Studying at UTA in Texas: programs, rules and clinical placement
Every UTA nursing program is open to Texas residents, and the prelicensure BSN is open to no one else. In an NP track, Texas adds a Board of Nursing rule on who may precept you, a restricted practice model and a preceptor shortage the state's own workforce data documents.
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Tell us your UTA track and where you live. A placement advisor replies with what a UTA-ready preceptor and site look like for you.
What you can take at UTA as a Texan
UTA reads your state from your MyMav mailing address, and a Texas address opens every program on its state-authorization map.
| Program | Open in Texas? | Clinical component |
|---|---|---|
| BSN, campus and online | Yes, Texas only | Clinicals at sites UTA assigns |
| RN-to-BSN | Yes | No preceptor; practice work at your job and in the community, plus the NURS 4685 capstone |
| MSN Nursing Education | Yes | NURS 5362 Teaching Practicum: 135 hours with a preceptor who works in nursing education |
| MSN Nursing Administration | Yes | 270 hours with nurse leaders: 90 apiece in NURS 5339 and NURS 5340, 45 apiece in NURS 5341 and NURS 5342 |
| MSN NP tracks and RN-to-MSN | Yes | 720 hours per track (FNP: NURS 5337, NURS 5338, NURS 5660); 1,260 for the duals; 600 for Neonatal |
| Post-master's NP certificates | Yes | The same clinical courses, after a gap analysis |
| DNP, post-master's | Yes | 1,000 post-baccalaureate hours, up to 500 from the MSN; no preceptor |
The BSN is the odd one out: campus students are randomly assigned a site, and online BSN students go to select Academic Partnerships hospitals in Texas metro areas. In the graduate programs you find the preceptor, and UTA approves the choice.
The Texas Board of Nursing rule on APRN clinicals
Texas governs APRN clinical learning in 22 TAC §219.10, “Management of Clinical Learning Experiences and Resources,” last amended effective December 9, 2018. UTA's handbooks don't cite it. When a program uses preceptors, the rule calls for:
- written agreements among the program, the preceptor and, where it applies, the agency
- written criteria for choosing preceptors, and clinical objectives shared with them in advance
- a faculty member who stays responsible for you and keeps in touch, by telephone or in writing when a site visit isn't feasible
The definition in §219.2(19) makes a qualified preceptor an APRN, a physician or another professional acceptable to the Board, with an active, unencumbered license and current practice in your role and population focus. It sets no minimum years and doesn't require a Texas license. Because §219.1 limits Board approval to programs without national accreditation, the chapter may act mainly as a baseline for UTA. UTA's stricter floor is on preceptor requirements.
Texas sets no minimum years for a preceptor, but UTA requires one year of experience in the specialty role. Screen candidates against UTA's bar, not the state's.
Restricted practice and who can precept you
AANP rates Texas as restricted practice: state law requires “career-long supervision, delegation or team management” for NPs. Texas NPs prescribe under a Prescriptive Authority Agreement with a Texas Medical Board physician, who can delegate to up to seven APRNs or PAs outside underserved and hospital-based practices. AANP still listed Texas as restricted in 2026.
Delegation doesn't narrow who may precept under Texas rule, which names physicians already, and a physician–NP practice can hold two possible preceptors. Whether UTA accepts a physician for your course isn't on its public pages; the acceptable categories sit in Exxat. Employers can be the tighter limit: 32.8% of Texas NPs in a 2021 survey said theirs restricted precepting.
Your RN license: Texas and the compact since 2018
Texas implemented the enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact on January 19, 2018, and remains a compact state. A multistate license from Texas or any other compact home state covers clinicals here; a single-state license from a non-compact state means getting a Texas RN license first.
The Nursing Practice Act's student exemption covers only programs leading to a first nursing license, so in NP clinicals you practice on your own RN license or compact privilege. Texas hasn't implemented the separate APRN Compact. More on licensing for UTA clinicals.
What Texas data says about the preceptor shortage
The Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies counted 8,880 students in the state's 33 NP programs on September 30, 2025, up from 7,417 a year earlier. Programs that turned away qualified applicants ranked a lack of preceptors as their top reason, with a lack of clinical sites close behind.
Practitioners tell a different story. In a 2021 survey of 334 Texas NPs, 60% were not precepting and 37.6% had never been asked, and the authors concluded the workforce has room for more students. How you ask matters; see can't find a preceptor.
