What shapes the cost of your Rivier placement
Every quote we give a Rivier University student is built around one search: your track, your practicum courses, where you will train and how much time is left. This page explains how each of those moves a quote and what every placement includes, so the conversation about price is short and clear.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Rivier program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Rivier course.
One quote for one search
A Rivier practicum placement has no single sticker price, because two Rivier students rarely need the same search. A PMHNP student near Manchester with eight months to spare and an AG-ACNP student in another state who needs a hospitalist for NURS 638P before August 1 are asking for very different amounts of work.
Your placement advisor gathers the details that matter, then sets out the quote in plain terms: which courses it covers, what the work includes and what happens if a preceptor falls through. Ask anything about it before you decide. The five factors below explain where the differences come from.
The five things that move a quote
- Your track and course. Some preceptor types are scarcer than others, and Rivier's rules narrow each pool further.
- How many practicums you want covered. A single course, or the whole three-course NP sequence planned at once.
- Where you will train. Your city or county, your state's standing on Rivier's State Guide and the RN license you hold.
- How much time is left. Many months before the deadline, or a few weeks.
- Your constraints. Work hours, how far you can drive, and setting preferences such as inpatient versus outpatient psychiatry.
None of these is a surcharge list. Each one changes how many clinicians qualify and how fast the search has to move, and the quote follows the work.
Track and course weigh the most
Rivier's Nursing Student Handbook sets a preceptor bar for each track, and that bar decides how many clinicians qualify. An FNP student's primary preceptor has to be a family physician (MD or DO) or a family nurse practitioner working outpatient, two or more years into practice; a PA can cover a day but not the role itself. Dermatology, orthopedics, GI and several other specialty clinics sit outside Rivier's approved settings, so a willing specialist does not solve an FNP search.
On the PMHNP track, the preceptor is a psychiatrist or a nurse holding PMH certification, again two years or more into practice, and telehealth prescribers can account for at most 300 of the 750 hours, which puts weight on in-person psychiatric sites. AG-ACNP students need two kinds of preceptor across the sequence: first a hospitalist, then a critical care intensivist or AG-ACNP, with telehealth ruled out. Nursing Education and Leadership students look for a master's-prepared RN who works as an educator or a nurse leader, a different search again. The PMHNP preceptor rules and the FNP and AG-ACNP pages give the detail.
One course or the whole sequence
Each Rivier NP track runs three practicum courses: NURS 511, NURS 513 and NURS 515 for the FNP; NURS 521, NURS 523 and NURS 525 for the PMHNP; NURS 638P, NURS 639P and NURS 640P for the AG-ACNP. Every course brings its own placement request and often a new preceptor, because the focus shifts, for example from adults in primary care to children and childbearing families, or from a hospitalist service to an ICU.
Some students want a single course covered because they already hold the others. Others prefer the whole sequence mapped out at once, which lets us line up settings that suit each course in order instead of restarting every semester. The quote reflects the choice you make. A DNP student looking for an external expert for NURS 895 has one project-specific search, and an Education student usually needs one preceptor for NURS 559P.
Location and time left
Where you train changes the search. Rivier lets graduate students complete practicums in their own area, in a state its State Guide accepts for the program and with an RN license there. A dense metro area usually yields more candidates than a rural county, and a home far from Nashua means the search starts without the local contacts students near campus often have.
Time matters just as much. Rivier's absolute cutoffs fall on August 1 (fall term) and December 1 (spring term), and the site contract needs 30 days inside that window. A search that opens eight months ahead can wait for the best-fit preceptor. One that opens six weeks out has to work several leads at once, which takes more effort per placement. If you are already close to the date, read need a preceptor fast.
What every quote includes
- A shortlist screened against your track's Handbook rules, including credential, setting and years in practice.
- Direct conversations with each preceptor about semester dates and weekly clinic days, so 250 hours in an NP semester is realistic.
- The preceptor's license, credentials and CV, plus the site information Rivier's contract needs, prepared for the Preceptor Request Form.
- A timeline counted backward from your practicum term's cutoff date, with your CastleBranch due date marked.
- A replacement search if your preceptor withdraws or an agency declines you during a practicum your quote covers.
Each site is judged by Rivier's graduate faculty, and paperwork and contract go through the Clinical Practicum Coordinator. Every file we assemble is built to answer their questions before they ask.
Costs that sit outside our quote
Rivier's own practicum charges are separate and are paid to Rivier or the vendors it names: the clinical-course credit rate, the annual professional liability fee, CastleBranch and testing fees, the yearly background check and drug screen, and any agency ID card. Travel to campus intensives belongs in your budget too. The placement costs page shows who pays for each item.
When you want a quote, use the form below. Give your track, the course number, your city and state, and the semester your practicum starts, and mention any clinician already interested in hosting you. Your placement advisor replies with the quote and the plan behind it.
Questions Rivier students ask
Why is there no single price for every Rivier student?
Because the work differs from one search to the next. The preceptor type your track requires, how many practicum courses you want covered, where you live and how many weeks remain before August 1 or December 1 all change how long a search takes. Your placement advisor prices your search after a short conversation about those points.
Is a quote for the full FNP sequence different from one course?
Yes. A plan covering NURS 511, NURS 513 and NURS 515 is more work than a single course, and the quote reflects that. Planning the sequence together often makes the later searches smoother, because settings and schedules can be lined up in advance rather than rebuilt each semester.
Is your fee added to my Rivier bill?
No. Our fee is separate from anything Rivier charges. Rivier bills the clinical-course credit rate and the annual liability fee itself, and CastleBranch, testing and the background check are paid as the Handbook describes. Keep the two budgets apart when you plan your practicum semesters.
What happens to my quote if my preceptor drops out?
A replacement search during the practicum your quote covers is part of the placement, so the plan continues rather than starting over. Tell your placement advisor the moment a preceptor signals a change, since each week counts toward the 250 hours your NP semester requires.
Can I get a quote before my practicum semester is set?
Yes. Share your track and roughly where the practicum courses fall on your Program of Studies, and your placement advisor can outline the search. The quote firms up once the semester is fixed, because that term's deadline decides how much time the search has.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.
- Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for
NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 638P - Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
- In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts
Start your placement plan
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.