Kentucky and NAU's nurse practitioner programs
Kentucky gets a Does Not Meet from Northern Arizona University's licensure table on every nurse practitioner plan: on NAU's own reading, its NP education falls short of what Kentucky requires for licensure. Kentucky nurses may still enroll after attesting that they plan to work in another state, which makes NAU a route for those headed elsewhere or relocating.
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Tell us your NAU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Kentucky on NAU's licensure table
Every Kentucky row gives the same answer. Both MS emphases and both graduate certificates read Does Not Meet, and so do all four of NAU's BSN formats. NAU links the Kentucky Board of Nursing for the state and publishes no reason for the result.
| NAU plan | Kentucky |
|---|---|
| Nursing - Advanced Practice, Family Nurse Practitioner (MS) | Does Not Meet |
| Nursing - Advanced Practice, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (MS) | Does Not Meet |
| Family Nurse Practitioner (GCERT) | Does Not Meet |
| Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (GCERT) | Does Not Meet |
The rows concern licensure in Kentucky, not whether you may study online from a Kentucky address. The licensure disclosure guide explains how NAU maintains the table.
Enrolling from Kentucky with the attestation
NAU publishes no Kentucky enrollment ban. Its disclosure policy lets a licensure program admit a student located where it falls short, once the student signs a statement that they intend to seek employment in another state. The automated disclosure email arrives before you enroll, keyed to the location you give NAU.
The attestation fits some Kentucky nurses naturally. Kentucky's largest metros straddle state lines: the Louisville metro, home to about 1.12 million Kentuckians, extends into Indiana, and the Cincinnati metro, with some 475,000 Kentucky residents, takes in parts of Ohio and Indiana. Both Indiana and Ohio read Meets. A nurse whose career is headed across one of those lines, or who is moving farther, is the student the attestation describes. Talk it through with NAU's graduate nursing advisors first.
Clinical rules if your hours are in Kentucky
Kentucky's board leaves outside programs alone. KBN's approval extends only to prelicensure programs originating inside Kentucky, and it states that a program from elsewhere needs no KBN approval, even when its sole Kentucky activity is a clinical component. For visiting nurses, KBN points to an exemption in KRS 314.101 covering a clinical rotation in Kentucky if the school is a SARA participant, which NAU is.
The preceptor rule is where Kentucky tightens. For online MSN and DNP programs, KBN expects a preceptor working in a Kentucky clinical setting to hold two Kentucky licenses, RN plus APRN, with both active and clean. The exception is a preceptor living in a different compact state, for whom the Kentucky APRN credential suffices. That sits on top of NAU's preceptor requirements. Whether NAU will place your hours in Kentucky at all is your program coordinator's decision, since no NAU source rules on graduate clinicals outside Arizona.
Practice, systems and your RN license
AANP counts Kentucky as reduced practice. A Kentucky NP generally holds two written agreements with a physician before prescribing, together covering controlled and non-controlled drugs, though the board can grant exemptions, and newly licensed NPs meet conditions on where they work during year one. Lexington-Fayette (about 535,000 people) and Bowling Green round out the metros. Systems NP students raise include UofL Health and Norton Healthcare; the University of Kentucky's UK HealthCare; St. Elizabeth Healthcare; and Baptist Health, whose footprint includes southern Indiana. Each keeps its own student process.
Kentucky and Arizona have both operated under the Nurse Licensure Compact since Jan. 19, 2018, so a Kentucky multistate license satisfies NAU at admission; the RN license guide has NAU's exact wording. Kentucky has not enacted the APRN Compact, and the NP license you pursue after NAU would come from the state where you plan to work, which is the premise of the attestation.
How we support Kentucky-based NAU students
If you enroll from Kentucky with a career planned elsewhere, the practicum still has to be built, and we build it with Kentucky's rules in view. First, your placement advisor learns what your program coordinator has told you about where hours may be logged. When Kentucky sites are allowed, we approach only preceptors holding the Kentucky licensure KBN expects and check each against NAU's standard; when you are relocating, the search opens in your new state before moving day.
Each preceptor we propose comes with a gathered CV, license and certification and a site that has agreed, ready for the Green Form. Use the contact form to tell us where your career is headed.
Questions NAU students ask
Can Kentucky residents enroll in NAU's online FNP program?
Yes, with an attestation. NAU's table marks the FNP plans Does Not Meet for Kentucky, and its policy admits a student located there who confirms plans to seek work outside Kentucky. Before you accept admission, run your career plans past NAU's graduate nursing advisors.
Does a Kentucky preceptor need Kentucky licenses to precept an NAU student?
Under KBN's guidance for online APRN programs, yes. A preceptor working in a Kentucky clinical setting holds active, unencumbered Kentucky RN and APRN licenses, unless they live in another compact state, in which case the Kentucky APRN license suffices. NAU layers its Arizona-based checks, covering experience, population focus and certification, on top.
What happens if I move out of Kentucky during the program?
NAU needs your new address through its Change of Location form or LOUIE, and your program should hear from you about practicum effects before you go. Your new state's row on the licensure table then governs. The state authorization guide sets out the steps.
Is Kentucky's BSN answer different from its NP answer?
No. Kentucky is among five states where NAU's four BSN formats also read Does Not Meet, along with Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Maryland and Wisconsin split the other way, with NP rows at Does Not Meet and BSN rows at Meets. For an NP student, only the four graduate rows matter.
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.
- Northern Arizona University: Professional Licensure by State
- Kentucky Board of Nursing
- Kentucky Board of Nursing: Regulatory overview for out-of-state programs of nursing
- Northern Arizona University policy: Professional Licensure Disclosure Statements
- AANP: Kentucky state practice environment fact sheet
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.