Tennessee: closed in Post University's NP table, ringed by states that are open
Post University's current NP disclosure answers No for Tennessee, for the NP license and for prescriptive authority, and Post's NP specializations are closed to Tennessee residents, with no recruiting there either. Every state touching Tennessee answers Yes. That makes this page mostly about borders: Post students on the Mississippi or Arkansas side of the Memphis metro or the Georgia side of Chattanooga's, Post students thinking about a move to Tennessee, and Tennessee RNs deciding what comes next.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Post program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
What the Tennessee row says
| Post specialization or item | Post's answer for Tennessee |
|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) | No for licensure; No for prescribing |
| MSN Adult Gerontology Primary Care NP (AGPCNP) | No; No |
| MSN Psychiatric Mental Health NP (PMHNP) | No; No |
| License title | Nurse Practitioner |
| Other requirements Post lists | Unencumbered, active Tennessee or multistate RN license; national NP certification; a collaborative agreement with a physician; for prescribing, a Certificate of Fitness and a DEA number |
| Governing body | Board of Nursing (Post's wording) |
An asterisk marks Tennessee, and with it comes the footnote that applies wherever Post's coursework misses the educational requirements for NP licensure. The prescribing column carries a Tennessee term, the Certificate of Fitness, listed with a DEA number as what prescriptive authority takes.
Tennessee's moratorium bill for outside programs
Tennessee lawmakers have taken aim at nursing programs based elsewhere. Senate Bill 2013, with House Bill 1905 as its twin, would have the Board of Nursing freeze new approvals for two years for any program not based in Tennessee that wants to run there, enroll students or send them to Tennessee clinical sites, with pre-licensure, RN-BSN and APRN programs treated alike. Schools approved earlier keep their standing but must answer data requests, down to their preceptor lists and placement figures, and Tennessee's Center for Nursing Advancement is to propose fresh standards for outside programs by June 30, 2027.
The legislative findings complain that outside programs have been putting students into Tennessee clinical settings with too little oversight or accountability. Whether the bill is law yet is unsettled: one secondary source dates it to April 27, 2026, no official record confirmed that, and the Board's current rules contain no express pre-approval step for outside clinical placements.
Practice, licenses and the preceptor incentive
AANP puts Tennessee in its restricted group: NPs practice under a supervising physician, and the state limits Schedule II through IV prescribing and the supply of opioids. Tennessee entered the Nurse Licensure Compact in January 2018 and has no APRN Compact law. A multistate license still leaves Tennessee off Post's approved list, as the license rules page explains.
The Tennessee Hospital Association, using state grant money, rewards preceptors who give one student 70-plus hours of one-on-one teaching, until the funds run out. The preceptor must hold a Tennessee or multistate license without restrictions and complete a UTHSC course that includes an NP module. Students qualify through accredited Tennessee schools, or through schools in seven nearby states when the hours happen in Tennessee. Connecticut is not one of the seven.
Memphis, Chattanooga and the state lines
Two of Tennessee's four big metros spill over the border. Roughly 324,000 people in the Memphis metro live in Mississippi or Arkansas, and about 156,000 in the Chattanooga metro live in Georgia. For a Post student living on those sides of the line, a Tennessee clinic downtown is off the map, and the home side of the line is where the hours go.
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin and Knoxville complete the list. Ballad Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Covenant Health, Methodist Le Bonheur and Erlanger are among the systems Tennessee-based NP students know. Every one of them runs its own intake for students, and none leads into Post's program.
Eight Yes states around one No
Tennessee touches eight states, and Post's table answers Yes for all three tracks in each: Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri. We look close to your home for a primary care or psychiatric preceptor, confirm the match with Post's rules, and push the agreement letter and affiliation request through early, so a student who once pictured a Nashville or Memphis rotation ends up with a complete plan on the approved side.
If you are a Post student weighing a move to Tennessee, ask admissions first; Post's NP tracks require residence in an approved state, and its public pages are silent on a move partway through. For a Tennessee RN, the NP tracks are not available from home. Post students in the eight neighboring states can send us their track and start date.
Questions Post students ask
Can I enroll in Post University's AGPCNP from Tennessee?
Not under Post's current NP disclosure. Tennessee answers No on both licensure questions, and its asterisk brings in the footnote under which Post neither recruits nor admits NP students living there. If you have read something broader on another Post page, the disclosure guide explains how the two fit together.
My home is in north Mississippi, near Memphis. Could my preceptor practice across the line?
Not under Post's rule. NP hours must fall in approved states where you hold a license, and any state besides home needs Post's approval in advance. Tennessee is not approved, so a Memphis clinic falls outside the plan, while Mississippi answers Yes for all three tracks and keeps your search at home.
Would Tennessee's preceptor incentive cover a Post student's preceptor?
No. It covers students of accredited Tennessee schools and of schools in seven named neighbors, Connecticut not among them, and Post's clinical rule keeps its NP students out of Tennessee in any case.
What does a Tennessee NP need before prescribing?
According to Post's row, a Certificate of Fitness and a DEA number, on top of the license itself, which calls for national certification, a clean Tennessee or multistate RN license and a physician collaborative agreement. The Tennessee Board of Nursing publishes the current rules.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Post University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
Post asks you to select your own preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Post track, your city and your next preceptorship course. We line up preceptors who fit the course, collect the license report, certification and CV the Clinical Coordinator reviews, and start the affiliation agreement early so your Week 1 packet is complete before the term opens.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP and AGPCNP, mental and behavioral health for PMHNP, doctoral nurse leaders for DNP hours
- Preceptor agreement letter, license report, certification and CV ready for Post's approval
- Every preceptorship planned together, close to home in a state where you hold your license and Post's disclosure says yes
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next preceptorship course is all we need to begin.