Ball State MS in Nursing students in Kansas
Kansans can study in Ball State's online MS in Nursing, though Ball State's certificate and doctoral routes to FNP stay closed to them. The Kansas State Board of Nursing asks nothing of Ball State before you enroll, yet it has clear expectations about who precepts APRN students, and it measures your program's hours when you seek Kansas APRN licensure after graduating.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Ball State program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your Ball State course.
Kansas in Ball State's authorization records
Ball State's map files every nursing program under a status for each state. For Kansas, the lone master's entry answers for FNP, Nurse Educator and Leadership and Management students alike.
| Ball State program | Kansas status |
|---|---|
| MS in Nursing: Family Nurse Practitioner | Authorized |
| MS in Nursing: Nurse Educator | Authorized |
| MS in Nursing: Leadership and Management | Authorized |
| Post-Master's Certificate: FNP | Not authorized |
| Doctor of Nursing Practice | Not authorized |
Ball State reaches no Kansas licensure conclusion of its own and refers students to the state's licensing agency, KSBN. Your residence and all clinical hours belong in an authorized state, per clinicals outside Indiana.
What KSBN expects of your preceptor
Kansas wants APRN students supervised by APRNs licensed in Kansas. KSBN's guidance for programs based elsewhere, resting on K.A.R. 60-17-104, describes a preceptor who has had an orientation, has signed an agreement and holds a Kansas APRN license matching your intended role, and it says supervising APRN students clinically takes that Kansas license. Read for a Ball State FNP student, that means a Kansas-licensed family nurse practitioner.
Your status in the clinic, per K.S.A. 65-1124, is an advanced practice nursing student working on an RN license valid in Kansas, whether single-state or multistate; Kansas has honored the compact since July 1, 2019. Ball State's online faculty need no Kansas license, and Kansas requires no faculty site visits; a faculty member who does come goes as a visitor.
The hour question to settle before you enroll
KSBN grants no advance approval to online APRN programs from other states. Its review waits until a graduate files for a Kansas APRN license, and then it checks for the three P's (pharmacology, pathophysiology, health assessment) at 3 credits or more apiece, a program of 45 credits or more, national accreditation, and a floor on clinical hours in the role: 750 for anyone admitted after March 1, 2025, 500 before that.
Ball State's FNP concentration lists 48 credits, 3-credit NUR 632, NUR 634 and NUR 638, CCNE accreditation for the master's through June 30, 2031, and 690 supervised clinical hours, with NUR 610's 45 hours counted outside that total. The 690 sits under KSBN's 750. Ball State publishes no Kansas finding, so ask KSBN in writing how it would count a Ball State graduate's hours before you start, and keep every syllabus and clinical time sheet.
Wichita, Topeka, Manhattan and the Kansas half of Kansas City
Kansas residents of the Kansas City metro numbered roughly 938,000 in the 2025 Census count, with the Wichita, Topeka and Manhattan metros at about 664,000, 233,000 and 136,000. Hospital systems on students' lists include Ascension Via Christi, The University of Kansas Health System, Stormont Vail Health and, in Wichita, HCA Healthcare's Wesley Healthcare, every one with a separate student route, and beyond them sit Kansas's independent family practices and community clinics.
Missouri is authorized for the MS too, so a Kansas City student may be able to train on the Missouri side with a license valid there and advisor approval; its practice rules differ, as the Missouri guide shows. For the final NUR 673 practicum, look for a Kansas family practice that can take you 1.5 to 2 days weekly for 180 hours; the earlier courses split into adult care (NUR 681, NUR 683), children (NUR 682) and women's health (NUR 684).
What Kansas students get from us
Ball State leaves the preceptor search with you, with faculty support when trouble arises (finding your own preceptor). Our Kansas search opens with FNPs who hold Kansas licenses, the preceptors KSBN's guidance describes, and checks each against the Ball State course you are entering. You receive the details the standard affiliation agreement asks for, early enough for Ball State's one-semester lead time, plus a second Kansas agency in reserve. Send your Kansas request.
Questions Ball State students ask
Could a Kansas physician supervise my Ball State FNP hours?
KSBN's out-of-state APRN guidance describes the preceptor as a Kansas-licensed APRN matching the role you are training in, and it ties clinical supervision of APRN students to that license. Ball State's own preceptor qualifications are in the clinical packet, which is not public. Before counting on a physician, check with your course faculty and with KSBN.
Is Ball State's post-master's FNP certificate open to Kansas residents?
No. Kansas is marked not authorized for the certificate on Ball State's map, and neither the application page (eight states) nor the graduate handbook (Indiana and Ohio) names it. From Kansas, Ball State's only open FNP path is the master's degree, with its 690 hours across six clinical courses.
If I move from Kansas to Colorado, Nebraska or Oklahoma, can I stay in Ball State's MS?
Not under the current map. Ball State lists no nursing program at all for Colorado or Oklahoma, and Nebraska's page leaves the MS in Nursing unauthorized, so a move to any of the three would halt your coursework. Missouri is the neighbor that keeps you eligible. Whatever the destination, the handbook gives you seven days to tell the Clinical Placement Coordinator.
Can I do my Ball State FNP clinicals at the Wichita clinic where I work?
Your own clinic cannot host FNP hours; Ball State's MS FAQ is explicit on that point. Another Wichita practice, even under the same employer, may qualify once your course faculty agree and the agency signs. The workplace is fair game for Nurse Educator and Leadership and Management students, whose NUR 672 hours run under an RN holding a graduate degree.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Ball State's own catalog, graduate handbook, program pages and State Authorization Map, and Indiana rules. Your course faculty, your advisor and the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator have the final word.
Ball State asks you to find your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your Ball State track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course, confirm the practice will sign Ball State's affiliation agreement, and line up a backup, so the School of Nursing can clear the site before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NUR 682, women's health forNUR 684, adult primary care forNUR 681andNUR 683 - Outside your own unit or clinic, in a state where Ball State's program is authorized
- Across Indiana, from Muncie to Evansville, and in the other states Ball State accepts
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.