NSU background checks for nursing students: level 1, level 2 and the 10-day rule
Every accepted NSU nursing student authorizes a level 1 background check through the Health Professions Division, and DISA CastleBranch processes it. A level 2 check, done by fingerprinting through Florida's FDLE and VECHS programs, comes later and only when a clinical facility requires it. Throughout the program, an arrest or pending charge has to reach your college dean's office within 10 days.
Find out what your site screens for
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Level 1: the check you authorize at acceptance
The first check is not optional and not tied to any one site. ACON's Health and Safety Requirements page says: "Accepted applicants and students are required to authorize the Health Professions Division to obtain level one background checks." The Health Professions Division is the collective name NSU still uses for its health colleges, which include the Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing, and it is the name on the authorization.
CastleBranch, now DISA CastleBranch, is the company NSU names for processing background checks. The order form sits on DISA CastleBranch's own site, reached through the ACON page, and the result becomes part of the compliance picture that ACON's Office of Student Affairs monitors. Our DISA CastleBranch page explains how that record works and who reads it.
NSU's public pages do not list what a level 1 search covers or which findings affect a clinical placement. If anything on your history worries you, raise it with the Office of Student Affairs or your program director early, while there is still time to plan around a site's rules.
Level 2: fingerprinting when a facility requires it
The second check is triggered by a site, not by NSU's calendar. According to NSU, a level 2 check "involves participation with FDLE and VECHS programs" and is completed "through fingerprinting." FDLE is the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and VECHS is its Volunteer and Employee Criminal History System. NSU requests the check "based on clinical rotation facility requirements," so one student may never need it while another needs it for a single rotation.
ACON's section of the Nursing Student Handbook says the same thing from the student's side: a level 2 check "may be required of students completing certain rotations," and the student bears the cost. The handbook's fee schedule lists a nursing level-two background check fee, marked "as requested for clinical," with the amount printed there (printed page 99).
No public NSU list says which facilities want a level 2 check. The only reliable way to know is to ask the site, ideally when the preceptor first agrees, and to build time for the fingerprint appointment and the results into your plan.
The 10-day rule for arrests and charges
Background screening at NSU is not a one-time event at admission. The college-level policies for the health colleges require students to "notify their college dean's office within 10 days of any arrest, pending criminal charges" and related matters (printed page 85). The trigger is the arrest or the charge itself, so the clock starts before any court outcome.
The duty runs for the whole program, including the months you spend in clinical courses. A site may run its own check before you start or ask for a fresh level 2, and a matter the college hears about first from a facility is harder to manage than one you reported on time.
If you are unsure whether something counts, read the full policy on that handbook page and ask your college dean's office directly. The rule is short, the window is short, and a written notice sent inside 10 days is the record that protects you.
The 10-day window starts at the arrest or charge, not at a conviction.
What clinical sites ask for
Background checks sit first on the handbook's list of extras a clinical site can require. The graduate section (printed page 138) opens that list with "criminal background checks," then moves on to life support training, immunizations and health forms.
Sites handle this in different ways. Some accept the level 1 on file with NSU, some ask NSU to request a level 2, and some run their own screen inside a student onboarding portal. The handbook already warns health-college students that a facility can use a portal of its own on top of the college's, so expect a second upload at larger hospital systems.
Whatever the site asks for becomes part of the facility's requirements, and NSU's rule on unmet facility requirements applies: a missing item before the first scheduled day ends the placement. Our immunizations page quotes that rule in full, and clinical site requirements covers the rest of a typical site list.
If you live or train outside Florida
FDLE and VECHS are Florida programs. The 2026-27 catalog lets FNP and PMHNP applicants hold an unrestricted RN license from any state, kept current "in the jurisdiction of the practicum," while the 2025-26 handbook still asks every APRN entrant for a Florida license; our RN license page sets out that conflict. The catalog's wording points to practicum sites outside Florida, although NSU does not publish where it permits them. Our page on NSU clinicals outside Florida covers the residence side.
NSU does not publish how a level 2 request works for a facility in another state, or whether a site's own state screen replaces it. Ask ACON's Office of Student Affairs as soon as you have an out-of-state site in view, and ask the site at the same time which check it needs from a visiting student. Getting both answers in writing before you name the preceptor keeps the notice to your clinical coordinator on schedule.
The same advice applies inside Florida when a site sits in a health system with its own screening vendor: the question to settle early is which check the facility accepts, and who orders it.
Why NSU students settle clearance early with us
Every preceptor we line up comes with the site's screening rules attached. Before you commit, you know whether the facility accepts NSU's level 1, wants a level 2 through FDLE and VECHS, or runs its own check, and roughly how long each step takes to clear.
That lets us put the fingerprint appointment, the results and the site's onboarding in the right order, months ahead of the first clinical day and in step with NSU's two-semester notice. Preceptor license and credentials, site details and the specialty fit are ready for your clinical coordinator, and if a site changes its screening rules after you are matched, your placement advisor finds another fit. Read how it works, or tell us your program and ZIP area in the form below.
Questions NSU students ask
Who pays for the NSU level 2 background check?
You do. NSU's Health and Safety Requirements page puts the cost of the level 2 check on the student, and the Nursing Student Handbook's fee schedule lists a nursing level-two background check fee marked "as requested for clinical" (printed page 99). It is charged when a rotation facility's requirements call for the level 2 check, not automatically at admission.
Does the NSU level 1 background check use fingerprints?
NSU describes fingerprinting only for the level 2 check, which runs through FDLE and VECHS. The public pages do not describe the method behind the level 1 check. The order form for it sits on DISA CastleBranch's website, linked from ACON's Health and Safety Requirements page, and its instructions show what the vendor collects.
Can a clinical site turn me away after NSU cleared my background?
A site's requirements are its own. The handbook lists criminal background checks among the extras a practicum can require, and NSU cancels the placement of any student still short of a facility's requirements when the scheduled start arrives. Ask each site which check it accepts before you name the preceptor, so a surprise does not surface in week one.
Will I need fingerprints again for a Florida APRN license?
Yes. The Florida Board of Nursing lists electronic fingerprinting among the requirements for APRN licensure, alongside a valid RN license, a master's degree or post-master's certificate, national certification and proof of malpractice insurance or an exemption. That is a separate process from NSU's level 2 check. Other states set their own licensing steps.
Does the 10-day reporting rule apply during clinicals?
Yes. The health colleges' rule covers students for the length of the program, and clinical semesters are part of the program. Notify your college dean's office within 10 days of any arrest or pending criminal charge. Sites may screen you again before or during a rotation, so on-time notice keeps the college informed first.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against NSU's own handbook, catalog and program pages. The graduate clinical guide, your course in Canvas, your clinical coordinator and your program director have the final word.
- NSU College of Nursing: Health and Safety Requirements
- NSU Nursing Student Handbook 2025-2026, printed p. 85 (arrest reporting)
- NSU Nursing Student Handbook 2025-2026, printed p. 99 (fee schedule)
- NSU Nursing Student Handbook 2025-2026, printed p. 138 (site requirements)
- Florida Board of Nursing: APRN licensure
NSU lets you name your own preceptor. We make sure you have one, close to home and in time.
Tell us your NSU program, your home ZIP area and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and have everything ready for your clinical coordinator well before the two-semester notice.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, acute care for AGACNP, psychiatric care for PMHNP, a practice site for DNP project hours
- Named early enough for NSU's two-semester notice, with license, credentials and site details ready for the coordinator
- Close to your home ZIP code, with clinic days we plan around your work schedule
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