Kent State online nursing and Tennessee: the current picture
Tennessee appears on none of Kent State's seven approved-states lists, so a nurse living there cannot start the online PMHNP, WHNP, AGCNS, Nurse Educator, NAHSL, post-master's DNP or RN-to-BSN from a Tennessee address. Enrolled students who relocate there have a second reason for caution: a 2026 Tennessee bill directs its Board to pause approvals for nursing programs based outside the state.
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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.
How Kent State's two state pages treat Tennessee
Kent State answers two questions on two pages: who may enroll online from which state, and whether a finished program satisfies that state's licensing rules. Read on September 24, 2026, Tennessee draws a no on the first for every program and a MEETS on the second for every licensure program.
| Kent State program | Online enrollment from Tennessee | Licensure disclosure |
|---|---|---|
| PMHNP and WHNP, MSN or certificate | Not listed | MEETS |
| AGCNS, MSN or certificate | Not listed | MEETS |
| Nurse Educator and NAHSL | Not listed | No row (no license at the end) |
| Post-master's DNP and RN-to-BSN | Not listed | No row |
| FNP, AGPCNP, AGACNP (mostly online) | Absent from the page | MEETS |
MEETS looks ahead to licensure after graduation and does nothing for enrollment. Kent State's own concentration pages add that no determination has been made on licensure beyond Ohio, so confirm a row with Kent State before leaning on it. The three mostly online NP concentrations involve Kent Campus attendance and have no published out-of-state eligibility. Every state's lists are on our approved states page.
The Tennessee bill that pauses approvals for outside programs
Senate Bill 2013 (House Bill 1905), short title Tennessee Nursing Education Integrity and Oversight Act, instructs Tennessee's nursing board to halt, for two years, its intake and approval of applications from schools not based in Tennessee, whether a school wants to operate there, enroll Tennessee residents or place students at Tennessee clinical sites. It treats a pre-licensure school no differently from an RN-to-BSN or APRN program.
Schools approved before the freeze keep that approval, yet must answer data requests from the Board and from the Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement, from preceptor rosters to placement statistics. The Center's recommended standards for outside schools drawing on Tennessee preceptors and clinical sites are due June 30, 2027. Whether the bill is law could not be confirmed from official sources, and no Board rule now on the books was found that demands approval before a clinical placement.
Treat any Tennessee practicum as unsettled until Kent State confirms in writing that it can go ahead.
Physician supervision and Tennessee's large systems
AANP rates Tennessee restricted. Every nurse practitioner there is supervised by a physician, and state law limits both Schedule II through IV prescribing and the opioid supply an NP may order. An NP preceptor in Tennessee therefore practices inside a supervising arrangement, and physicians sit in the preceptor pool Kent State accepts.
Greater Nashville counts about 2.2 million residents; Memphis adds roughly a million on its Tennessee side, Knoxville nearly 970,000, and Chattanooga some 440,000 within the state line. Employers range from Vanderbilt University Medical Center to Ballad Health, with Erlanger, Covenant Health and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare also large. Naming them implies no link to Kent State. The Tennessee Hospital Association's preceptor incentive reaches only students of Tennessee schools and of seven nearby states, and Ohio is not one of the seven.
Your RN license for Tennessee clinical work
Tennessee's compact membership dates to January 19, 2018; Ohio's began January 1, 2023. Kent State's rule points to your home state: a Tennessee resident training in Tennessee holds an unrestricted Tennessee RN license and reports any change in its status. No APRN Compact law exists in Tennessee. Kent State's catalog and handbook set different proof deadlines, covered on our RN license page.
Relocating to Tennessee mid-program
- Give the Office of Student Services notice before you relocate; Kent State expects that of anyone admitted to its RN-to-BSN, MSN or DNP programs.
- Ask whether your program can continue from Tennessee while the moratorium question stands, and save the reply.
Relocating Kent State students pick us because our search moves with them. Once Kent State clears a Tennessee practicum, we look in person near your new home, Knoxville to Memphis, for preceptors who fit your concentration's rules, put together the credentials and site details your faculty will weigh, and raise any affiliation agreement question at the start. The form below starts your search.
Questions Kent State students ask
Is the Kent State PMHNP open to a Nashville nurse?
Not under the current approved-states page. Tennessee is absent from the 14-state PMHNP list, as it is from all six other online lists. A MEETS for the PMHNP on the licensure page speaks to licensing after graduation, not to enrollment. The PMHNP program page describes the concentration.
Is Tennessee's pause on outside nursing programs in effect?
No official confirmation had surfaced by September 2026, though one secondary source reports April 27, 2026. If it is law, schools based outside Tennessee cannot win new approval for two years, while those approved earlier carry on under added reporting. Kent State's state authorization office can say how it touches your program.
Is a Kent State student's preceptor eligible for Tennessee's hospital association incentive?
Not under the current terms. It counts students of accredited Tennessee programs, and students from schools in Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi or Arkansas when their hours are logged in Tennessee. Ohio schools are outside that group. Kent State offers its own preceptor benefits, including continuing education through PreceptED.
Will my Tennessee multistate license work for Ohio practicum hours?
Ohio and Tennessee are both compact members, so a multistate RN license issued by Tennessee brings a privilege to practice in Ohio. Kent State asks for an Ohio license for on-campus courses or Ohio practicums, and whether a multistate license satisfies that wording is a question for Kent State's Office of Academic Advising and Student Services.
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.
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