Affiliation agreements: does your site already have one with SAU?

01What SAU says about affiliation

SAU says very little, but what it says is useful. Its clinicals FAQ post tells students they can find out whether sites near them have affiliation agreements with SAU. The 2023-24 Graduate Catalog lists affiliation among the forms due at least four weeks before a clinical course. That is the published record.

SAU does not publish a list of affiliated sites, the text of its agreement, or how long a new one takes. The 2023-24 MSN page did name already-approved preceptors and sites as a program resource, which suggests SAU keeps some record of where students have trained. Ask your program how you can see it.

An affiliation agreement sits between SAU and the site, not between you and the site. Your preceptor agreeing to teach you is one decision; the organization agreeing to host SAU students is another, and it may involve people you never meet.

02How to check before you commit

1. Ask SAU firstSend your program the site's legal name and street address and ask whether SAU already has an agreement with it. SAU's clinicals post describes this as something students can find out, so it is a fair opening question.
2. Ask about sites SAU students have usedAsk whether any site near you has hosted SAU students recently. The 2023-24 resources included already-approved preceptors and sites, and an organization that has done this before already knows the steps.
3. Ask the siteAsk the practice manager or, at a larger organization, the office that handles student placements, whether it holds an agreement with Spring Arbor University and whether that covers graduate nursing students.
4. Write down what you learnNote who confirmed it and when. If SAU and the site give different answers, send both to your program and let it sort out the difference well before your four-week date.

03When there is no agreement yet

Plan for it to take longer. A new agreement means review on both sides, and at a larger organization that can mean a legal or contracts office with its own queue. SAU publishes no timeframe, so assume weeks rather than days and build that into your clinical timeline.

Start the request the moment you learn the site has no agreement. Tell your program right away, give it the site's contact for agreements, and ask what it needs from you. Keep your other leads warm until the agreement is signed, because a site that stalls at the contract stage leaves you back at the beginning.

04Small practices and large systems

The two often behave differently. At an independent practice, the physician or NP who agrees to precept may also be the person who signs, which can make the step quick, though a practice that has never hosted a student may want time to read the agreement closely. At a hospital system or large group, the decision usually sits with an education or student-placement office, and your preceptor may have little say over its pace.

Large organizations may also add their own onboarding on top of SAU's compliance list, such as orientation modules or a badge process. Ask about these when you ask about the agreement, so they don't surprise you in the final week before your start.

Neither kind of site is better in itself. What matters is knowing early which one you are dealing with, so your timeline matches how that organization works.

05Agreements when your practicum spans several sites

Every site needs to be covered. SAU approves the preceptor and site for every rotation, so if your practicum runs across two or three sites, each one has to clear the affiliation step. PMHNP students, whom the 2023-24 catalog tells to plan on several placements, should check every site at the outset rather than one at a time.

If an organization has several locations, ask whether its agreement with SAU covers the specific clinic where you will train. If the site is also your employer, training where you work covers the extra questions that come with that.

Keep a short record for each site: the agreement status, who confirmed it, and the date. When faculty review a multi-site plan, a clear record for every location answers questions before they are asked, and it shows you at a glance which site is holding the rest up. If one site refuses outright, site not approved covers the next moves.

06Why SAU students choose us for this step

When our placement desk proposes a site, a placement advisor asks at the start whether it already works with SAU and who signs on its behalf, and we lean toward sites where that answer is clear. If a new agreement is needed, we connect the site's contact with your program and follow up so the request does not sit unanswered. We also ask about any onboarding the organization adds, so its timing is in the plan from the start.

The agreement itself is between SAU and the site, and SAU's faculty approve the placement. Our part is making sure the site has what it needs to sign quickly, with the right SAU contact and a clear timeline. How it works shows our full process, and clinical paperwork covers the other forms due at the same point.