Liberty's practicum team, your own leads, or outside help?
For Liberty's NP tracks you do not have to pick one. Liberty designed placement as a partnership between you and its practicum team, and it asks you to bring your own leads as well. Placement help is a third route students add. All three end in the same place: Liberty approves the site and preceptor.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Liberty track and where you live. A placement advisor replies with what a Liberty-ready preceptor and site look like for you.
Side by side
The table compares the three routes on the points students ask about most. The last row is the one that matters: whichever route finds the site, Liberty makes the decision.
| Question | Liberty's practicum team | Your own leads | Our placement help |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who searches | Liberty's practicum staff, who aim to match each NP student | You, through your network and local calls | A placement advisor, alongside the team |
| What it costs | No charge for matching on any Liberty page we found | Your time | Set out in a written quote |
| Knowledge of Liberty's rules | Sets and applies them | You learn them through your Gate course | Checks every lead against Liberty's published rules |
| Say over location | The assigned site and term may not match your preference | Full: you choose whom to ask | You set the radius; in person near you comes first |
| Telehealth | PMHNP up to 50%; none for FNP | The same limits | The same limits |
| Paperwork | Collected through the Gate course | You prepare it | Prepared with you, ready to submit |
| Site or preceptor fees | Paid by the student, per Liberty's rule | Paid by the student | Paid by the student, outside the service's quote |
| If a preceptor drops | Go back to the team | You start again | The service searches again |
| Who approves | Liberty | Liberty | Liberty |
What the practicum team does well
Liberty's practicum team is the official route, and it is real help. Liberty calls it a "dedicated practicum team" that is "committed to assisting students in identifying suitable preceptors and practicum sites", and its stated goal is to match each NP student with a preceptor and site. Its staff include an Assistant Director of Practicum Experiences and several Practicum & Clinical Coordinators.
The team sits inside the approval process rather than outside it, so it knows what reviewers look for. An older Liberty handbook tells MSN students they can ask the practicum coordinator about existing approved sites, and we found no Liberty page that charges for the team's matching help. Reach the NP and DNP team at APRN.DNPPracticum@liberty.edu. The practicum team page covers how to work with them.
Where the team's model has limits
Liberty is candid about them. Its NP pages say the assigned term "may not always meet the student's initial preferences", and that because preceptors are scarce, students may need to travel longer distances. If you decline a site provided for you because of distance, you will be asked to identify a new site yourself.
None of that is a failing of the team. It reflects the scarcity of preceptors Liberty itself mentions, and a team serving online students across every state where Liberty allows NP practicum. The distance rule is covered on the site distance page.
For MSN students the model differs. The current catalog has you secure a student-selected facility and obtain a preceptor site contract, so your own leads are the main route from the start.
Your own leads: strengths and costs
Liberty asks for this. Its NP pages encourage students to take an active role in finding potential placements, because students know their local areas. A clinician you already know, a practice where you have worked or a colleague's referral can move faster than any cold request.
The cost is time and uncertainty. Expect some requests to go unanswered, and remember that a yes is only the start: the site still has to accept Liberty's affiliation agreement or offer its own contract, and the preceptor's credentials must suit your track.
If you work at a facility, MSN students may be able to use it under the older handbook's conditions: unpaid hours, an affiliation agreement and a different unit or department. See asking a preceptor and using your workplace.
What placement help adds
Placement help adds search capacity: more calls, in more places, by people who build Liberty's rules into every search. Every lead is screened against Liberty's published rules ahead of submission, and we prepare the preceptor CV, license details, site details and contract that the Gate course and the site need.
Liberty gives the final approval and sets the pace of its review, so the time placement help saves comes before submission, in a file with nothing missing. It is priced in a written quote, and site or preceptor fees stay yours under Liberty's rule whoever finds the site. Choosing a placement service sets out the standards strong help meets.
Which mix fits you
- Lean on the practicum team when your Gate course is a term or more away, you can travel if needed, and nothing has gone wrong yet.
- Work your own leads hard when you already know clinicians in your specialty, when you are an MSN student choosing a facility, or when you need only the 16 RN-to-BSN observation hours.
- Add our search when your practicum is close and nothing is lined up, when you declined a distant site and must find a replacement, when a preceptor dropped out, or when few clinicians near you fit your track.
Whatever the mix, keep the practicum team informed. Two searches that never compare notes can end with the same clinician asked twice. If you want to add our search, see how it works.
Do not decline a site the practicum team offers until you have a realistic alternative lined up.
Questions Liberty students ask
Will the practicum team mind if I use a placement service?
Liberty's pages ask students to take an active role in finding placements and say nothing against outside help. What matters is that every lead goes through Liberty's process: tell the team what you are pursuing, submit through your Gate course, and let Liberty approve. Surprises cause friction; shared information does not.
Can the practicum team and a service work on my placement at the same time?
Yes, as long as you coordinate. Tell the team which clinicians or sites the service is approaching, and tell the service what the team has offered. If the team finds a workable site first, you can take it; a parallel search is a backup, not a contest.
Is a site I find myself approved faster than one the team provides?
Liberty publishes no timing for either. A site that already has an agreement with Liberty may move faster than a new one, and the older MSN handbook warns that a facility's own contract may delay approval. State steps, such as Alabama's 15-day board notice, apply however the site was found.
What should I do if the practicum team has not matched me yet?
Stay in touch with the team and ask where things stand, then widen your own search instead of waiting. The can't find a preceptor page covers what to try next, including when outside help makes sense and what to tell the team when you add it.
Does the practicum team match MSN students too?
Liberty's current catalog puts MSN students in charge: you secure a student-selected facility and obtain a preceptor site contract before the first practicum course. The older MSN handbook says the program works with students to secure preceptors and that the practicum coordinator can share existing approved sites. Ask the MSN program what help it offers now.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against Liberty's own published sources. The practicum team and Liberty's current handbook have the final word.
More leads, sooner, for your practicum.
Tell us your Liberty program, your county and when your practicum starts. We look for a preceptor and site that fit Liberty's rules for your track, and help you get the Gate-course paperwork right.
- Matched to your track: FNP, PMHNP, DNP or MSN
- Paperwork ready for the Gate course and the site contract
- In person near you, or telehealth where your track allows it
Start your placement plan
A placement advisor replies with what a Liberty-ready preceptor and site look like for you.