What shapes the cost of finding an SAU preceptor

01Why there is no single price

An SAU Nurse Educator student looking for one 125-hour practicum near a large city and a PMHNP student in a rural county who needs several psychiatric placements are asking for very different amounts of work. One flat number would overcharge the first and undercharge the second, and neither would learn much from it.

So each quote is built from the specifics you give us. The more accurate your first message, the closer that first quote sits to the final one. If you want to see where the quote falls among the other stages, how it works lays out the whole sequence from first search to first clinical day.

02The six things that move a quote

• Track. Your SAU program decides who can precept you and in what setting.
• Hours. SAU's pages list totals from 125 to 625 hours by track, and more hours usually means more preceptor time to secure.
• Specialty. Pediatric primary care and psychiatric settings are narrower searches in many areas than general family practice.
• Location. A student near several health systems has more options within a sensible drive than one in a thinly served county.
• Timing. A request months ahead leaves room to wait for the right fit; a request close to the four-week paperwork mark does not.
• Rotations. One practicum with one preceptor is a single search; a practicum spread over several semesters or sites is several.

None of these is a penalty. They simply describe how much searching, calling and document work your placement is likely to take, and the quote reflects that work and nothing else.

03Hours, specialty and rotations in SAU terms

SAU's current pages list 625 clinical hours for the FNP, 500 each for the AGPCNP, PMHNP and PNP-PC, and 125 for the Nurse Educator and MSN/MBA practicum, NUR 780B. Post-master's FNP students land anywhere from 250 to 625 depending on prior certification. The bigger the total, the more preceptor time we need to line up, and the clinical hours page has the full breakdown with SAU's own conflicts noted.

Rotations matter as much as hours. The 2023-24 catalog spreads the FNP practicum, NUR 680, over three semesters and tells PMHNP students to expect several placements, so one of those quotes may cover more than one preceptor. A PNP-PC search is limited to pediatric primary care, which narrows the pool in some regions. Check your current course list in Brightspace, since numbering may have changed since that catalog.

04Timing, the factor you control

Timing is the one variable you can change. SAU recommends starting the search within your first few months in the program, and the 2023-24 catalog sets a four-week lead time for clinical paperwork before a course begins. Both point the same way: the earlier a search begins, the less it has to fight the calendar.

A search that begins a semester or more ahead can wait for a preceptor who fits well. A search that starts a few weeks before that deadline has to run several leads at once and press practices for signatures, which takes more of a placement advisor's time. If you are already close, the page on needing a preceptor fast explains what is still realistic and what to raise with SAU straight away.

05What a quote covers, and what stays separate

Our quote covers our work: the search, the introductions, and help gathering what the preceptor and site must supply for SAU's review. It does not cover anything SAU or a third party charges you.

Costs outside our quote

• SAU's tuition and fees, including the residency fee shown on SAU's tuition and fees page.
• Compliance items the 2023-24 catalog puts on the student: background check, drug test, liability insurance, immunizations, TB testing, CPR and HIPAA training.
• Travel to your clinical site and to the four-day campus residency.
• Any charge a site or preceptor sets, if SAU's faculty allow one at all.

The compliance list, and the catalog's note that the student pays for it, is covered on the clinical compliance page.

06Getting your quote in writing

Send us your track, state, next practicum and start semester through the form below, or open the chat if you would rather describe your situation first. A placement advisor replies with a written quote and the terms that go with it, including what happens if a preceptor withdraws after you begin.

Read those terms before you commit, and ask about anything unclear. If you are weighing us against another service, our checklist for judging placement services sets out what to ask each one, us included. SAU's faculty approve every preceptor and site on their own timeline; what our quote covers is the search and a complete file for them to review.