What shapes the cost of a YSU preceptor placement
A placement's cost follows the work your practicums need: the track and setting, how scarce that specialty is near you, how much time remains before Youngstown State University's two-month deadline, and how many of your five practicums you want covered. Your placement advisor builds a written quote around your own plan. YSU's own costs, from tuition to compliance items, are separate.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your YSU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your YSU course.
Why each quote is built from your plan
Two YSU students in the same track can need very different searches. One lives in Boardman, works nights at a hospital and needs NURS 7061 in a family practice; another lives in rural Columbiana County, has adult primary care covered and still needs pediatric and women's health hours for NURS 7064 and NURS 7065. A single figure would suit neither, so each quote starts from your answers.
The factors below are the ones that change the size of a search: how many practices must be approached, how many hold the right setting, whether a facility needs an agreement with YSU, and how quickly everything must land before YSU's dates. Your placement advisor walks through them with you, and the quote you receive names what it covers.
One point never changes with the quote: YSU's clinical faculty approve every preceptor and site, whatever the plan.
Practicum type: primary care or acute care
FNP practicums, NURS 7061 to NURS 7065, sit in primary care offices and clinics, and the search turns on finding the right mix of adult, pediatric and women's health settings. AGACNP practicums, NURS 7071 to NURS 7075, sit in acute care: intensive care, internal medicine, emergency and trauma or specialty units, mostly inside hospitals. Hospitals tend to add layers, such as an affiliation agreement with YSU, a central application or a fixed window, and each layer adds steps to the search (AGACNP hours and settings).
Other YSU practicums are shaped differently again. The Nursing Education practicums, NURS 7022 and NURS 7023, need 150 hours in education and health care settings, and RN to BSN students need a nurse in a leadership role for 60 hours, often at their own workplace. Each calls for a different kind of search.
Scarce specialties: pediatrics, women's health, acute care
The hardest hours to place are the ones many programs chase at once. YSU recommends that FNP students log at least 100 pediatric and 75 women's health hours, and several Ohio systems flag exactly those areas as tight. Memorial Health System in Marietta asks for pediatric and OB/GYN requests six months to a year ahead, and Nationwide Children's calls its family nurse practitioner placements very limited, according to their own placement pages (hour mix).
Acute care has pressures of its own. Intensive care and emergency preceptors often work inside systems that match students centrally and open applications months before a term. A plan that includes scarce hours takes more outreach and a longer runway, and the quote reflects that work. Booking those hours first also protects the rest of the plan.
Where you live and how far you can drive
Location decides how many suitable preceptors sit within your reach. In and around Youngstown, Warren and Boardman there are more practices to approach; in a rural county the list is shorter. HRSA lists primary care shortage designations in all three Mahoning Valley counties and marks Columbiana County's as rural, so a search there often widens across county lines (Mahoning Valley guide).
Your driving range matters as much as your address. A student who can travel an hour opens more options than one limited to twenty minutes. For online students in Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Michigan, the search follows the same logic, within the states YSU accepts and where you hold an RN license. The Ohio regions guide shows how the picture differs across the state.
Timing, and how many practicums you want covered
Time is the factor you control most. YSU's FAQ says the site and preceptor request should begin at admission and can take many months. A search that starts early can choose among options and wait out a facility's agreement; one that starts after the 90-day notice point, or inside the two-month deadline, has to move faster through fewer doors (approval timeline).
Scope matters too. You might want one practicum covered, the scarce hours only, or all five in sequence. A full-run plan lets each new search open while the current practicum runs and lets one preceptor span two practicums where the setting fits; a single urgent practicum is a different job. Your quote is built on the scope you choose.
Ask for a quote with your next practicum's start date in hand. That one date moves the plan more than any other detail.
YSU's own costs are separate
Nothing in our quote replaces or reduces what you owe YSU, and YSU bills its items directly. Keep these on your own budget:
- Tuition, charged by the credit hour and posted on YSU's online program pages; YSU notes that accelerated online students have no payment plan option.
- Sentinel U, a required purchase for nurse practitioner students before the first semester, kept active through the program (online tools).
- Clinical compliance kept in Exxat: BLS, required immunizations, an annual drug screen and background check, and ACLS for AGACNP students. YSU publishes no amounts for these.
- Travel to your clinical site, and any onboarding a facility sets for students.
YSU's own professional liability (malpractice) coverage applies to students in approved clinical experiences. The compliance requirements guide lists each clearance item.
Questions YSU students ask
Is a placement service fee part of YSU tuition?
No. Tuition, Sentinel U and your compliance items are billed by YSU or its vendors, and our quote is a separate arrangement between you and us. Neither one changes the other. YSU's clinical faculty approve every preceptor and site in the same way, whoever found them.
Can I get help with just one YSU practicum?
Yes. Some students cover early practicums through their own network and ask for help with a later one, often the practicum that needs pediatric or women's health hours. The quote covers the practicums you choose, and you can add more later as your curriculum plan firms up.
Does an AGACNP placement cost more than an FNP placement?
It depends on the plan more than the track. Acute care searches often meet hospital agreements and application windows, which add steps. An FNP plan that needs pediatric and women's health hours in a rural county can be just as involved. Your quote reflects the searches your own plan requires.
What do you need from me to give an accurate quote?
Your track, your next NURS practicum and its start date, your city and state, how far you can drive, the state of your RN license, and which practicums already have a preceptor. Mention where you work and on which unit, since YSU's workplace rules shape where we can search.
Does living outside Ohio change the cost?
The state itself matters less than what lies within your reach. A student near Pittsburgh or Detroit may have more practices nearby than one in rural Ohio. What counts is the density of fitting preceptors, the facilities' agreement needs and your RN license, all within the states YSU accepts.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against YSU's own catalog, graduate handbook, online program pages and FAQ, and Ohio rules. Your clinical faculty, the Graduate Clinical Coordinator and your advisor have the final word.
YSU asks you to secure your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your YSU track, where you live and when your next practicum starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the practicum, check YSU's rules and hand you what the preceptor request needs, two months ahead, with the next term's preceptor already in view.
- Primary care preceptors for FNP practicums
NURS 7061toNURS 7065, acute care for AGACNPNURS 7071toNURS 7075 - Outside your own unit and away from your supervisor, in a state YSU accepts
- Across Ohio, from the Mahoning Valley to Cincinnati, and in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.