Tennessee nurses considering TAMUCC: clinicals, compact and a new bill
You can follow TAMUCC's MSN coursework from Tennessee, but the clinical hours are completed in Texas. Tennessee's multistate license matches TAMUCC's compact route for admission. The state's biggest recent development is a 2026 bill that would freeze approvals of out-of-state nursing schools, which touches DNP planning far more than the MSN.
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Tell us your TAMUCC program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your TAMUCC course.
A Tennessee address and each TAMUCC program
Texas is the only place TAMUCC's MSN allows clinical education and training, per its MSN Student Handbook. A nurse in Nashville or Knoxville therefore studies online at home and relocates for every FNP rotation. Texas-only clinicals gives the exact rule.
| Program | From Tennessee | Clinical hours |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | Online study; license must be Texas or compact with Texas authorization | Texas, 630 hours over four courses |
| FNP Post-Master's Certificate | Online study, same clinical courses | Texas |
| MSN Nurse Educator and Leadership in Nursing Systems | Online study | Texas field experiences |
| DNP, Nurse Practitioner or Executive Leadership | Online and part-time; NP track calls for a Texas APRN license | TAMUCC states no Texas-only rule; see the bill below |
TAMUCC posts no roster of eligible home states for online study. Anyone outside Texas considering one of its licensure programs is asked to reach out to TAMUCC's nursing college first, so begin there.
SB 2013: a pause on outside nursing programs
SB 2013, paired with HB 1905 in the House, carries the title Tennessee Nursing Education Integrity and Oversight Act and would add six new sections to the state code. For two years, Tennessee's Board of Nursing would take no new applications, and approve none, from nursing programs not based in Tennessee that seek to operate there, enroll Tennessee students or place students in Tennessee clinicals. Its wording makes no exception for APRN programs, nor for RN-to-BSN or pre-licensure ones.
Outside programs that already hold approval would keep it, on condition that they answer data requests, such as preceptor lists and placement numbers, from the board and from Tennessee's Center for Nursing Advancement. That Center has until the end of June 2027 to recommend fresh standards for out-of-state schools using Tennessee preceptors or clinical sites.
The bill applies from the moment it becomes law, but no official record confirming its enactment was found for this update, and no current board rule expressly requires outside programs to seek approval. TAMUCC's MSN clinicals are in Texas, so the bill leaves them alone. A DNP student hoping to count practice hours in Tennessee faces an unsettled picture and should ask TAMUCC's DNP program first; see DNP practice hours.
Licensing: compact for RNs, Texas for APRNs
Tennessee nurses have held compact licenses since January 2018. A multistate license with Tennessee as your primary residence carries a Texas practice privilege, which TAMUCC's MSN accepts in place of a Texas RN license. Tennessee has not signed the APRN Compact, so DNP Nurse Practitioner applicants still need a Texas APRN license. The license page has TAMUCC's wording.
Supervision at home, delegation in Texas
In AANP's scheme Tennessee is restricted. A physician supervises each NP's practice, and the state caps Schedule II to IV prescriptions and opioid quantities. Texas is restricted too, and its NPs prescribe through physician delegation agreements, so the model at your Texas rotations will feel familiar. Texas NP practice and preceptors explains the Texas version.
Tennessee's preceptor incentive, and why it misses TAMUCC
A state grant funds a Nurse Preceptor Incentive Program that the Tennessee Hospital Association operates with its workforce development center. To qualify, an LPN, RN or APRN preceptor needs a Tennessee or multistate license without restrictions, must finish a University of Tennessee Health Science Center preceptor course, which has an NP module, and must log 70 or more hours precepting one student at a time during a cycle.
Qualifying students come from accredited Tennessee schools or from seven bordering states, a list that leaves out Texas.
Metros and systems across Tennessee
Metro Nashville is the state's largest, ahead of Memphis, which spills into two neighboring states, then Knoxville and Chattanooga. Major names include Erlanger, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Ballad Health and Covenant Health. They illustrate the state's care network, not TAMUCC training sites.
Handing us the Texas search
Choose the Texas metro that works for your term, whether Dallas-Fort Worth or Houston, and we search there for a preceptor who meets TAMUCC's standard and a site that fits your course. We prepare the preceptor's CV, license and certification details and check the site's agreement status, so clinical faculty get a finished file for their final clearance.
Questions TAMUCC students ask
Does Tennessee's out-of-state moratorium affect TAMUCC's MSN?
Not directly. The bill concerns outside programs operating or placing students in Tennessee, and TAMUCC's MSN keeps every clinical hour in Texas. FNP, Educator and Leadership clinicals stay in Texas whatever happens to the bill.
Can a TAMUCC FNP student complete clinicals in Nashville or Memphis?
No. All four FNP clinical courses, from NURS 5624 through NURS 5746, are completed in Texas with preceptors TAMUCC's clinical faculty clear. Plan to live near your Texas site for each whole term.
Could a Tennessee preceptor receive the THA incentive for precepting a TAMUCC student?
No. The incentive counts students from Tennessee programs and a short list of neighboring states, and Texas schools are not on it. TAMUCC's own recognition for volunteer preceptors is a certificate of precepting hours, appreciation letters and university awards.
Will a TAMUCC FNP program lead to NP licensure in Tennessee?
According to TAMUCC's licensure disclosure, its graduates meet the education requirements for FNP certification in every state except California, where TAMUCC has made no determination, and the same is true for DC, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Tennessee is covered. Practice there then runs under physician supervision. See the licensure disclosure.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against TAMUCC's catalog, FNP clinical guides, MSN and DNP handbooks and college pages. Your course, your clinical faculty member and the handbook for your cohort have the final word.
TAMUCC makes the preceptor search yours. Let us run it for you in Texas.
Tell us your TAMUCC program, your next clinical course and where in Texas you can drive. We find preceptors who fit the course and gather what the affiliation agreement and the Preceptor Agreement Packet need, early enough for both to clear.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 5644, women's health forNURS 5645, broad primary care forNURS 5746 - CV, license, board certification and the site's agreement status ready for TAMUCC's paperwork
- In Corpus Christi, the Valley, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and across Texas
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