Vermont clinicals for USI's online NP students
The University of Southern Indiana takes Vermont residents in all its online nursing programs, and its disclosure lists Vermont as meeting requirements for each NP track. Learn one rule first: Vermont's Board of Nursing limits APRN student preceptors to APRNs and physicians licensed in Vermont, so physician assistants are out even for FNP and AGACNP students.
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Vermont on USI's disclosure (Updated Fall 2025)
Each APRN row of USI's nursing disclosure places Vermont under Meets Requirements, and none of the Enrollment Not Allowed cells names it, so residents may apply to any of USI's online programs.
| Program | USI's licensure answer for Vermont | Vermont residents may enroll |
|---|---|---|
| MSN in FNP, AGACNP or PMHNP | Meets Requirements | Yes, not on the list |
| Post-master's certificate, any of the three | Meets Requirements | Yes, not on the list |
| BSN-to-DNP, NP specialties | Meets Requirements | Yes, not on the list |
| Post-MSN DNP, Advanced Nursing Practice | Meets Requirements | Yes, not on the list |
| NEL or HSL MSN, BSN-to-DNP OSL, RN-to-BSN | Not a licensure program | Yes, not on the list |
Two neighbors, New York and Massachusetts, are closed to USI's MSN NP tracks. If a move is ever likely, read relocating during the program first; the licensure disclosure guide has every state's row.
Vermont's preceptor rule narrows USI's list
USI would accept a PA for FNP or AGACNP, but Vermont's board, in its published FAQ, names just two kinds of preceptor for an APRN student: another APRN, or a physician. Either must hold an active Vermont license with no encumbrance, must have practiced in the same role and with the same patients the student is training for, and must coordinate directly with USI's faculty. Physician assistants are excluded outright, so build a Vermont list from NPs and physicians only.
PMHNP students feel this least, because USI already limits them to a PMHNP or a licensed psychiatrist. USI's side of the rules is on PA and physician preceptors.
The AANP rates Vermont full practice, with a ramp: for an initial stretch of 2,400 hours and 24 months, an NP new to practice needs a collaborating agreement, the partner being a physician or APRN who holds a Vermont license. Someone still on that ramp can clear USI's one-year mark, so ask how long a prospective preceptor has practiced (USI's preceptor standard).
Where Vermont NP students search
The largest Census area is Burlington-South Burlington, near 228,000 people in 2025 estimates. The Rutland micropolitan area adds about 60,000, and roughly 87,000 Vermonters fall inside Lebanon-Claremont, an area Vermont shares with New Hampshire. University of Vermont Health operates several hospitals students ask about: Central Vermont Medical Center is one, Porter Medical Center another, UVM Medical Center a third. Outside that system, Rutland Regional Medical Center draws inquiries, and Dartmouth Health, based across the line in New Hampshire, counts Southwestern Vermont Medical Center among its members. All are examples, not USI partners.
On incentives: in fiscal 2023, Section 21 of Act 183 of 2022 funded a single round of Nurse Preceptor Incentive Grants. Eligible nurses worked at critical access hospitals and precepted students enrolled in Vermont schools; programs based elsewhere, USI included, were never covered, and no record shows the grants after 2023.
Licensing: compact membership and Rule 4.1
Vermont has belonged to the compact since February 1, 2022. Under Board Rule 4.1, a nurse may work in Vermont on nothing more than an active multistate license that another compact state issued; a Vermont license becomes necessary once Vermont is the nurse's primary state of residence. USI wants an unencumbered RN license wherever you train and is silent on compact privileges, so confirm yours with the Nursing Clinical Coordinator.
For FNP and PMHNP telehealth hours, the patient's location decides the license. A patient on video from New Hampshire falls inside the compact; one in New York counts only if you are licensed there too. Telehealth clinical hours explains the same-room requirement.
Why Vermont students in USI programs choose us
We build Vermont searches to Vermont's rule: every preceptor we propose is an NP or physician with an active Vermont license and experience in your population focus, so your list fits both the Board's guidance and USI's standard. We collect everything the Preceptor Packet asks for, find the site's agreement signer, and plan Fall, Spring and Summer together. Should a preceptor step back, a new search is underway at once. The form below is where your Vermont search starts.
Questions USI students ask
My FNP preceptor offer came from a PA in Vermont. Can I accept?
Not for a Vermont site. USI's course rules allow PAs for FNP and AGACNP students, but the Vermont board's FAQ leaves physician assistants off the list of people who may precept APRN students and calls for an APRN or physician with an active Vermont license. Ask whether an NP or physician colleague in the same practice could precept you instead.
Is every USI online nursing program open to Vermont residents?
Yes. Vermont is named in no Enrollment Not Allowed cell of USI's Fall 2025 disclosure, and Meets Requirements is the answer on every APRN row. That covers the MSN tracks, the certificates, the BSN-to-DNP and the post-MSN DNP, while the leadership MSNs and the RN-to-BSN lead to no license.
Does Vermont have to approve USI before I start clinicals there?
Vermont's rules make anyone who conducts a nursing education program inside the state get Board approval, though online-only programs cleared by the Agency of Education are exempt (26 V.S.A. section 1584). No located rule, FAQ or statute addresses an out-of-state program's clinical students. Ask the Nursing Clinical Coordinator if a site raises it.
Can I count hours at a New Hampshire site near the Vermont line?
Often, yes. New Hampshire is open to USI's online NP programs and is a compact member, so your multistate license may reach it. The clinic would follow New Hampshire's rules rather than Vermont's. Read the New Hampshire page and confirm the plan with the Graduate Clinical Liaison.
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.
USI makes the search your job. We make it the easy part.
Tell us your USI track, your city and your next clinical semester. We find preceptors who fit the NRSG course and fill the Preceptor Packet and Clinical Education Agreement request with typed, complete details, well before USI's 6-week window.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family primary care for FNP, acute care teams for AGACNP, PMHNPs and psychiatrists for PMHNP
- Preceptor license, certification, years of practice and the site's agreement signer ready for the packet
- Fall, Spring and Summer planned together, close to home in a state USI enrolls
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