Liberty didn't approve your site or preceptor

Get the reason in writing

Liberty's older PMHNP FAQ says the School of Nursing reserves the right to approve all sites and preceptors, and the current NP pages require every placement step to be complete before practicum starts. Neither lists an appeal process, so your leverage comes from understanding the exact problem.

Reply to the practicum team (APRN.DNPPracticum@liberty.edu for NP and DNP tracks) and ask three questions: which requirement wasn't met, whether it concerns the site, the preceptor or the paperwork, and whether fixing that one item would be enough. A refusal over a missing document is a very different problem from a refusal over the state the clinic is in, and the answer decides whether you repair this site or start again.

Location, license and telehealth

These are hard limits, so a fix usually means moving the hours rather than arguing the point.

Liberty's state pages add that NP students in the closed states may be eligible to complete practicum in an approved state. Your RN license must be valid wherever the hours happen, either that state's license or a multistate license where accepted.

Telehealth is the other hard line. FNP students can't use telehealth sites, and PMHNP students are capped at 50% of practicum hours, so a mostly virtual PMHNP site fails on that alone. See state restrictions and virtual clinical options.

The preceptor's role doesn't fit the course

Liberty asks for a particular kind of preceptor on each track, and a willing clinician with the wrong credential will be turned down.

• PMHNP. An older Liberty FAQ lists PMHNPs and psychiatrists as approved preceptors and requires half of each practicum's hours with a prescriber. A therapist-led site can be a good experience and still fail that test. Confirm the current rule with the practicum team.
• MSN Educator, Administration, Health Policy. The current catalog asks for an approved MSN or doctorally prepared preceptor.
• MSN Informatics. The catalog asks for an approved, experienced informatics clinician.
• State rules. Liberty's Missouri page calls for an APRN with prescribing authority or an MD or DO with unrestricted prescriptive authority, and its Oregon page requires an appropriately licensed Oregon preceptor.

The fix is often a different preceptor at the same site, if one exists. Our preceptor requirements page collects what Liberty has published for each track.

Workplace sites on the MSN tracks

Using your employer is allowed for MSN students, but only on Liberty's terms. The 2022-23 MSN handbook permits a workplace practicum when the hours are unpaid, a Clinical Program Affiliation Agreement is in place, the site meets the course requirements and you work in a different program, unit or department from your job.

A workplace site that fails usually fails on the unit rule or the paid-hours rule. The fix is often inside the same organization: a different department, with practicum hours kept clearly separate from your paid shifts. No current Liberty rule on employer sites for FNP or PMHNP hours was found, so NP students should ask the practicum team directly. More detail is on using your workplace.

Missing or stalled site contract

Some refusals are really a contract that never arrived. The catalog descriptions for NURS 674 and NURS 677 require an educational site affiliation agreement with an approved facility before you enroll, and the MSN plans ask you to obtain a preceptor site contract.

The 2022-23 MSN handbook encourages students to use facilities that accept the Liberty University Clinical Program Affiliation Agreement. A facility's own contract may delay approval, and Liberty is under no obligation to agree to it. A facility that needs no agreement can sign an Attestation of Agreement letter instead. If your site stalled here, ask whether it will accept Liberty's agreement or sign the attestation. On the NP tracks, practicum requirements go in through the Gate courses, so ask the practicum team which document is still outstanding. See the site contract.

Fixing it and resubmitting

1. Name the ruleGet the specific requirement from the practicum team in writing.
2. Repair or replaceA missing CV or a unit change can be fixed at the same site. A closed state or the wrong type of preceptor usually cannot.
3. Check every other rule tooRun the site against state, license, setting, preceptor role and paperwork so a second issue doesn't surface next time.
4. Resubmit completeSend everything at once through the route your Gate course gives you.

If the answer is a new site, that is our specialty. Working with Liberty's practicum team in view, a placement advisor looks near you, in person first, for a preceptor and site suited to your track, tests each lead against the rule that stopped the first one and every other published rule, and prepares what the Gate course and site contract need. Liberty then decides on a file that is complete from the start. Start through the contact page.