Illinois CE credit for precepting a Lewis NP student
An Illinois APRN who precepts an APRN student for one academic semester can count 10 continuing education hours toward license renewal, and up to 30 of a renewal period's CE hours may come from precepting. The documentation comes from the student's school. That CE credit is the preceptor incentive Illinois offers today: a proposed preceptor income tax credit, HB2374, died when the 103rd General Assembly adjourned in January 2025.
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The Illinois rule, clause by clause
The credit sits in the Illinois Administrative Code at 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1300.130(b)(7)(A), inside the continuing education rules for APRN license renewal, as amended with effect from January 4, 2021. IDFPR's APRN continuing education FAQ repeats the same text as item 10. The rule has five sentences, and each one has a practical meaning when the student comes from Lewis.
| What the rule says | What it means for a Lewis practicum |
|---|---|
| "CE hours may be earned through preceptorship of an APRN student." | Lewis's FNP, AGACNP, AGPCNP and PMHNP students, in the MSN, the CAS and the BSN to DNP, are APRN students. |
| "Preceptors must provide clinical supervision and education to the APRN student." | The preceptor supervises and teaches, the role Lewis reviews when it approves a preceptor for the course. |
| "Documentation must be provided from the school of nursing in which the student is enrolled." | For a Lewis student, the paperwork comes from Lewis. |
| "Precepting one student for an academic semester or quarter may be used for 10 CE hours." | A Lewis NP practicum is a 16-week semester course, so one student through one practicum lines up with one semester. |
| "Not more than 30 CE hours in each renewal period may come from precepting." | Three student-semesters reach the ceiling within one renewal period (our arithmetic). |
The rule speaks of APRN licensees and APRN students only. Registered nurses who precept in Lewis's Nursing Education, Healthcare Systems Leadership or School Nurse courses fall outside its wording, and so do physicians.
How a Lewis practicum counts
Each Lewis NP practicum is a 16-week semester course taken beside its management course, so a preceptor who hosts one student through NURS 61100, NURS 61800 or NURS 63300 has precepted that student for one academic semester. Where the catalog states hours, each practicum carries 180 clock hours, but the rule counts students and semesters rather than clock hours.
By our reading of the rule, a preceptor who takes two Lewis students in the same semester has 20 hours toward the 30-hour ceiling, and a third student-semester in the same renewal period reaches it. Hosting one student for two different practicums in back-to-back semesters, say NURS 63300 in fall and NURS 63500 in spring, reads as two semesters.
Two situations have no clear answer in the text: a practicum that changes preceptor partway through the semester, and a DNP residency in NURS 79600, where the student may already hold an APRN license. A preceptor in either position should ask IDFPR how the rule applies before claiming the hours.
The statute behind the rule
The rule rests on the Nurse Practice Act at 225 ILCS 65/65-60(2). That section allows a maximum of 30 hours of APRN continuing education credit from a group of activities: presentations in the nurse's clinical specialty, evidence-based practice or quality improvement projects, publications, research projects and preceptor hours, as set by rule.
Read side by side, the statute places precepting in one 30-hour group with presenting, publishing and research, while the rule caps precepting on its own at 30. An APRN who also claims presentation or publication hours in the same renewal period should confirm with IDFPR how those categories combine before filing.
Neither text sets a minimum number of precepting clock hours or names a form. The whole Act is also scheduled for repeal on January 1, 2028, so confirm the version in force on the Illinois General Assembly's site. For how the same Act handles practice after licensure, see Illinois NP practice authority.
Getting the documentation from Lewis
The rule puts the paperwork on the school, and Lewis has not posted a precepting certificate, a preceptor page or a preceptor handbook. The practical route is to ask early in the semester how the Clinical Placement Office or the course faculty documents a completed preceptorship, so the preceptor knows what to expect when the course ends (the Clinical Placement Office).
What a preceptor should keep for each Lewis student
- The student's name and Lewis program, for example the MSN FNP or the PMHNP certificate
- The course number and title, such as
NURS 61500AGPCNP Practicum: Special Populations - The semester and its dates, for example fall 2026, August 24 to December 12
- The site named in the approved contract, and any co-preceptor
- Whatever documentation Lewis issues when the course ends
Our placement desk gives every preceptor this summary on day one, so the record is complete before the semester closes.
The preceptor tax credit that did not pass
Illinois has no preceptor tax credit in effect. HB2374 in the 103rd General Assembly, short description "INC TX-PRECEPTOR CREDIT", would have amended the Illinois Income Tax Act to create a credit for each APRN licensed under the Nurse Practice Act who served as a preceptor for at least one student from an approved advanced practice nursing education program in Illinois. It was filed on February 14, 2023, and its last action, on January 7, 2025, reads "House Session Sine Die".
The Illinois Department of Revenue's list of income tax credits, dated December 29, 2025, and its 2025 Schedule 1299-I carry no preceptor or nursing credit. We found no preceptor credit bill in the 104th General Assembly (2025-2026) either. Bills can be filed at any time, so check the General Assembly's site before telling a preceptor otherwise.
APRNs licensed in other states renew under their own boards' rules. Lewis enrolls online graduate nursing students in 18 jurisdictions, and our state guides cover the rest of them.
Raising the CE credit when you ask a preceptor
The CE credit gives an Illinois APRN a concrete reason to say yes, and it works best stated plainly: one Lewis student for one semester, 10 CE hours toward renewal, documentation from Lewis. Pair it with what a busy clinician wants to know first, the course number, the 180 hours where Lewis states them, the 16-week semester dates and the fact that Lewis covers student clinical insurance (what that covers).
That is exactly how our placement desk approaches Illinois APRNs for Lewis students. We explain the practicum, the CE rule and Lewis's approval step, confirm each preceptor's license and specialty, and hand you every detail the contract portal asks for, well ahead of your semester. Preceptors can read what precepting a Lewis student involves, and students can start on the placement request form.
Questions Lewis students ask
Do physicians get Illinois CE credit for precepting Lewis NP students?
The rule on this page belongs to the APRN license renewal rules and speaks only of APRN preceptors and APRN students. Physicians renew under different Illinois rules that this page does not cover, so a physician preceptor should check with IDFPR. Whether a physician fits your Lewis course is a separate question for your Clinical Coordinator or track lead faculty.
Can an Illinois APRN count precepting more than one student in a semester?
The rule grants 10 CE hours for precepting one student for a semester, so by its wording a second student in the same semester adds a second 10 hours. The ceiling stays at 30 precepting hours per renewal period, however many students the APRN hosts. Item 10 of IDFPR's APRN CE FAQ repeats the rule if you want the source in hand.
Does precepting count if the student leaves partway through the semester?
The rule speaks of precepting a student for an academic semester or quarter and says nothing about partial terms. If a Lewis practicum moves to a new site midway, or a student finishes remaining hours under an Incomplete, the preceptor should ask IDFPR how to count it and ask Lewis what its documentation will show.
Is there an Illinois tax credit for nurse practitioner preceptors in 2026?
No such credit is in effect. The most recent proposal, HB2374, would have given Illinois-licensed APRNs an income tax credit for precepting students from Illinois advanced practice programs, and it lapsed with the 103rd General Assembly in January 2025. The Department of Revenue's current credit lists include nothing for preceptors.
Can an APRN licensed in another state use the Illinois precepting credit?
The credit is part of Illinois APRN license renewal, so it matters to preceptors who renew an Illinois license. A Lewis student precepted by an APRN in Indiana, Wisconsin or another authorized state is covered by that state's board rules instead, which may treat precepting differently. The preceptor's own board has the answer.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
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