"Choose your own preceptor in your home state": what SAU means by it

01What the FAQ line commits you to

It commits you to the search. SAU's live FAQ states: "You will choose your own preceptor in your home state." The FAQ frames this as flexibility, since you train near where you live and work instead of relocating for a rotation. The cost is that finding, asking and following up all fall to you.

It does not make your choice final. Program faculty approve every preceptor and every site, for each rotation, so what you bring them is a proposal. The standards are on preceptor requirements, and the review itself on preceptor approval.

The line covers the NP tracks: MSN and RN-to-MSN FNP, AGPCNP, PMHNP and PNP-PC, plus the post-master's certificates. The NUR 780B practicum for Nurse Educator and MSN/MBA students follows the same model, with a local preceptor approved by program faculty.

02How SAU's wording has shifted over the years

SAU has described its role in at least four ways since 2015, which is why classmates sometimes repeat different versions. Read the older lines as history, not as today's policy.

The 2023-24 backup-site wording is no longer on SAU's website, and the current catalogs could not be checked. If that fallback matters to your plans, ask your program director whether anything like it still applies. The 2026 wording has its own page: the clinical partner network.

03The help SAU lists

SAU names several resources across its pages. Some are years older than others, so confirm each with your program before you lean on it.

• The program director's volunteer list. SAU's preceptor tips post says the SAU Online program director can give you names of nearby clinicians who offered to take SAU students. The post dates from 2015 and is still online.
• Already-approved preceptors and sites. The 2023-24 MSN page named these as a resource for distance students.
• An affiliation check. SAU's clinicals post says you can find out whether sites near you already have agreements with SAU. See affiliation agreements.
• Staff guidance and a document list. The same post says staff and faculty will guide you and provide a list of what you need before clinicals begin.
• A Student Success Coach. Every online student is assigned one, and SAU names clinical placement among the areas coaches support.
• The partner network. On the FNP and PMHNP pages only, since 2026, with no partners named.

04What "home state" does and doesn't settle

Home state tells you where to look, not whether that state works for your program. SAU lists four states, Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana and New York, where its nursing programs lack authorization, and it opens Washington placements to Washington residents only. The state authorization page covers the details and the places where SAU's own pages disagree.

It also leaves licensure questions open. The 2023-24 catalog requires an unrestricted RN license in the state of practice for clinical work. SAU does not publish which state your preceptor must hold a license in, or how it treats a site just across a state line from where you live. If you live near a border, ask before you sign anyone up.

One more wrinkle: a 2019 graduate posted on a public forum that her own state was ruled out for her hours, since none of SAU's clinical faculty held a license there. That is a single old report, not a current rule, but it is a reason to name your state early in any conversation with your program.

05Making the search manageable

Run it as a list, not a single ask. Waiting on one clinic's reply before contacting the next can cost weeks you do not have. Keep a simple sheet of names, the date you asked and the answer, and work several leads at once.

Begin with people who already know you: your own primary care clinician, colleagues, classmates a term or two ahead, and SAU graduates near you. Then widen to the director's list and to practices you find yourself. SAU's advice on where to look and how to phrase the request is gathered on preceptor outreach.

Match each lead to your track before you ask. A busy family practice may suit an FNP student and do little for a PMHNP student, who under the 2023-24 catalog should plan on several placements anyway.

06When your own leads run out

Go back to SAU first. Tell your program director and your Student Success Coach where the search stands, and ask what SAU can offer now, including whether any already-approved sites near you have room. On the FNP or PMHNP track, ask about the partner network by name. Put the question in SAU email so the answer is on record.

Then bring in outside help. Our placement desk looks for a clinician and a site that suit your SAU track within reach of home, and has the forms ready before the four-week mark. SAU's faculty still approve every preceptor, and we make sure each one we bring already fits the rules they apply. Can't find a preceptor sets out the options side by side, including what to do when a term is close.