Changing practicum dates at Loyola University New Orleans: early starts, extensions and Incompletes
When your hours will not fit inside the term, Loyola gives you two tools: the Early Start/Extension Practicum approval form, approved by the faculty member who owns your course, and the Incomplete grade for hours that spill past the end. Neither one changes the rule that hours begin only after Placement Approved.
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Two tools for hours that do not fit the term
Practicum hours follow a preceptor's calendar, not the Registrar's. A preceptor who can take you two weeks before classes start, or a clinic that loses a provider mid-term, leaves your hours out of step with the course dates.
Loyola handles that mismatch in two ways. The form moves the start or end date of the practicum with faculty approval. The Incomplete grade holds a course open when work, hours included, is not done by the close of the term. They solve different problems, and picking the right one early keeps your progression intact. Both start with a conversation with your faculty of record, well before the last week of the term.
What the Early Start/Extension form does
The EARLY START/EXTENSION PRACTICUM approval form, in its 2025 version, lets the faculty of record approve a modified start date, a modified end date, or both. It sits on the Graduate Nursing Student Resources page with the other practicum forms.
Approval belongs to the faculty member who owns the course, not to the site or the preceptor. The preceptor's calendar is the reason you ask; the faculty signature is what makes the new dates count.
- Pin down the preceptor's datesGet the exact weeks your preceptor can take you, in writing where possible.
- Check your placement statusMake sure the Exxat request is heading for Placement Approved and every party has signed the affiliation agreement; new dates replace neither.
- Complete the formEnter the course, the standard dates and the dates you want, with a short reason.
- Send it to the faculty of recordYour faculty of record reviews and signs it; keep a copy with your course records.
- Log only inside the approved windowRecord time in Exxat only on dates the signed form covers.
Early starts: what must already be in place
An early start appeals when a preceptor has open weeks before the term or when a heavy hour load needs a running start. It does not loosen the prerequisites. The FNP guide allows no hours until the full request shows Placement Approved, and the bulletin voids any hour logged before the affiliation agreement is accepted.
Compliance counts just as much. Falling behind on requirements means no registration for the practicum course and a compliance hold, visible on the LORA Holds tab. Review your compliance items before asking for early dates, because an early start squeezes the three-month lead time even further. Yearly items such as the flu shot and TB screening need to stay current across the new dates as well.
Extensions and the Incomplete grade
An extension moves the practicum's end date. When hours remain after the term closes, the Incomplete is the grade that keeps the course open, and the AGACNP Practicum Guide says so directly: unfinished hours need an Incomplete.
The university sets the terms. An I requires circumstances outside your control, roughly 75 percent of the work already complete and a passing standing, and you ask for it before the final exam or last class. Whatever is left must be turned in within six weeks of the next term's start, or the grade converts to F. Students on probation need the associate dean's approval, and a student carrying an I is not certified for graduation.
The request form is inconsistent: its deadline line counts six weeks from when the next term begins, but the instructor's part speaks of work arriving as late as six weeks after this term ends. Settle the exact date with your faculty member in writing. The wider policy is on the Incompletes and time limits page.
| Term the I was given | I becomes F on |
|---|---|
| Summer 2026 | September 28, 2026 |
| Fall 2026 | March 1, 2027 |
| Spring 2027 | June 28, 2027 (the Summer 2027 5-week calendar shows June 25) |
Midterm checks and action plans
The AGACNP track builds an early warning into every term. Exxat Prism emails the preceptor an evaluation at the midpoint and a second one two weeks from the end of the term. Reach midterm with less than half your required hours logged, and you owe an action plan.
The action plan is your chance to fix the pace while there is still time: added shifts, a second preceptor, or a request for new dates. AGACNP students arrange their own 4-, 6-, 8- or 12-hour shifts with the preceptor, weekends and holidays included, which leaves room to catch up.
Other tracks follow the evaluation schedule in their own syllabus. Find the midterm point in yours and compare your logged hours against it, rather than discovering a gap in the final weeks.
In Progress grades and the five-year limit
Loyola built the In Progress grade, or IP, for practicum-type courses designed to span more than one term. Where it applies, IP replaces the Incomplete. Expect to wrap up an IP course inside twelve months; past that point it turns into an F, unless a Request for Continued IP is on file.
Whether your course uses IP is a question for its syllabus or faculty of record, so confirm before assuming a project course or elective practicum works that way. An IP that quietly passes its one-year mark turns into an F on your record.
Delays also eat into the clock. Loyola gives graduate nursing students five years from their first course to finish, and a plan of study that can no longer fit inside that span ends in dismissal.
Keeping hours on schedule with a second preceptor
When the cause is on the preceptor's side, such as a late start, a leave or a clinic that loses a provider, the practical fix is often a second qualified preceptor who can add hours inside the approved dates. The new site still needs its own agreement and Wishlist entry before those hours count.
That is where Loyola students use us. We find a replacement or added preceptor in your area who meets Loyola's rules, prepare the Wishlist uploads for the new site, and check its agreement status right away, so the time left in the term goes to hours. If you are already behind, see behind on clinical hours or preceptor dropped out, or use the form below.
Questions Loyola students ask
Can I start my Loyola practicum hours before the semester begins?
Only with your faculty of record's approval on the Early Start/Extension Practicum form, and only after the whole request shows Placement Approved in Exxat and the affiliation agreement is signed. Hours logged before those steps are complete do not count toward the course.
Who signs the Early Start/Extension form?
The faculty of record for the practicum course approves a modified start or end date. The site and preceptor supply the dates, but only the faculty signature makes them official. Keep a copy, and log hours in Exxat only inside the approved window.
What if I cannot finish my clinical hours by the end of the term?
Talk with your faculty of record before the final exam or last class. With about 75 percent of the work done and a passing standing, you can ask for an Incomplete; the outstanding hours then have a six-week window in the next term before the I turns to F.
Does an Incomplete delay graduation at Loyola?
It can. Graduation certification waits until every Incomplete on your record is resolved. If your final practicum ends in an I in Spring 2027, commencement on May 15, 2027 may arrive before your hours are done, so plan the finish with your program director.
What happens at midterm if I am behind on AGACNP hours?
A student who reaches midterm with under 50 percent of required hours must submit an action plan, per the AGACNP Practicum Guide. The preceptor evaluates you twice through Exxat Prism, at the midpoint and two weeks out from the end, and any hours left at the close need an Incomplete.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Loyola's own bulletin, program pages, practicum guides, forms and licensure disclosures. Your plan of study, your practicum guide, your program director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Loyola asks you to select your own preceptor and site. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Loyola program, where you live and which term your next practicum starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, check whether the site already has a Loyola affiliation agreement, and prepare everything your Exxat Wishlist needs.
- Preceptors matched to the course: outpatient primary care for
NURS G823, pediatrics and obstetrics forNURS G829, acute care forNURS G902, psychiatric care forNURS G856 - Preceptor CV, license and Nursys PDF, the Preceptor Agreement and the site's signer details ready for the Wishlist
- In your own community, in Louisiana or any state where Loyola approves your practicum
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