Kansas: where NAU's two PMHNP routes part ways
For Kansas, NAU's table gives Meets to three plans, the two MS tracks and the FNP certificate, and Does Not Meet to the PMHNP graduate certificate, a split that appeared in 2026. Kansas asks nothing of an out-of-state online NP program at enrollment; its board judges the program only once you, as a graduate, seek Kansas APRN licensure, and it wants a Kansas APRN supervising your clinical work.
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NAU's Kansas row, plan by plan
No other state divides NAU's psychiatric plans. An archived copy of the table from March 2026 had the certificate at Meets for Kansas; the May 2026 copy moved it to Does Not Meet, and the MS PMHNP row held at Meets throughout. NAU offers no explanation.
| NAU plan | Kansas |
|---|---|
| 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) | Does Not Meet (Meets in the March 2026 copy) |
Picking a PMHNP route from Kansas
The certificate is built for nurses who are already NPs: 23 units for them, or 36 for other MSN holders. From Kansas, enrolling in it brings NAU's attestation, your statement that you plan to work in another state, and NAU's system emails a disclosure to distance applicants in that position before they enroll.
The MS PMHNP emphasis carries Meets for Kansas, but at 51 units it is a full degree rather than a post-master's add-on. If you mean to practice in Kansas afterward, put the choice to NAU's graduate nursing advisors before applying, and set the PMHNP certificate beside the MS PMHNP.
How KSBN treats an out-of-state NP program
Kansas lets you enroll first and asks its questions later. No sign-off from KSBN, the Kansas State Board of Nursing, is needed before a Kansas resident starts an online APRN program based elsewhere; the board examines that program at the far end, once one of its graduates asks Kansas for an APRN license.
What KSBN looks for at that point
- Role-and-specialty clinical time of at least 500 hours if you were admitted before March 1, 2025; anyone admitted later needs 750.
- The three graduate Ps (pathophysiology, pharmacology, health assessment), with a 3-credit minimum apiece.
- At least 45 credits across the whole program, plus national accreditation.
NAU's FNP plans total 780 clinical hours across their three practicums, clearing the 750 mark. NAU publishes no hour total for the PMHNP practicum, NUR 680, so ask the program how those hours will be documented for a Kansas application.
Preceptors and faculty in a Kansas clinic
The preceptor side is stricter. KSBN's document for out-of-state APRN programs, pointing to K.A.R. 60-17-104, wants your preceptor oriented before you start, bound by a signed agreement and holding a Kansas APRN license in your own role, and it lets only Kansas APRN licensees oversee APRN students clinically. NAU's own test, on the preceptor requirements page, comes on top.
Online teaching faculty need no Kansas license. Kansas requires no faculty site visits; an instructor who stops by comes as a visitor. AANP rates Kansas full practice. Kansas City's metro spans two states, and roughly 938,000 of its residents are Kansans; Wichita, Topeka and Manhattan follow. Wesley Healthcare, HCA's Wichita hospital, is one system a search might weigh; The University of Kansas Health System is another, and Stormont Vail Health and Ascension Via Christi are two more.
NAU's pages place clinicals throughout Arizona and say nothing on graduate practicums elsewhere, so clear a Kansas site with your program coordinator. SARA and moving are explained in the state authorization guide.
Your RN license for Kansas clinicals
Kansas was a later compact arrival than Arizona, with an implementation date of July 1, 2019. In a Kansas clinic you practice as an RN enrolled in advanced practice study, on either a Kansas single-state or a multistate license, which KSBN ties to K.S.A. 65-1124. A multistate Kansas license also fits NAU's admission wording, and the details sit in the RN license guide.
Because Kansas has not enacted the APRN Compact, the NP license you seek after NAU rests on KSBN's own review of your program.
Why Kansas NAU students choose us
For a Kansas student, the first screen is a Kansas APRN license in the right role, then NAU's standard, with the orientation and signed agreement Kansas expects kept on the checklist. Your placement advisor searches near you, from Wichita to the Kansas side of Kansas City, assembles the preceptor's documents, and gets the site's approval on record before your Green Form is filed. PMHNP students get a search shaped to the route they chose, which the contact form tells us.
Questions NAU students ask
Why does NAU's PMHNP certificate say Does Not Meet for Kansas?
NAU gives no reason in its table or its policy. The certificate row went from Meets in a March 2026 copy to Does Not Meet by May 2026, while the MS PMHNP stayed at Meets. NAU's graduate nursing advisors are the people to ask what changed and how it affects a Kansas applicant.
Can I enroll in NAU's PMHNP certificate while living in Kansas?
NAU publishes no ban. Its policy admits a student located in a Does Not Meet state who attests to planning a career in another state, and an automatic disclosure arrives first. For a nurse set on a Kansas career, the MS PMHNP, which reads Meets there, deserves a look.
Must NAU get Kansas board approval before I enroll?
No. KSBN attaches no approval step to enrolling with an out-of-state online NP school. Its review happens when a graduate seeks Kansas APRN licensure, and at that stage it weighs the coursework, total credits, accreditation and clinical hours. NAU's own table is a separate matter.
Does a Kansas preceptor need a Kansas APRN license?
Per KSBN, yes, and in the same role you are studying. Its guidance also wants the preceptor given an orientation and a signed agreement, and it keeps clinical oversight of APRN students for Kansas APRN licensees. NAU's Arizona standard layers experience, population focus and certification on top.
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
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