Delaware nurses and the University of Southern Indiana: what the table allows
Of the University of Southern Indiana's online nursing programs, a Delaware resident can join exactly one: the RN-to-BSN. Every MSN, post-master's certificate and doctorate lists Delaware among the states whose residents may not enroll, including the nurse practitioner rows where USI rates its curriculum as meeting Delaware's rules. The rest of this guide covers Delaware's clinical rules for USI students across the line in Maryland or New Jersey.
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Delaware's row in USI's disclosure
USI's Professional Licensure Disclosure ("Updated Fall 2025") puts DE in the "Enrollment Not Allowed for Residents of These States (due to State Nursing Regulations)" column in 14 of its 16 rows. Unlike their neighbors in Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana or Massachusetts, Delaware residents are also shut out of the leadership BSN-to-DNP.
| USI nursing program | Licensure answer for Delaware | Open to Delaware residents? |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP | Meets | No |
| Post-master's certificates (FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP) | Meets | No |
| BSN-to-DNP FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP | Meets | No |
| Post-MSN DNP (Advanced Nursing Practice) | Meets | No |
| BSN-to-DNP Organizational and Systems Leadership | Does not lead to licensure | No |
| MSN Nursing Education or Healthcare Systems Leadership | Does not lead to licensure | No |
| RN-to-BSN (online) | Does not lead to licensure | Yes |
| BSN (on campus in Evansville) | Meets | No state restriction |
A "Meets" beside a "No" is USI reporting two findings, not contradicting itself. One is that its APRN coursework would qualify a graduate with the Delaware Board of Nursing; the other, which governs admission, is that Delaware residents cannot enroll. Our guide to the full table explains each column.
Delaware's notice rule for schools from other states
Delaware works through the school. Its education rules (24 Del. Admin. Code 1900) make an outside program tell the Board of Nursing it is coming before it places anyone in a Delaware facility, and the notice carries a stack of proof: home-state approval or national accreditation, one signed agreement per clinical agency, the school's own bar for clinical faculty and preceptors, a named roster matched to sites, and license copies (Delaware or compact) for everyone on it.
No student may be assigned to a Delaware facility until the board has approved it, and board staff may inspect. The rule covers "all nursing education programs," prelicensure and graduate alike, and it counts as a preceptor any validly licensed nurse with a BSN or more. When an online program's instructor or preceptor teaches inside a Delaware facility, that teacher needs a license or privileges at least equal to the level the student is pursuing.
Full practice, an early APRN Compact vote, four systems
AANP rates Delaware as full practice, so Delaware NPs work without a mandated physician tie. Delaware enacted the APRN Compact in August 2021, and the enacting group is still only five: Wyoming, Utah, the two Dakotas and Delaware. It needs seven to operate, so for now it changes nothing for students or new graduates.
Four systems carry most Delaware hospital care: Nemours Children's Health, the multistate children's system that operates a Wilmington hospital, plus ChristianaCare, Beebe Healthcare and Bayhealth. Roughly 588,000 residents fall inside greater Philadelphia (officially Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington), and most others live around Dover or in Seaford's micropolitan area. These names show where NP students in Delaware search, not sites hosting USI students, and Delaware has no state preceptor incentive on record.
Licensing for Delaware clinicals
Delaware has been in the Nurse Licensure Compact's implemented group since January 19, 2018. A Delaware RN license satisfies USI's license-where-you-train rule, and so does a compact multistate license. FNP and PMHNP students whose preceptor sees Delaware patients by video need a license that reaches Delaware for those hours to count, with student and preceptor in the same room at the approved site (telehealth clinical hours).
Who this guide helps, and why students choose us
A Delaware RN without a bachelor's is the one Delaware reader USI can admit online, through its online RN-to-BSN; the NURS 457, NURS 487 and NURS 492 practice work runs at sites you choose, under an RN preceptor. Because Delaware's rule reaches every nursing program, ask course faculty how USI handles a Delaware site before lining one up. USI NP students weighing a move to Wilmington or Dover should first read relocating during the program.
USI students in Maryland and New Jersey, both open to the MSN nurse practitioner tracks, choose us because we fit every search to USI's process and to the rules of the state hosting the site. We check Delaware's notice and facility steps before approaching a practice, collect the preceptor's license and the site's agreement signer for the packet, and plan all three specialty semesters.
Questions USI students ask
Can a Delaware nurse join USI's leadership BSN-to-DNP?
No. Delaware is one of eight states on that row's list, with Colorado, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wyoming, so it closes along with every other USI graduate nursing program. The RN-to-BSN is the one online USI nursing option the table leaves open to Delaware residents.
Does Delaware's APRN Compact help a USI graduate?
Not today. Delaware enacted the compact in 2021, but it stays dormant until seven states pass it, two more than the current five. Until then it changes nothing about where a USI graduate may practice or how an APRN license is issued.
I live in Maryland. Can my USI preceptor be in Delaware?
Only after USI has notified the Delaware board, supplied its agreements and its faculty and preceptor licenses, and had the facility approved. Your RN license must also reach Delaware: Delaware's own, or a Maryland multistate license. USI's pages are silent on Delaware filings, so ask the Graduate Clinical Liaison first.
Why is Delaware on USI's list if the curriculum meets its rules?
The column cites "State Nursing Regulations" without a state-by-state reason. The "Meets" cell concerns coursework, while enrollment rests on authorization and regulation, which USI's Office of Online and Adult Learning tracks. For a specific answer, ask that office or the Graduate Chair and APRN Director.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against USI's own bulletin, program pages and Graduate Nursing Handbook. Your handbook, course faculty and the Nursing Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
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