Sacred Heart University's online NP programs from Texas
Texas nurses can enroll: as of September 2026, Sacred Heart University's disclosures answer "Yes" for Texas on every FNP and PMHNP program. The Texas Board of Nursing's approval process for schools from other states is written for pre-licensure education, so your Texas clinicals turn on a different question: finding a preceptor who fits Sacred Heart's rules inside Texas's delegated practice model.
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Tell us your Sacred Heart program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Texas on Sacred Heart's licensure table
The disclosure column asks whether a program meets the educational requirements for licensure or certification in each state. Texas gets a "Yes" for all five NP programs, and the Clinical Nurse Leader is "Yes" nationwide. The catalog leaves confirming your state's status to you, so recheck it before enrolling or moving.
| Program | Texas | Format | Clinical hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP | Yes | Online | 540 |
| Post-master's FNP certificate | Yes | Online | 540 |
| BSN-to-DNP FNP | Yes | Hybrid, campus classes | 1,000 post-baccalaureate minimum (guide) |
| MSN PMHNP and PMHNP certificate | Yes | Online | 540 each |
| MSN Clinical Nurse Leader | Yes | Online | 420 (guide) or 400/500 (catalog) |
For the full table, including where the NP answer turns to "No", read the disclosures guide.
Where the Texas BON's out-of-state rule stops
Texas does make some outside schools ask first. Education Guideline 3.1.3 (revised May 2026, grounded in Board Rules 214 and 215) requires Board approval for a vocational or professional RN program from another state before its students begin clinical learning in Texas, whether or not it belongs to NC-SARA. Diploma, associate, BSN and entry-level master's programs are the target. Post-licensure RN-BSN work and graduate APRN education fall outside those out-of-state rules, and that is where every Sacred Heart online program sits.
That makes the Board's published roster of out-of-state programs cleared for Texas clinicals a list of pre-licensure programs; Sacred Heart's online NP tracks have no reason to appear there. What your Texas site signs is Sacred Heart's affiliation agreement, which your Contract Request Form sets in motion.
Delegation, protocols and who precepts you
AANP rates Texas restricted. Texas NPs work under physician delegation with written physician protocols for their whole careers, and prescribing Schedule II drugs comes with setting limits. Many Texas FNPs therefore work inside physician-led groups, and the delegating physician's blessing often decides whether a practice hosts a student.
Sacred Heart's criteria still pick the person: for FNP courses, a physician, PA or NP with at least a year of primary care, and board certification from the physicians and NPs; for PMHNP courses, a psychiatric NP or a physician certified in psychiatry. Details sit on preceptor requirements.
Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin
The 2025 Census estimates put Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington near 8.48 million people and Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands near 7.9 million; Just above 2.6 million people live in each of two more metros, Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos and San Antonio-New Braunfels. Students scanning those markets tend to start with Houston Methodist, Texas Health Resources, University Health in San Antonio, UT Southwestern Medical Center and Baylor Scott & White Health. None of that means a system already hosts Sacred Heart students, and when a preceptor belongs to a partnering system, the system approves the placement before Sacred Heart's NP coordinator does.
Texas preceptor incentives point elsewhere. The state's clinical preceptor tuition exemption, set by section 54.356 of the Education Code, rewards Texas-resident RNs who teach undergraduates on the way to a first RN license, not graduate NP students. THECB's Nursing Shortage Reduction Program funds Texas nursing programs, not individual preceptors.
Licensing for a Texas site
Texas began honoring multistate RN licenses on January 19, 2018, and Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico are compact members too. Sacred Heart requires a current RN license without encumbrances for the state where your clinical practice happens, with proof in your Health Account, and a multistate license from any member state satisfies that for a Texas clinic. Anyone whose license comes only from a non-member state adds a Texas one. The APRN Compact has not passed in Texas. More in the RN license guide.
Why Texas students choose us
Texas distances are real, so your placement advisor searches outward from your address, not from a list. Each preceptor we propose arrives verified against Sacred Heart's license, certification and experience rules, and the site's contract contact in hand for the CRF well ahead of the week-10 deadline, since a brand-new affiliation agreement may need as long as nine months. Start with the contact form.
Questions Sacred Heart students ask
Must the Texas BON sign off before my Sacred Heart NP clinicals?
Its out-of-state approval process under Guideline 3.1.3 is aimed at schools preparing people for a first nursing license. Graduate APRN and post-licensure RN-BSN programs sit outside those rules, so a Texas clinical in Sacred Heart's online MSN FNP or PMHNP rests on Sacred Heart's approval of your preceptor and the site's affiliation agreement.
Can my Texas preceptor use the clinical preceptor tuition exemption?
Precepting you would not qualify. The Texas exemption rewards resident RNs who precept roughly weekly for undergraduate programs leading to initial RN licensure, and only public Texas colleges honor it. Graduate NP precepting is outside it for any school, in Texas or elsewhere.
Can a Texas physician assistant precept my Sacred Heart rotation?
For FNP courses, yes in principle: Sacred Heart's FNP list includes PAs licensed in the state of practice. The PMHNP list in the student guide names MDs, DOs and APRNs only. Either way, final sign-off comes from the MSN Online NP Programs Clinical Coordinator once your academic advisor approves.
I'm relocating to Texas during the program. What comes first?
Talk to your academic advisor before the move. Sacred Heart's disclosures warn that skipping a new state's licensure check can cost you clinical placements in that state. Confirm your RN license will cover Texas sites, then restart the preceptor search early, since a new Texas site may need a fresh affiliation agreement.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Sacred Heart's own catalog, program pages and 2026-27 student guides. Your student guide, your academic advisor and your course faculty have the final word.
Sacred Heart asks you to secure your clinical placement. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Sacred Heart program, your city and your next clinical course. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare what your advisor, the NP clinical coordinator and the Contract Request Form ask for, early enough for the affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care of adults, women and children for FNP, psychiatric care across the lifespan for PMHNP
- Preceptor CV, license, board certification and the site's contract contact ready before your week-10 deadline
- Close to home in any state where Sacred Heart's program meets licensure requirements, with New York's rule planned around
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