Northern Arizona University NP study from Florida
Florida reads Meets for every Northern Arizona University nurse practitioner plan, so you can enroll from Miami, Tampa, Orlando or Jacksonville. Florida's Board approves pre-licensure programs, and research turned up no Florida provision asking an out-of-state NP program to register before its students train there. Your clinicals turn instead on your compact license, Florida's protocol-based practice model and a preceptor close to home in a very long state.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your NAU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
What NAU's table says about Florida
| NAU plan | Florida |
|---|---|
| Nursing - Advanced Practice, Family Nurse Practitioner (MS) | Meets |
| Nursing - Advanced Practice, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (MS) | Meets |
| Family Nurse Practitioner (GCERT) | Meets |
| Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (GCERT) | Meets |
All four NP rows read Meets, as do NAU's BSN formats. The answer concerns the education Florida expects before it licenses an NP, and NAU links the Florida Board of Nursing for detail. The short list of states where NAU's answer flips is in our disclosure guide.
Who signs off on clinicals in Florida
Florida's program-approval statute, 464.019, speaks to schools that want to offer pre-licensure nursing education inside Florida, and the Board describes its own education work in the same terms. Research located no Florida provision obliging a graduate or APRN program from elsewhere to seek the Board's approval, or to tell the Board anything, before students start clinical hours.
The deciding voice is therefore NAU's, and NAU has published no rule on graduate clinicals outside Arizona. Its web pages picture clinical work across Arizona, yet its SARA membership and license rules clearly contemplate students living elsewhere. Settle it with your program coordinator before approaching a Florida site; the state authorization guide shows how SARA treats a practicum in a host state.
Protocol agreements, preceptors and Florida's metros
AANP rates Florida restricted. Select Florida NPs keep a written protocol with a physician for their entire career, though exemptions may apply, so the NP who teaches you may be practicing under one. Arizona's NPs work without that tie, which makes a Florida rotation a close look at protocol-based care. Your preceptor must also meet NAU's standard (preceptor rules).
Greater Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach alone counts about 6.4 million people, the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area comes next, then Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, with Jacksonville fourth. Large systems include AdventHealth, headquartered in Florida with hospitals in other states as well; UF Health, the University of Florida's system; BayCare Health System; and both HCA Florida Healthcare and Baptist Health South Florida. Each sets its own student process.
Florida's TEACH funding, which the Agency for Health Care Administration runs when the Legislature funds it, reimburses eligible sites such as rural health clinics, FQHCs and community mental health centers for each clinical hour a primary care APRN student spends there. It counts only students of Florida-based accredited programs working under Florida-licensed preceptors, so a clinic hosting an NAU student draws no TEACH money.
Licensing for Florida clinical hours
Florida began issuing compact multistate RN licenses on January 19, 2018. One Florida multistate card clears NAU's admission rule, which accepts Arizona licenses or compact privileges, and it also answers Arizona's requirement that NAU check your RN license in the state of clinical practice. The RN license guide follows NAU's shifting wording on that since 2021.
The APRN Compact is not law in Florida, so NP practice there after graduation runs through the Florida Board's own APRN licensure and the protocol rules above. If a move is possible during your program, remember that Texas and six other states read Does Not Meet on NAU's table; the Texas guide explains what changes.
Why Florida students in NAU's program choose us
NAU's guidelines warn that a placement can bring long drives and overnight stays, and in Florida a clinic in the wrong metro can sit hours from your door. We search where you actually live, whether that is greater Miami, Tampa Bay, Orlando or Jacksonville, and confirm each preceptor's Florida license and practice arrangement first.
Your placement advisor then measures every candidate against the standard NAU applies, gathers the CV, license and certification, and secures the site's approval so your Green Form arrives complete. FNP students get NUR 661, NUR 663 and NUR 665 mapped as one run; PMHNP students get psychiatric settings near home for the in-person work NUR 680 requires. When a preceptor pulls out mid-semester, we move quickly on a replacement.
Questions NAU students ask
Can Florida residents enroll in NAU's online FNP or PMHNP program?
Yes. Florida belongs to SARA, so NAU may serve students there, and NAU's licensure table marks the MS FNP, MS PMHNP, FNP certificate and PMHNP certificate as Meets for Florida. As a Meets state, Florida needs none of the attestation NAU asks of students in Does Not Meet states. Clinical plans still go through your program coordinator.
Is NAU approved by the Florida Board of Nursing?
Florida's Board approves programs that deliver pre-licensure nursing education in the state under section 464.019. NAU's NP programs are graduate programs approved in Arizona, and research found nothing in Florida law obliging a graduate program from another state to get Board approval before its students train in Florida. NAU's own policy, confirmed by your program coordinator, is what decides a Florida placement.
Does hosting an NAU student bring a Florida clinic TEACH reimbursement?
It does not. TEACH pays a facility only when the student comes from an accredited Florida-based program and a Florida-licensed preceptor does the teaching, and every payment depends on the Legislature funding it; the law itself expires on July 1, 2034. Clinics that take NAU students do so without it, useful context when a busy safety-net site weighs requests.
How many clinical hours will I need Florida preceptors for?
In NAU's MS FNP and FNP certificate, 780 hours across three practicums: 180 in NUR 661, then 300 each in NUR 663 and NUR 665. NAU has not published a PMHNP total, so confirm yours with your program coordinator. Our clinical hours guide breaks each program down.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Northern Arizona University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your program coordinator and course faculty have the final word.
NAU welcomes a preceptor you arrange. We arrange one close to home.
Tell us your NAU track, your town and your next practicum. We line up preceptors who fit the course and Arizona's preceptor rule, confirm the site's approval, and gather the CV, license and certification the Green Form needs, well before NAU's cutoff.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages family primary care for FNP, psychiatric settings for PMHNP
- License, experience and certification checked against the rule NAU applies, before the Green Form goes in
- All three FNP practicums planned together, near home instead of a long drive away
Start your placement plan
Track, town and next practicum is all we need to begin.