texas schools. In a 2024 Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies survey of clinical sites used by pre-licensure programs, 62.9% of responding sites said they take students only from Texas-based programs. University Health in San Antonio lists being physically based in Texas among its affiliation criteria, according to its student page.
Send your county and next course through the request form, and browse the Texas region guides to see what each part of the state offers.
Questions UT Tyler students ask
Can I do UT Tyler NP clinicals across the state line in Louisiana or Oklahoma?
No. Every clinical hour in a UT Tyler NP track has to be completed in Texas, even when an out-of-state clinic is closer to home than any Texas option. If you live near the border, ask your placement advisor to search Texas towns along the same route so the drive stays reasonable.
Is a multistate compact license enough for UT Tyler's NP tracks?
UT Tyler's pages differ. The graduate programs page accepts an unencumbered compact or Texas RN license for APRN clinical hours, while the 2026-27 catalog asks APRN-seeking candidates for a Texas RN license and the PMHNP certificate page tells students to obtain one. Confirm with your program coordinator before you apply or enroll.
Does the Texas-only rule apply to UT Tyler's DNP?
It depends on the DNP. The online post-master's DNP lets you complete practice hours in a location of your choice, and the non-APRN BSN-DNP pathways tie the license to the practicum state. BSN to DNP students in an NP concentration are APRN-seeking, so the Texas license and clinical rules apply to them.
What if my family moves out of Texas during my UT Tyler NP program?
UT Tyler does not publish a relocation rule for nursing students, but NP students must live in Texas, so a move would break the requirement. Talk to your program coordinator before the move and ask what options exist, such as a leave of absence, which UT Tyler allows for up to one calendar year.
Will UT Tyler place me at a Texas site if my search stalls?
UT Tyler's graduate model has you propose the site and preceptor while faculty coordinate and approve. The syllabi ask you to tell faculty promptly when a placement is in trouble, and the AGACNP syllabus flags the end of Week 2 as the point where the course is at risk. See what to do this week.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UT Tyler's own catalog, syllabi, program pages and clinical policies, and Texas rules. Your course, your program coordinator and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
UT Tyler asks you to choose your clinical site. We find it.
Tell us your UT Tyler track, where in Texas you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and gather everything your Self-Placement Request needs, so faculty can approve it before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 5453, adult and geriatric care forNURS 5455, psychiatric care forNURS 5367 - Texas-licensed preceptors who clear UT Tyler's supervisor, relative and site rules
- Anywhere in Texas, from the Piney Woods to the Valley
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