South Carolina clinicals for UC NP students
South Carolina is open to UC's graduate clinicals, and the Board's out-of-state school rule concerns clinicals on the road to a first license, not APRN education. The unsettled question is physician assistants: UC's Clinical Planning page lists South Carolina as a PA state, while the May 2026 Preceptor Guide leaves it out.
Training in South Carolina?
Tell us your UC track, term and South Carolina city. A placement advisor replies with how a search would work there under UC's rules.
UC programs you can take from South Carolina
South Carolina isn't among the seven states UC closes to graduate clinicals. The AGACNP and two post-master's certificates stay off limits, since they enroll only Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana residents.
| UC program | Can train in South Carolina |
|---|---|
| Online MSN in FNP, AGPCNP, nurse-midwifery, WHNP or nursing education | Yes |
| Post-master's FNP or PMHNP | Yes |
| DNP, from BSN or post-MSN | Yes |
| AGACNP; AGPCNP and PNP-AC certificates | No (Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana residents) |
| RN-to-BSN | Yes |
The PA question: two UC documents, two answers
UC's Clinical Planning page names 14 states where a physician assistant may precept an NP student, case by case and for limited hours, and South Carolina is on it. UC's Clinical Preceptor Guide, revised in May 2026, names 13 and drops South Carolina. Nothing we've seen says which one UC now follows.
So don't build a schedule around a South Carolina PA until your Clinical Site Coordinator confirms, in writing, that UC will consider one. If the answer is yes, NP-track students still owe at least 20% of their hours to an NP in their population focus, and nurse-midwifery students are held to 20 PA hours in ANW8006. PA preceptors explains UC's approach.
UC's two documents disagree on South Carolina PAs. Get your CSC's answer before you ask one.
Regulation 91-6 and practice agreements
If a nursing school's parent institution is based in another state, S.C. Code Regs. 91-6 requires South Carolina Board approval before that school holds clinicals meant to prepare students for a first license. The rule expects on-site faculty supervision during the shift, a written affiliation agreement and precepted work done under South Carolina rules. Nothing in its text mentions RN-to-BSN or APRN programs, and we located no separate approval step covering UC's post-licensure clinicals.
South Carolina NPs carry out delegated acts only under a physician practice agreement and face limits on supplying controlled substances, so AANP files the state under restricted practice. The agreement is your preceptor's affair; UC looks at their master's preparation, certification, time in role and South Carolina license.
The state's preceptor tax credit
S.C. Code ยง 12-6-3800 lets any physician, APRN or PA precepting without compensation take a credit against South Carolina income tax for every rotation that qualifies, with a deduction available for the additional rotations. To qualify, a preceptor takes on at least two rotations each year and either works at a qualifying clinic or participates in Medicaid while seeing 100 or more patients across Medicaid and Medicare together. The credit's life now runs through tax year 2029 under 2024 Act No. 217, with repeal set for January 1, 2030; the older January 1, 2026 repeal date still appears in SCDOR's Revenue Ruling #20-2, which has yet to reflect the change.
SCDOR decides whether precepting a student from an out-of-state school qualifies.
Greenville to Charleston, and the Charlotte edge
Greenville-Anderson-Greer is the largest metro inside the state, closely followed by Charleston-North Charleston and Columbia. Among the systems you'll find Lexington Health and McLeod Health, along with Roper St. Francis Healthcare, MUSC Health and Prisma Health; UC would need an agreement with any of them first.
The Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metro reaches south into this state, where roughly 454,000 of its residents live. Cross into Charlotte and you're doing a North Carolina clinical. That adds UC's supplemental check for North Carolina, and if the site is part of Atrium Health / Charlotte-Mecklenburg, its agreement with UC carries an administrative fee.
License basics, and why UC students choose us
South Carolina has recognized multistate RN licenses since January 19, 2018, and hasn't adopted the APRN Compact. UC wants your license active, unrestricted and valid where you train; see RN license for clinicals.
South Carolina rewards careful planning, and careful planning is what we do. We search the state for NPs and physicians who meet your track's rules, keep PA candidates in reserve until your CSC settles UC's position in writing, and flag North Carolina's extra check and any Atrium fee on the Charlotte side before you commit. Your CSC gives the final approval; what reaches it is complete. Contact us.
Questions UC students ask
Can a PA precept me in South Carolina?
UC's own documents disagree. The Clinical Planning page counts South Carolina among 14 PA states, but the May 2026 Preceptor Guide lists 13 and omits it. Ask your Clinical Site Coordinator before you approach a PA and keep the answer in writing.
Does the South Carolina Board have to approve UC?
Only for a school whose clinicals lead to a first nursing license, under Regulation 91-6. Its text never addresses RN-to-BSN or APRN education, and our research turned up no other rule requiring approval before UC's post-licensure students train in South Carolina. If a site says otherwise, loop in your CSC.
I live near Charlotte but in South Carolina. Can I train in Charlotte?
Yes, North Carolina is open to UC, but the clinical then follows North Carolina's rules plus UC's supplemental North Carolina background check. If the site belongs to Atrium Health's Charlotte-Mecklenburg operation, its affiliation agreement carries an administrative fee that UC collects from you.
Could precepting me earn my preceptor South Carolina's tax credit?
Possibly, if they pass the statute's tests: they precept without being paid, handle at least two rotations in a year and carry a qualifying Medicaid and Medicare patient load. Whether students of out-of-state schools count is for the South Carolina Department of Revenue to say, so the preceptor should check there.
Does UC require a South Carolina background check?
Not a state-specific one. South Carolina is absent from the 18 states in UC's handbook that call for a supplemental check, so the standard CastleBranch background check covers you, plus whatever onboarding the site itself requires. A site across the line in North Carolina would add one.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
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