Spring Arbor clinicals in Mississippi

01Mississippi, program by program

Mississippi's status moved recently. Archived copies of SAU's state page from 2024 until June 2026 put Mississippi in the not-authorized column; the live page checked in September 2026 lists it as authorized. The DNP page hasn't caught up and still names Mississippi next to Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana and New York. Our state authorization page tracks the full history.

02The DNP conflict, and how to settle it

If you're applying to SAU's DNP from Mississippi, don't resolve the conflict yourself. Write to the DNP program director or admissions, point to both pages, and ask whether a Mississippi resident can enroll and complete NUR 880 practicum hours in the state (course number from the 2023-24 catalog). File the written reply with your records.

MSN and certificate applicants can rely on the main list, which SAU's program pages call its most current. Even so, mention your state early to your advisor, since the change is so recent.

03Mississippi's review of out-of-state programs

Mississippi routes this through IHL, the trustees who oversee its State Institutions of Higher Learning, rather than its Board of Nursing. IHL expects undergraduate and graduate nursing programs from other states that hold clinicals in Mississippi to meet Mississippi's standards, and it treats an in-state practicum as a physical presence that sets off a review by IHL's nursing education office. That can take as long as three months; IHL's procedures manual asks programs to request it four months or more before they start. The school also needs SARA membership or other authorization, and SAU describes itself as an NC-SARA institution.

SAU doesn't publish whether it has completed IHL's review. With Mississippi only just added to SAU's list, ask your program director before you lock in a site.

04Preceptors and places to start

AANP rates Mississippi as reduced practice: each NP needs a collaborating physician or dentist, licensed in Mississippi, in an arrangement the board has approved. That governs the NP's practice, not their ability to teach, and the 2023-24 catalog lets physicians and PAs precept SAU's NP students as well.

Large systems are a natural first call: Singing River Health System, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Baptist Memorial Health Care, Forrest Health and North Mississippi Health Services, spread across Hattiesburg, the Gulfport-Biloxi coast and Jackson. Part of northern Mississippi falls inside the Memphis metro; a site across the Tennessee line brings Tennessee's rules and needs a license valid there.

05Licensing for Mississippi clinicals

Mississippi joined the nurse compact in January 2018. If your primary residence is in another compact state, the multistate license you hold there lets you work as an RN in Mississippi; a Mississippi license works as well. Separately, IHL's standards call for an unencumbered RN license, good in whichever state hosts the clinical, for post-licensure students in APRN and graduate clinical courses. More in RN license for clinicals.

06Why Spring Arbor students in Mississippi choose us

We look for Mississippi preceptors who fit your SAU track, check each one against SAU's published preceptor rules, and pull together the clinical agreement, affiliation and preceptor verification paperwork ahead of the four-week deadline. Each preceptor and site then goes to SAU's faculty, and the Mississippi leads they see have already passed our screen. Send us your track and start term.