North Dakota nurses and Ohio University

Updated September 24, 2026 · Reviewed by the Ohio Preceptor placement team

In short: North Dakota sits outside the 28-state graduate list Ohio University published as of September 2026, and none of the four RN-to-BSN lists includes it either. The state still matters to two groups: Ohio University students relocating to Fargo, Bismarck or Minot, and students in neighboring Montana, an approved state, who might train across the line. North Dakota's board runs a formal, semester-by-semester recognition process for distance programs that place NP students.

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60 dayslead time NDBON sets for a distance program's recognition request

5states, North Dakota among them, that have enacted the APRN Compact

Ohio University state lists for North Dakota: graduate NP programs not on the approved list; RN-to-BSN not listed on the program page list. RN license: in the compact. NP practice: full. — North Dakota on Ohio University's published state lists (September 2026): MSN, certificate and DNP applicants not on the approved list; RN-to-BSN not listed; RN license in the compact; NP practice full (AANP).

Program status for North Dakota residents

Ohio University's MSN tracks, post-master's certificates, Emergency NP certificate and MSN-to-DNP all tie eligibility to living in a listed state, 28 in all, with an RN license there that has no restrictions. North Dakota is not one of them. The RN-to-BSN lists vary from page to page, but none names North Dakota. Lists get revised, so check with Ohio University before relying on this.

North Dakota residents and Ohio University nursing (September 2026)
Program	North Dakota residents	Delivery	Clinical hours
MSN FNP, PMHNP, AG-ACNP	Not on the graduate list	Online	750 each
Post-master's certificates	Not on the graduate list	Online	750; Emergency NP 450 or 500
MSN-to-DNP	Not on the graduate list	Online	1,000 post-baccalaureate
Nurse Leader or Nurse Educator MSN	Not on the graduate list	Online	500
RN-to-BSN	On none of the four lists	Online	31.5

Where Ohio University's own lists conflict is covered on the approved states page.

How NDBON recognizes distance NP programs

NDBON's recognition process reaches any distance program that prepares students for LPN, RN or APRN licensure and sends them into North Dakota facilities, so an NP program falls inside it. The board lays out three stages:

Ask for recognitionThe request goes in 60 days or more before students start anything in the state, with a yearly fee for graduate programs.
Prove authorizationProof of NC-SARA approval, or a North Dakota higher-education board authorization or exemption. Ohio University has NC-SARA approval through the Ohio Department of Higher Education.
Report every semesterAhead of each term, the program lists its students and their licenses, the facilities and courses, preceptors and faculty with resumes and licenses, its affiliation agreements, and proof from each facility that clinical space exists.

Two statutes sit behind this. Under NDCC 43-12.1-04(12), students in a recognized out-of-state program are exempt after written notice to the board, subject to site availability; NDCC 43-12.1-17(1) wants such programs approved by their headquarters state's board. Ohio's Board of Nursing does not regulate graduate APRN programs, per Ohio University's provost, so ask NDBON and the School of Nursing how that plays out for an Ohio school. The guidance is silent on RN-to-BSN programs.

Montana students and North Dakota sites

Montana is on Ohio University's graduate list and shares North Dakota's western border. A Montana-based Ohio University NP student eyeing a North Dakota clinic would need Ohio University to hold NDBON recognition first, with that semester's report filed. The RN license is the easier part, since both states joined the compact when it went live on January 19, 2018. For the Montana side, including a faculty licensing note in Ohio University's disclosures, see the Montana guide and clinicals outside Ohio.

Practice rules, compacts and systems

AANP rates North Dakota full practice. The APRN Compact became North Dakota law on March 9, 2021, and Delaware, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming have enacted it too; it starts only once a seventh state signs, so it has no effect on practice yet.

In Bismarck, NP students look at CHI St. Alexius Health, part of CommonSpirit, and Sanford Medical Center Bismarck. Fargo has Sanford Broadway Medical Center and Essentia Health-Fargo, Grand Forks has Altru Health System, and Minot has Trinity Health. Fargo and Grand Forks are two-state metros: roughly 202,000 and 74,500 of their residents live on the North Dakota side, the rest in non-compact Minnesota. These are examples, not sites that take Ohio University students, and no North Dakota preceptor incentive appears in our research.

Who we help from North Dakota

Ohio University students moving here with the School of Nursing's blessing, and Montana students weighing a North Dakota site, get a search where they live, a preceptor matched to their course, and the license, resume and facility details that both NDBON's semester report and Ohio University faculty will ask for, gathered before anyone is under deadline pressure. North Dakotans planning a move to an approved state get the same search in their new home. Start with the form below.

Questions Ohio University students ask

Can I apply to Ohio University's MSN from Fargo or Bismarck?

Not while you live in North Dakota, under the September 2026 application rules. Graduate applicants must be residents of an approved state and hold an unrestricted RN license from it. North Dakota is not listed, so ask Ohio University about the current list before planning around it, since it has changed before.

Does North Dakota's board have to recognize an out-of-state NP program before clinicals?

Yes, for programs that lead to APRN licensure and place students in North Dakota facilities. NDBON wants the request 60 days before student activity, proof of NC-SARA approval or state higher-education authorization, and a report each semester naming students, sites, preceptors and faculty with their licenses.

Is the APRN Compact in effect in North Dakota?

Not yet. North Dakota enacted it in 2021, yet it stays dormant until a seventh state joins, and five states had enacted it by 2026. Until it operates, it adds no multistate APRN privilege, while RN licensure keeps running through the separate Nurse Licensure Compact.

Would Ohio University's RN-to-BSN need NDBON recognition?

NDBON frames its recognition process around programs that lead to licensure, and its guidance says nothing about post-licensure RN-to-BSN programs. The point is mostly academic for North Dakota residents anyway, because none of Ohio University's four RN-to-BSN state lists includes North Dakota.

GuideOhio University clinicals by stateDoing Ohio University clinicals outside Ohio? Fifty state guides: the approved-state list, RN license rules, boards of nursing and where NP students look.StatesThe 28 approved statesThe 28 states Ohio University accepts graduate nursing applicants from, the 22 left off, where its own lists disagree, and what to do if you move mid-program.StatesClinicals outside OhioDoing Ohio University nursing clinicals in another approved state: the license you train under, state rules for out-of-state programs, and the Dublin OCIs.State guideMontanaMontana appears on every Ohio University nursing state list. What the Montana Board expects of graduate and RN-to-BSN clinicals, plus licensing and travel.State guideMinnesotaMinnesota is on every Ohio University RN-to-BSN list but off the graduate list. Clinical hours, Minnesota licensing, Mayo's site rules and MERC, explained.

Last checked 2026-09-24

We check these pages against Ohio University's own catalog, program pages and Nursing Knowledge Center. Your syllabus, the Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and your faculty have the final word.

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