Who pays for what in a Loyola University New Orleans practicum

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Loyola Preceptor placement team

Loyola places most practicum costs with the student: the two Exxat subscriptions, the background check, drug screens, any fee a site charges and your travel. The School of Nursing carries malpractice coverage for your practicum hours, and under the standard affiliation agreement Loyola and the site pay each other nothing.

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Table. Practicum costs and who carries them, from Loyola's own documents: Exxat annual subscription for required documents, Student; Exxat STEPS subscription for placement processing, Student; Background check through the School of Nursing's contracted company, Student; Drug screen, including random — Practicum costs and who carries them, from Loyola's own documents: Exxat annual subscription for required documents, Student; Exxat STEPS subscription for placement processing, Student; Background check through the School of Nursing's contracted company, Student; Drug screen, including random or rep

The short answer, item by item

Loyola's guides and handbooks assign each practicum cost to someone, and current prices show up when you buy or order. So this page names the payer for each item and leaves the amounts to the point of purchase.

Practicum costs and who carries them, from Loyola's own documents
Item	Who pays	Where Loyola says so
Exxat annual subscription for required documents	Student	FNP Orientation and Practicum Guide
Exxat STEPS subscription for placement processing	Student	FNP Orientation and Practicum Guide
Background check through the School of Nursing's contracted company	Student	Nursing Student Handbook
Drug screen, including random or repeat tests	Student	Nursing Student Handbook
Extra fees a practicum site charges	Student	FNP guide and handbook
Travel to assigned Nurse-Midwifery sites	Student	Nurse-Midwifery handbook
StatPearls subscription, AGACNP	Student	AGACNP Practicum Guide
Case-logging service, Nurse Anesthesia	Student	Nurse Anesthesia handbook, dated 2023
Malpractice coverage for practicum hours	School of Nursing	Nursing Student Handbook
Payment between Loyola and the site	Neither side pays the other	Standard Loyola Affiliation Agreement
Pay for the student during the practicum	None; students are not paid	Standard Loyola Affiliation Agreement

Exxat: the two subscriptions

Every graduate student in the Exxat process buys two subscriptions. One is an annual Exxat access subscription for Required Documents, where your compliance items live. The other is an Exxat STEPS subscription for practicum placement processing, which carries your Wishlist request through to Placement Approved.

Buy both early. The FNP guide lists the purchase as the second step, right after deciding to start at least three months ahead, because neither compliance review nor the placement request can move without them. The guide names no other placement-processing fee. The Exxat Prism page explains what each subscription opens. Keep the annual subscription current for as long as you have practicums ahead, since Required Documents is where the APPROVE team reviews your items.

Compliance costs you carry

You pay for both the background check and the drug screen. Each is ordered through the company the School of Nursing contracts with; the screen itself is done at a designated facility ahead of your first rotation, and any random or repeat test is yours to cover as well. The bulletin and the program pages give different deadlines after enrollment, so meet the earlier one. The background check and drug screen page has the details.

The rest of the compliance list is yours to arrange: a current physical, BLS, health insurance, and the immunization and TB items. Tracks that call for ACLS, CCRN, PALS, NRP or fetal monitoring courses add those. The full compliance list covers each item and when it renews.

Site fees, onboarding extras and travel

Any extra fee a practicum site charges is the student's responsibility, according to the FNP guide. Sites may also ask for more than Loyola does: HIPAA training, CPR, their own background screening or drug test, proof of insurance and licensure, a physical and immunization records, with some states adding further items. Ask each site for its onboarding list before you commit.

Travel belongs in the budget too. Loyola's FNP practicum letter warns that sites in any semester may sit outside your home city, and the Nurse-Midwifery handbook says travel to assigned sites in other cities is at the student's cost. A qualified preceptor close to home keeps that line small, which is one reason we search in person in your own area.

What Loyola and the School of Nursing provide

Malpractice coverage is the largest item on Loyola's side. The School of Nursing insures your clinical practicum hours, tells students a separate policy is unnecessary, and limits the coverage to the practicum itself. Sites can view the liability certificates Loyola posts on its graduate resources page; see the liability insurance page.

