Florida nurses in Kent State's online programs
Every Kent State online nursing program is open to Florida residents, from the RN-to-BSN through five MSN concentrations (NAHSL, Nurse Educator, AGCNS, WHNP and PMHNP) and their certificates to the DNP for master's-prepared nurses. Florida's program-approval law aims at pre-licensure schools, and research found no rule making an outside graduate program register first. The real work is the preceptor search, in a state where many NPs practice under physician protocols.
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Tell us your Kent State program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Kent State course.
Florida's listings at Kent State
Florida sits on the same full set of lists as Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The licensure side is just as clear, with MEETS on every row that includes the state.
| Program | Open to Florida residents online | Licensure disclosure for Florida |
|---|---|---|
| MSN PMHNP and certificate | Yes | MEETS |
| MSN WHNP and certificate | Yes | MEETS |
| MSN AGCNS and certificate | Yes | MEETS |
| MSN Nurse Educator and certificate | Yes | No row; the credential is optional |
| MSN NAHSL and certificate | Yes | No row; the credential is optional |
| Post-master's DNP | Yes | No row |
| RN-to-BSN | Yes | No row |
| FNP, AGPCNP, AGACNP (hybrid) | Not on the page | MEETS |
The three hybrid NP tracks require some Kent Campus attendance, and Kent State has not said whether Florida residents can take them; the Office of Student Services can answer that. One caveat: the college's APRN program pages still hedge on other states' licensure, a softer line than the MEETS results, so confirm yours. Every list is on Kent State's approved states.
What Florida's board regulates, and what it leaves alone
Section 464.019, Florida's approval statute, is aimed at schools that want to teach pre-licensure nursing inside Florida, which is also how the board describes its own approval role. Nothing located in Florida law asks a school elsewhere to get board approval for RN-to-BSN, master's or DNP students training in Florida, or to tell the board they are coming.
That leaves Kent State's own gates as the ones to plan for. Practicum faculty and your concentration coordinator approve each preceptor and site, and hours count only at a facility with a signed College of Nursing affiliation agreement; the college negotiates it, and affiliation agreements explains why a new site needs lead time.
Protocols, prescribers and specialty preceptors
AANP files Florida under restricted practice, since certain NPs must work under a physician protocol throughout their careers, exemptions aside. For Kent State students that is less of a hurdle than it sounds, because physicians can precept graduate students too. PMHNP students need a prescriber, a PMH APRN or psychiatrist, for the medication-management practicum, and WHNP students look for a CNM, WHNP, FNP or OB/GYN in a practice with steady gynecologic or obstetric volume.
Each concentration's four practicums add up to 600 hours when Kent State's course figures are summed. The PMHNP and WHNP pages walk through the sequence.
Four big metros and the TEACH program
Search maps in Florida usually start in one of four metros. South Florida's Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area holds close to 6.4 million people, and Tampa Bay, greater Orlando and Jacksonville follow. The large systems include AdventHealth, HCA Florida Healthcare, BayCare, Baptist Health South Florida and UF Health. None of them is committed to Kent State students.
Florida's TEACH program pays qualifying safety-net sites, FQHCs, community mental health centers and rural health clinics among them, for the clinical hours they host, when the legislature funds it. The money follows students of accredited Florida-based programs only, so hosting a Kent State student earns a site nothing from it.
Licensing for Florida practicum
Multistate licensing reached Florida on January 19, 2018, while the APRN Compact never passed there. For Kent State, a Florida resident training in Florida documents an unrestricted Florida RN license, verified by student services. RN license for practicum covers the timing.
Why Florida students pick us
Florida's size makes a local match the whole game, and we are built for it. We search in person around your home, from Miami-Dade to the Panhandle, for preceptors who meet your Kent State concentration's rules, whether that means a psychiatric prescriber or a busy OB/GYN practice. We confirm licenses, collect site details and spot early any facility that needs a new affiliation agreement, so your faculty and coordinator get a complete file. Get started.
Questions Kent State students ask
Can I take Kent State's online WHNP while living in Florida?
Yes. Florida is one of 17 states on the WHNP list. Your four practicums, NURS 66192 through NURS 66492, move from gynecology to women's primary care, then pregnancy and the reproductive years, and finish in a specialty you pick, all in person in Florida under your RN license. Kent State names ambulatory care and specialty clinics among the usual settings.
Can a Florida APRN take Kent State's DNP online?
Yes. The post-master's DNP enrolls from 16 states, Florida included. According to Kent State's DNP FAQ, you can complete the project at home, in the state that issued your APRN license, and locating a preceptor is mainly your job, with the DNP program director and faculty helping. Your Project Chair oversees the project from proposal to defense.
Does my Florida site need approval from the Florida Board of Nursing?
No Florida provision turned up that asks schools elsewhere to get board approval, or give notice, before their RN-to-BSN or graduate students train in Florida. Kent State's requirements still apply in full: faculty and coordinator approval, an affiliation agreement with the facility, and full compliance with the Clinical Compliance Policy before your first practicum.
What if I move from Florida to Georgia or Alabama?
Both would take you off Kent State's lists: Georgia and Alabama appear on none of them. Kent State expects admitted students to report a move to the Office of Student Services immediately, and the college then decides whether you can continue from the new state.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against Kent State's own catalog, handbooks and program pages. Your MSN or DNP handbook, your syllabus, your practicum faculty and your concentration coordinator have the final word.
Kent State says the preceptor search is yours. We make it the fastest part of your practicum.
Tell us your Kent State concentration, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare everything your practicum faculty and coordinator review before they approve.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for
NURS 61292, acute care forNURS 61092, psychiatric care forNURS 61592, women's health forNURS 66192 - Credentials, license and site details ready for your practicum faculty and coordinator
- In your own community, in Ohio or wherever you live and hold your RN license
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