Aspen University Preceptor & Field Experience FAQ

Not directly. Aspen’s Office of Field Experience (OFE) assists with identifying and approving a site and preceptor, with documentation, and with alternative locations, but students are responsible for securing their own placement, and many use their workplace. Aspen leaves the search to the student, which is why preceptor searches often drag on for months. That gap is exactly what our find-a-preceptor service is built to close.

No. We are an independent service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or partnered with Aspen University in any way, and we are not the Office of Field Experience. We help Aspen students find a qualified, specialty-matched preceptor and an approved field-experience site, and we walk you through Aspen’s documented process.

No. We assist with placement; we never guarantee it. We source a real, specialty-matched preceptor and an approved site and support you through Aspen’s required forms and approvals. Placement ultimately depends on Aspen’s approval and site availability, so we’re honest about that up front.

It depends on your program. The MSN requires a 120-hour practicum. The RN-to-MSN includes that same 120-hour practicum. The RN-to-BSN requires roughly 110-120 community-health field hours (N492 Community Health I = 30 hours, N493 Community Health II = 80 hours, N496 Nursing Leadership = 10 hours). The DNP requires 1,000 clinical-practice immersion hours, with up to 500 previously precepted hours bankable. See practicum hours & approval for how these are documented.

For the MSN practicum, your preceptor must be a Registered Nurse affiliated with the practicum site who holds a master’s degree with expertise relevant to your specialty. For the Nursing Education, Forensic Nursing, and Public Health tracks, a minimum of 20 of the 120 hours must be direct-care hours. We match you to a preceptor who fits these requirements for your chosen specialty.

No. The RN-to-BSN does not require a preceptor. Its roughly 110-120 hours are community/public-health field work, not hospital clinical rotations, and the hours are documented and approved before course completion. We can still help you identify and arrange an approved community-health field site. See RN-to-BSN field experience.

The MSN offers five specializations: Forensic Nursing, Informatics, Administration & Management, Nursing Education, and Public Health. Per Aspen’s MSN Handbook, typical sites vary by specialty, Forensic uses emergency departments, law enforcement agencies, correctional facilities, medical examiner’s offices, and the court system; Public Health uses local/state health departments and school nurse offices; Nursing Education uses staff education departments and continuing-education companies; Informatics uses ambulatory/outpatient and HIM informatics departments; and Administration & Management uses acute-care/skilled-nursing facilities, Magnet facilities, and professional organizations.

We offer a virtual practicum service for all programs, providing a remote preceptor and a virtual experience. We also offer physical placement matching: sourcing a real preceptor and an approved in-person site. You choose the format that fits your situation, and we walk you through Aspen’s documentation and approval process either way.

No. Aspen has no nurse-practitioner tracks, there is no FNP, PMHNP, or AGPCNP program. Aspen’s field experience is project-based, specialty-matched work (including quality-improvement work), not NP-style direct patient-care clinical rotations. We match you accordingly.

ProjectConcert is the system where Aspen students log practicum hours. Documentation includes a signed preceptor audit report and Week-7 site and preceptor evaluations. We help you stay organized so your logging and evaluations line up with Aspen’s requirements.

Aspen requires a Practicum Site Agreement, Preceptor Agreement, Student Profile, and Student Performance Evaluation. Completing these leads to a Practicum Approval Letter, which must be obtained before your practicum course begins. We guide you through assembling these so nothing stalls your start. Details are on practicum hours & approval and the Office of Field Experience.

The DNP is 42 credits and requires 1,000 clinical-practice immersion hours, with up to 500 previously precepted hours bankable. It requires access to a clinical site and a preceptor, and includes a DNP Project/Capstone. DNP880 requires submitting and obtaining Aspen University IRB approval. Admission requires an MSN (or relevant degree) with a 3.0+ GPA, a current unrestricted RN/NP/APRN license, no application fee, and a government photo ID. See DNP immersion.

The OFE (ofe@aspen.edu) assists, it does not guarantee, with identifying and approving a site and preceptor, with documentation, and with finding alternative locations. Securing the placement itself remains your responsibility. We exist to take that search off your plate and shorten the months students often spend looking.

You pay when you’re matched, not before. We source a qualified, specialty-matched preceptor and an approved site (in person or virtual) and support you through Aspen’s approval process. Get in touch to start.