Eleven regions and the kinds of sites in each
Our research groups Texas into 11 regions, all metropolitan by federal definition. The systems and community health center (FQHC) networks below are examples of site types, not places that take UTA students.
| Region | Example systems | Example FQHC networks |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas–Fort Worth | Parkland Health, UT Southwestern, JPS Health Network, Texas Health Resources | HHM Health, Health Services of North Texas |
| Houston | Harris Health, Memorial Hermann, Houston Methodist | Legacy Community Health, Community Health Network |
| San Antonio | University Health, UT Health San Antonio, CHRISTUS Santa Rosa | CommuniCare Health Centers, CentroMed |
| Austin | Ascension Seton, St. David's HealthCare, Central Health | CommUnityCare Health Centers, Lone Star Circle of Care |
| El Paso | University Medical Center of El Paso, TTUHSC El Paso | Project Vida, Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe |
| Rio Grande Valley | DHR Health, Valley Baptist, UT Health RGV | Nuestra Clinica del Valle, Su Clinica |
| Lubbock | UMC Health System, Covenant Health | Community Health Center of Lubbock |
| Amarillo | BSA Health System, Northwest Texas Healthcare System | Regence Health Network |
| Tyler and East Texas | UT Health East Texas, CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances | Family Circle of Care, Wellness Pointe |
| Corpus Christi | CHRISTUS Spohn, Driscoll Children's | Amistad Community Health Center |
| Waco and Central Texas | Baylor Scott & White Temple and Hillcrest, Ascension Providence | Waco Family Medicine |
Shortages run deepest on the border and in East Texas. DSHS projects the Rio Grande Valley will have the state's highest unmet demand for primary care physicians (56%) and psychiatrists (71%) in 2036, with East Texas at 51% for primary care physicians.
DFW's centralized placement system and other hospital gates
In North and Central Texas, the DFW Hospital Council Foundation runs the Centralized Clinical Placement System (CCPS): hospitals post openings on a Fall, Spring and Summer calendar, and Board-approved schools with agreements request them. UTA was among about 30 school users in July 2024, but no source says NP preceptorships run through it.
Being a Texas public university helps at some doors. UT Southwestern ranks Texas public universities third in its APRN preference order, and University Health in San Antonio signs new agreements only with not-for-profit schools based in Texas, with UTA on its partner list. Houston Methodist, by contrast, isn't adding affiliations. More on hospital onboarding and affiliation agreements.
Where we fit in a Texas search
A placement advisor searches for a preceptor and site that fit your UTA course, in person near you, and raises the UTA agreement with the site early. We help assemble what UTA reviews, from the preceptor's CV and license verification to the agreement forms, and search again if a preceptor drops. UTA approves every placement. Crossing a state line? Read out-of-state clinicals first.
Questions UTA students ask
Can I get a Texas APRN license by endorsement after I graduate?
No. Texas offers no APRN licensure by endorsement, so every applicant meets Rule 221, including documentation sent directly by the program showing clinical hours, the three advanced core courses and your role and population focus. You also need national certification first, because the Board no longer grants interim approval to new graduates.
Can a physician or PA precept a UTA NP student in Texas?
Texas rule names physicians outright and leaves room for other licensed professionals acceptable to the Board; PAs aren't named. UTA's public pages don't list the license types each course accepts, though earlier UTA FNP syllabi (2016–2018) allowed an MD, NP, DO or PA. Check your course's acceptable categories in Exxat first.
Do Texas preceptors get a tax credit for taking NP students?
No. Texas has no personal income tax, and the preceptor tuition exemption in Education Code §54.356 covers only preceptors for undergraduate programs. The Clinical Site Nurse Preceptor Grant Program created in 2023 went unfunded in 2024–25, per the Texas Hospital Association. A federal bill, the PRECEPT Nurses Act, was introduced in 2025, but we found no record of it passing.
I live near a Texas state line. Can my NP clinicals cross it?
Of Texas's four neighbors, New Mexico and Arkansas are on UTA's NP and DNP list; Oklahoma and Louisiana are not. Both open states are in the compact, so a Texas multistate license covers you there. UTA's handbook still asks border students to email NursingSOA@uta.edu before seeking a preceptor outside their home state.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against UTA's own sources. UTA's current handbook and your course faculty have the final word.
Hand us the search. Keep your term.
Tell us your UTA track, your county and when your clinical course opens. We look for a preceptor and a site that fit what UTA asks for, and we help you put the approval packet together.
- Matched to your track's population and setting
- Paperwork prepared the way UTA's clinical team expects it
- In person near you, or a virtual option where your course allows it
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