When a UCCS preceptor falls through
If a preceptor cannot finish your hours, UCCS gives you two tools: a written request to open more than three new agreements that semester, and an incomplete that lets you finish the hours next semester if you are passing the didactic course. Both work best when you use them the week the problem shows up, not at the end of the term.
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.
Your first week after the news
A preceptor can leave for many reasons: a new job, a leave, a practice that stops taking students. Whatever the cause, the order of your next moves is the same.
- Close out what you haveBring your Medatrax logs fully up to date for every hour already worked. A preceptor who passed the 24-hour mark with you is still asked for an evaluation under UCCS's rule, so request it before they leave.
- Tell UCCS earlyLet the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator and your lead faculty know what happened and how many hours remain. Both the extra-agreement request and an incomplete run through the coordinator, so the sooner they know, the more room you have.
- Find a replacement that fits the courseThe new preceptor has to meet the same rules as the old one: primary care for FNP and AGNP courses, the right population for a PMHNP course.
- Send a new Clinical Site SheetEach replacement goes on its own sheet, and UCCS stops counting time with an unlisted preceptor once it passes 16 hours.
- Wait for "good to go"The processing period is a hard stop for clinical time. The Academic Services Professional emails you once you may start.
The three-agreement limit and the written exception
UCCS caps new Affiliation Agreements at three per semester, with Synthesis (NURS 6980 and NURS 6985) exempt. The Affiliation Agreement guide covers the cap and the legal review that sits behind every new contract.
The handbooks build in a way past the cap for exactly this situation. If "a preceptor is unable to fulfill clinical hours," you can put the situation in writing and send it together to your Option Coordinator, the paperwork office and the practicum coordinator, asking permission to exceed three new agreements that term.
UCCS does not publish a template for the request. A clear one usually covers what happened and when, how many hours you completed and how many remain, and the replacement preceptor or site you have in view. The decision rests with UCCS, so send it as soon as you know the original rotation cannot finish.
Send the written request to all three offices together; the exception is for a preceptor who cannot fulfill hours, and it is theirs to grant.
The incomplete: finishing next semester
When a replacement cannot realistically finish the hours inside the current term, an incomplete lets you carry them forward. The condition is a passing standing in the didactic part of the course, and both your lead faculty and the practicum coordinator need to hear from you. The leftover hours are then completed the following semester.
Limits that come with an incomplete
- A second open incomplete halts progression and puts you in a 1-credit independent study.
- Any incomplete left open for a full calendar year converts to an F.
- Synthesis waits on you:
NURS 6980needs your primary care incompletes resolved first, andNURS 6985needs any incomplete inNURS 6801orNURS 6802resolved.
Hours can only be done inside a registered fall, spring or summer semester, never in the gap between terms, so the break does not help you catch up. The fuller rules are on semester rules and incompletes, and how an F counts is on grades and progression.
Hours and encounters you already have
Hours you worked under a processed site sheet and a signed agreement, and logged in Medatrax, are part of your record; what you carry forward is the remainder. Confirm the exact count with lead faculty before you plan the rest of the course, especially if some of your hours were logged late.
Encounters matter as much as hours. FNP and AGNP courses have patient minimums, 75, 90 and 125 across the first three clinical courses, and PMHNP students need 60 patients in each of three age groups by graduation. A rotation that ended early can leave you short on both, which is worth telling your replacement preceptor on day one. If you are already behind, see behind on clinical hours.
A lost preceptor can also affect planning beyond this course. Some caps follow you across the program, such as the limit on hours with any one preceptor or site, so a new plan should be checked against your whole degree plan, not only this term.
When the site, not the preceptor, is the problem
Sometimes the preceptor is willing and the site is not. A new agreement goes through UCCS legal review, and the handbooks warn that now and then legal review ends without a fix, and the student loses that site. Some large systems also limit which schools' students they accept, even when the student works there.
Treat a stalled agreement the same way you treat a preceptor who leaves: notify UCCS, start the replacement search in parallel, and do not log any hours at the stalled site in the meantime. Keeping a second option warm is the best protection against losing a whole term to one contract.
Undergraduates are in a different position. For campus BSN students, UCCS itself looks for another site, while noting that an alternative placement is not always available. Graduate NP students find their own replacement, which is where a fast search makes the difference.
How we replace a preceptor for UCCS students
We stay on call for every student we place. When a preceptor drops, we start the replacement search right away, matched to the same course, track and state, and we check the new preceptor against UCCS's credential rules before you spend a single email on them.
We then assemble everything the replacement sheet asks for, from the new preceptor's license and board certification to the practice's contract signer and an exact count of your remaining hours, so the Academic Services Professional can move quickly. If the calendar points toward an incomplete, we plan the replacement for next semester's first weeks so the carried hours can begin early in the term.
UCCS decides on the extra agreement and the incomplete; our part is handing the college a replacement sheet that needs no second round. If this is happening to you now, read preceptor dropped out or use the form below and mark your start as urgent.
Questions UCCS students ask
Can I open a fourth new agreement if my UCCS preceptor quits?
You can ask. When a preceptor is unable to fulfill your clinical hours, the handbooks allow a written request, addressed jointly to your Option Coordinator, the paperwork office and the practicum coordinator, for permission to go past three new agreements in that term. The approval is UCCS's decision, so send the request early and with details.
Do my hours with the preceptor who left still count?
Hours done under a processed site sheet and a signed agreement, and logged correctly in Medatrax, stay on your record. A departing preceptor who logged more than 24 hours with you is also asked to evaluate you. Confirm your remaining count with lead faculty before you set up the replacement.
Can the semester break be used to catch up on UCCS hours?
No. The gap between terms is closed to clinical work, as is the stretch before a term begins, and UCCS links that rule to professional liability and Workers' Compensation requirements. If you cannot finish inside the current term, an incomplete moves the hours into the next registered semester, as long as your didactic grade is passing.
Can I start with my new preceptor while the paperwork is processed?
No. Hours are off limits for as long as the paperwork is in process, and anything past 16 hours with a preceptor missing from a processed sheet goes uncounted. Wait for the "good to go" email from the Academic Services Professional, then start.
What if I cannot clear my incomplete in time?
Left unresolved for a calendar year, an incomplete turns into an F, and UCCS's graduate grade rules then apply, including dismissal after two grades below a B. A second incomplete also stops progression and adds a 1-credit independent study. See delayed graduation for planning around a later finish.
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
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