Loyola also supplies the placement machinery around your search: the Clinical Practicum Coordinator, who obtains agreements and helps with Exxat; the Explore Clinical Locations map, which lists hundreds of organizations with active agreements; and, for students outside the metro area, the Monroe Library's Distance Library Services, which can mail library books to you. None of that replaces the search itself, which stays with the student.

What preceptors are paid

Loyola and the facility owe each other nothing under the Standard Loyola Affiliation Agreement, and Loyola's published materials list no honorarium, CE credit or adjunct appointment for preceptors. Louisiana law carries no preceptor tax credit either; the state's existing credit rewards primary care practice in rural high-need shortage areas, not teaching students.

What Loyola does give a preceptor is structure: a Preceptor Agreement that spells out the duties, a faculty contact at the start and end of the practicum, and one Practicum Evaluation Form at the close.

So precepting a Loyola student is teaching time a clinician chooses to give. That shapes how you ask: a clear schedule, a complete packet and a preceptor who fits the course make the yes easier. The preceptor's side of the arrangement is on the page for preceptors.

The costs of a late or unsigned placement

The most expensive mistakes never appear on an invoice. Log hours before the last signature lands on the affiliation agreement and the bulletin voids them, with a possible repeat of the whole course. A student who is not current on compliance is not registered for the practicum course. An Incomplete holds up graduation certification until the hours are done.

Each of these comes down to timing and paperwork, which is exactly the work Loyola students hand to us. We run the search in your area, check each preceptor against Loyola's rules, and prepare every Wishlist field and upload so the request reaches Placement Approved without rework. The cost page explains what shapes a quote for our service; ask for yours through the form below.

Questions Loyola students ask

Does Loyola New Orleans charge a clinical placement fee?

Students buy an Exxat STEPS subscription for practicum placement processing, along with an annual Exxat subscription for required documents. Loyola's FNP guide names no other placement fee. Current subscription prices appear when you purchase, and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator can answer questions about them.

Do I need my own malpractice insurance for Loyola clinicals?

Not for practicum hours. Loyola's School of Nursing insures students for clinical practicum time and considers a separate policy unnecessary. Outside the practicum the coverage stops, and because a site may still want proof, Loyola posts liability insurance certificates that sites can check.

Who pays if a clinical site charges a fee?

You do: under the FNP guide, extra charges from a practicum site belong to the student. Ask about fees and onboarding requirements when you first contact a site, so both the cost and the timeline are clear before you submit the Wishlist.

Are Loyola preceptors paid?

Loyola's documents describe no preceptor payment. The affiliation agreement between Loyola and a facility calls for no payment either way, and no honorarium or other preceptor benefit appears in Loyola's documents. Students are not paid for practicum hours either, under the same agreement, so the arrangement is teaching time on the preceptor's side and learning time on yours.

Who pays for the drug screen and background check?

The student pays. The School of Nursing's contracted company handles both orders, and random or repeat drug tests are the student's cost too. Complete them early: the bulletin and the program pages set different deadlines after enrollment, and the earlier one is the safe target.

QuotesCostWhat shapes the quote for a Loyola New Orleans preceptor placement: your course, its hours, where you live, your start date and the site's agreement status.ExxatExxat PrismHow Loyola New Orleans nursing students use Exxat Prism: the two subscriptions, Required Documents, STEPS, the APPROVE team, hour logs and preceptor evaluations.ComplianceCompliance requirementsEvery compliance item Loyola New Orleans nursing students need before a practicum, the 60-day vs thirty-day deadline conflict, and how a compliance hold works.InsuranceLiability insuranceThe malpractice coverage Loyola New Orleans' School of Nursing provides for practicum hours, the certificates posted for sites, and what a site may still ask.ScreeningBackground check and drug screenHow Loyola New Orleans nursing students handle the background check and drug screen: the contracted company, the designated facility, LSBN reports and cannabis.For preceptorsPrecept a Loyola studentFor clinicians asked to precept a Loyola University New Orleans NP or DNP student: who qualifies, the Preceptor Agreement, evaluations and Louisiana's rules.

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 for NURS G829, acute care for NURS G902, psychiatric care for NURS 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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