UCCS nursing programs for South Dakota residents
A South Dakota address qualifies you for UCCS's online NP tracks and its RN to BSN, and each clinical hour is spent in South Dakota with a preceptor you secure. The state Board steps back from approving schools based elsewhere: it leaves placement contracts to the school and the local clinic, and it looks for an APRN program to have one faculty member licensed for South Dakota.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UCCS program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UCCS course.
South Dakota's place on UCCS's lists
South Dakota appears on both UCCS rosters that matter to working nurses, graduate NP study and the RN to BSN. UCCS counts residence as the place you physically live, so the home you apply from also fixes where your hours go. See the approved-states page for the lists.
| Program | South Dakota residents | Clinical setting |
|---|---|---|
| Online MSN (FNP, AGNP, PMHNP) | Accepted | South Dakota practices and preceptors you recruit |
| RN to MSN | Accepted | South Dakota NP rotations once the non-clinical bridge is done |
| Post-Graduate NP Certificate | Accepted | In-state, in whichever courses the GAP analysis assigns |
| BSN to DNP and Post-Master's DNP | Accepted when your RN license comes from a state UCCS lists | Rotations and project hours close to home |
| RN to BSN | Accepted | NURS 4450 through a South Dakota community organization |
| Traditional or Accelerated BSN | Open to people living in, or relocating to, Colorado | Colorado, arranged by UCCS |
How South Dakota's Board treats schools from elsewhere
The South Dakota Board of Nursing publishes a short FAQ for schools outside the state, and it states plainly that it does not approve them. When a school sends a student into a South Dakota direct-care setting, the contract binds just two sides: the school, and the South Dakota preceptor or agency (or both). At UCCS those documents are the Affiliation Agreement and preceptor agreement letter drafted from your Clinical Site Sheet (how agreements work).
One expectation does land on the school. For APRN students located in South Dakota, the program is expected to have a faculty member who holds a South Dakota APRN license or the privilege to practice in the state, and the citation ARSD 20:48:07:49 carries the same requirement for distance education. With no approval list, there is nothing to check UCCS against; ask the college how it covers the faculty expectation.
Two compacts and a path to full practice
South Dakota is a party to the revised Nurse Licensure Compact, in force since January 2018, so its RNs can hold multistate licenses. South Dakota signed the APRN Compact too, in February 2024, yet only five states have enacted it and it sits inactive until a seventh joins, so each APRN license is still issued state by state. UCCS's license rules are on licenses for clinical hours.
AANP puts South Dakota in its full practice column, with a transition built in: a new NP first logs 1,040 hours inside a written collaborative agreement, whose partner can be a physician, another certified NP or a certified nurse midwife. The Board's own APRN licensure checklist asks for graduate study that includes at least 500 clinical hours tied to the chosen role and population, with graduate courses covering pharmacology, health and physical assessment, and physiology or pathophysiology. UCCS's own NP requirement, set by start term, is explained under 630 vs 770 hours.
Sioux Falls, Rapid City and the long drives between
Sioux Falls, whose metro crosses into Minnesota, is home to about 305,000 South Dakota residents; the Rapid City metro, out west, has close to 157,000; Aberdeen's micropolitan area, roughly 41,600, anchors the northeast. Sanford Health and Avera Health are both major systems, and Monument Health serves the Black Hills region around Rapid City. Those systems are examples of where clinicians practice, not partners of UCCS.
Scheduling is the hard part here. UCCS wants the exact hours on every Clinical Site Sheet and caps new Affiliation Agreements at three a semester outside Synthesis, so aim for a practice able to host a whole rotation rather than a string of small ones. For NURS 4450, RN to BSN students could look first at community programs linked to the South Dakota Department of Health.
Built for South Dakota's distances
Across distances like these, a methodical search is what gets you placed. Your placement advisor maps clinicians throughout your region, approaches the ones who fit your UCCS course and assembles every Clinical Site Sheet detail, credentials and signing authority included, so UCCS can move straight to the contract. If a preceptor bows out, your advisor restarts the search right away. Share your course and town through our contact page.
Questions UCCS students ask
Can I take UCCS's FNP track while living in Sioux Falls or Rapid City?
Yes. UCCS's online MSN, its RN to MSN pathway and its post-graduate NP certificate all take South Dakota residents, and you would complete clinical hours in South Dakota. UCCS still weighs each application on its own terms, so confirm admission details with the college.
Has the South Dakota Board of Nursing approved UCCS?
It has no process for that. According to the Board, programs from other states are outside its approval, and placement contracts are a matter for the school and the South Dakota clinic or preceptor. What it does look for is an APRN faculty member holding a South Dakota license or the privilege to practice.
Will a UCCS NP degree satisfy South Dakota's APRN licensure rules?
UCCS's licensure disclosure names South Dakota among the states where its curriculum meets APRN educational requirements. The Board's own benchmark is at least 500 clinical hours in role and population plus core graduate courses. The Board makes the final call, and the disclosure page explains what UCCS's statement covers.
Could a South Dakota family physician precept my AGNP hours?
Yes, provided the physician is licensed in South Dakota and has at least two years in practice. UCCS's FNP and AGNP preceptor pool covers physicians, PAs and NPs licensed in the state of your rotation, with certified NPs holding full prescribing rights, and it suggests you spend 200 or more hours with an NP.
Part of the Sioux Falls metro is in Minnesota. Does a clinic on that side count?
No. Minnesota is not on UCCS's NP list, and UCCS keeps clinical hours inside listed states. Even a listed neighbor such as Wyoming or Montana counts as out of state for you, which means the coordinator's sign-off plus a license valid there.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UCCS's catalog, practicum handbooks and college pages. Your degree plan, the handbook for your cohort and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
UCCS asks you to find your clinical hours where you live. Let us run that search.
Tell us your UCCS track, your next clinical course and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the details your Clinical Site Sheet needs, early enough for the agreement to be signed before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 6900, acute and chronic care forNURS 6915andNURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers forNURS 6801toNURS 6803 - Credentials, license, certification and the site's signer ready for the Clinical Site Sheet
- In Colorado Springs, along the Front Range, or in any of UCCS's approved states
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next clinical semester is all we need to begin.