North Carolina nurses in NAU's online NP programs
North Carolina gets a Meets on all four NP plans in Northern Arizona University's licensure table, so a North Carolina RN can enroll online without relocating. NCBON's approval rule for outside schools was written for students who are not yet nurses, and the Board disclaims any say over post-licensure graduate programs. What takes effort is the preceptor, since North Carolina ties each NP to a physician for an entire career.
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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.
North Carolina's answer from NAU
Four Meets, with the North Carolina Board of Nursing as the board NAU links.
| NAU plan | North Carolina |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Meets covers the licensure education question and no more; where your practicum happens is a question for your program coordinator. Charlotte-area students who live across the line in South Carolina fall under that state's row, also Meets; see the South Carolina guide.
A physician agreement for every North Carolina NP
AANP ranks North Carolina restricted. The physician agreement is career-long, not a transition period, and NP licensure sits with a Joint Subcommittee whose members come from the nursing and medical boards alike.
For your search that has two effects. Every NP preceptor you meet has a named physician in the background, so a practice's physicians are natural candidates too, and a conversation about hosting a student may involve both. NAU's bar stays the same either way; the Arizona rule behind it, R4-19-502, is on who can precept you, and nothing in it turns on whether a physician agreement exists.
NCBON, SARA and graduate clinicals
North Carolina's approval rule for outside programs, 21 NCAC 36 .0233, is aimed at nursing students with no license yet. In those cases it is the North Carolina facility that notifies NCBON, 30 days or more before the start, with the school's approval from its home state, faculty credentials, proof that the preceptor or on-site faculty member holds a North Carolina RN license, and the authorization the UNC Board of Governors grants under G.S. 116-15.
An NAU NP student already holds an RN license, and NCBON places post-licensure graduate and doctoral programs beyond its reach. Two Board notes still matter. If you hold only a single-state license from somewhere other than North Carolina, NCBON wants you to contact its Licensure Department about clinical requirements first. NCBON adds a SARA note: the state signed on in June 2016, and students at SARA-approved colleges may be able to complete clinical field placements in North Carolina alongside their online coursework from that college. NAU participates in SARA; your program coordinator confirms NAU's own position, and state authorization explains the SARA side.
Mapping a North Carolina search
Charlotte is the largest metro, with Raleigh-Cary second and the Greensboro-High Point and Winston-Salem metros after it. Among the largest systems, Duke Health and UNC Health are university-based; Atrium Health belongs to Advocate Health; Novant Health and ECU Health round out the list. Each writes its own student policy, and listing them here implies no NAU arrangement. For FNP hours, community family practices outside the big systems deserve a place in the search.
Your license for North Carolina clinicals
North Carolina's compact date is Jan. 19, 2018. A multistate license issued to a North Carolina resident clears two hurdles at once: clinicals in North Carolina, and NAU's admission standard, which recognizes Arizona's multistate rules. A single-state license sends you to NCBON's graduate-student guidance and to NAU's Arizona requirement. The RN license guide lays out NAU's wording.
The APRN Compact has no North Carolina law behind it, and the NP license comes through the Joint Subcommittee, so plan on a North Carolina application after certification.
Why North Carolina NAU students choose us
In a state where every NP practices with a physician, your placement advisor talks to the practice as a whole: the NP who will teach you, the physician behind the agreement where it matters, and the administrative contact, often the office manager, who receives NAU's affiliation agreement. Credentials are checked the way NAU's FNP Program Coordinator will check them, and the Green Form goes in with the approving site named and the preceptor's file attached.
Charlotte, Raleigh-Cary or Greensboro-High Point, wherever you live, our FNP plan covers all three practicums at once, 780 hours from NUR 661 to NUR 665; PMHNP students get psychiatric settings for NUR 680, where NAU requires in-person engagement. A preceptor lost mid-semester puts your advisor back on the search at once.
Questions NAU students ask
Is NCBON approval needed before I start NAU clinicals in North Carolina?
NCBON's approval rule targets students without a nursing license, and NCBON says post-licensure graduate programs sit outside its jurisdiction; NAU's NP students hold RN licenses. The remaining question is NAU's own, since it has not posted a policy on graduate clinicals beyond Arizona; raise it with your program coordinator early.
Is a physician agreement a problem for an NP preceptor?
No. In North Carolina every NP has one, so it cannot be a bar. NAU's approval rests on the preceptor's experience, certification, license and fit with your track, and the FNP Program Coordinator makes that call for each person.
I live in South Carolina and want to train in Charlotte. Which license do I need?
A multistate license issued by South Carolina, a compact member, carries into North Carolina, which satisfies NCBON's graduate guidance and NAU's call for a license valid where you train. Confirm the cross-border plan with your program coordinator before the rotation.
Who licenses nurse practitioners in North Carolina?
A Joint Subcommittee of the Board of Nursing and the Medical Board regulates NP licensure, according to AANP's North Carolina summary. That matters after graduation, when you apply for your North Carolina NP license; during school, your RN license is the one that counts for clinicals.
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.