Bourbonnais or online: where each Olivet program's clinicals happen

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

Olivet Nazarene University teaches one nursing program on its Bourbonnais campus, the Traditional BSN in Wisner Hall, and runs the rest online. The difference shows most in clinicals: campus students are assigned sites within about 90 minutes of Bourbonnais, while online students complete hours in their own area with a preceptor they find and Olivet approves.

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90minutes from campus, the outer reach of Traditional BSN clinical sites

50miles, roughly, from Chicago's Loop to the Bourbonnais campus

The Bourbonnais campus and Wisner Hall

Olivet's main campus sits at One University Avenue in Bourbonnais, Illinois, roughly 50 miles south of downtown Chicago, in Kankakee County. Nursing became a School of Nursing in 2020, within the College of Professional Studies, and the school's home is Wisner Hall for Nursing Education.

Wisner Hall houses the Virtual Learning Center (VLC) and simulation manikins. The VLC doubles as the Traditional BSN's safety net: if a hospital or agency calls off a scheduled clinical day, students recover that time there.

The campus offer has changed over time. Olivet's handbook history notes accelerated BSN and combined options added between 2012 and 2016, some of which later closed. Today the Traditional BSN is the only nursing program taught on campus, and the School of Nursing lists everything else as online.

Where you study and where clinicals happen, by program

The split between campus and online runs straight through to clinicals. This table sets out, program by program, where coursework happens, where hours happen and who arranges the site.

Olivet nursing programs: coursework, clinical location and site arrangement
Program	Coursework	Clinical or practicum hours	Who arranges the site
Traditional BSN	On campus, Wisner Hall	Assigned sites up to about 90 minutes from campus	Olivet assigns; students may not contact sites
RN-BSN	100% online	Your own community: hospice (`NRSG 364`) and population health (`NRSG 471`)	Students whose core began before August 2026 find their own; the new handbook does not say
MSN: Family Nurse Practitioner	100% online	Your local area, in an approved state	You first; SON Clinical Coordinator after 30 attempts
Post-Graduate APRN (FNP) Certificate	100% online	Your local area, in an approved state	You first; the coordinator gives substantial support
MSN: Nursing Education & Leadership	100% online	With an approved preceptor, in an approved state	You first; the coordinator gives substantial assistance
Post-Bachelor's NEL Certificate	Online	With an approved preceptor you select, in an approved state	Olivet's page describes no support step

Only the FNP page sets a count of 30 attempts before the coordinator steps in; the certificate and NEL pages promise support without one. The 30-attempt rule page compares the wording.

Campus clinicals in the Traditional BSN

Traditional BSN students never run their own search. In the Level 0 handbook the clinical coordinator makes the assignments, and students choose nothing beyond a capstone request; the handbook for Levels 1 to 4 puts the BSN director and faculty in charge instead. Under either version, reaching out to a site or a would-be preceptor on your own is off limits.

Clinical shifts fall anywhere between 5:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., six days of the week, at sites as far as roughly an hour and a half from Bourbonnais, reached by the student's own transport. A capstone is never placed on the unit where the student is employed. Under the new plan, NURS 471 Population Health runs online over 7 weeks. The BSN clinicals guide covers the levels and hours in detail.

Online programs: coursework anywhere, hours near home

Every graduate nursing option at Olivet is online, and so is the RN-BSN. Graduate courses run in 8-week sessions on Olivet's Central-time course week, and the NEL format adds a single 16-week course in evidence-based practice, with no exams. Practicum hours happen where you live, under a preceptor you choose and Olivet signs off on, inside a state Olivet allows; the licensure disclosures guide explains which states those are.

Two FNP moments can bring you in person. Olivet's fee sheet charges FNP students an Immersion lab fee, a sign of hands-on lab time, for the course numbered NRSG 688 under the new curriculum and NRSG 685 under the current one. Where and for how long it runs is not published; the FNP Immersion page has what is known. FNP students may also request, during Week 1, to sit both exams in person at one of Olivet's testing locations instead of through ProctorU, subject to availability.

Online students who live near Bourbonnais

Kankakee County, the southern suburbs and the rest of the Chicago area are home to many of Olivet's online students. Being near campus does not turn a graduate practicum into an assigned one: the same program-page rules apply, and the preceptor search starts with your own personal and professional network.

The area has its own conditions. Kankakee County carries a low-income primary care shortage designation, and its community health centers hold facility designations of their own. Riverside Healthcare in Kankakee takes NP students only from programs holding an affiliation agreement with it, through its Graduate Medical Education department's online application, and its women's health rotations are closed indefinitely. Because Illinois is on Olivet's approved list, the state line is never the obstacle here; each system's own rules and each preceptor's availability are. The Kankakee and Chicagoland guide goes through the region system by system.

Two calendars: campus blocks and online course weeks

On campus, each semester divides into two 8-week blocks. The 2026 to 2027 dates: Block I, August 24 through October 18; Block II, October 19 through December 13; spring classes open January 11; Block IV, March 15 through May 9; commencement, May 8, 2027.

Online programs run course by course instead, with start dates posted on each program page. The MSN-NEL lists October 26, 2026 and January 4, March 1 and April 26, 2027; the MSN-FNP lists January 4 and April 26, 2027; the Post-Graduate APRN certificate lists March 1, 2027; the NEL certificate lists August 30 and October 25, 2027. The FNP and PG-APRN pages mention three starts a year while listing fewer dates, so confirm yours with Online Admissions. Certificate students do not take part in commencement, and the MSN ceremony happens in May only.

Why online Olivet students choose us

Our placement service is built for Olivet's online tracks, where the student leads the search and hours happen close to home. We find preceptors close to where you live, in states Olivet approves, matched to the course you are about to start, and we prepare the details Olivet's approval asks for. FNP students get a practice whose patients fit the course, from adult and older adult care in NRSG 636C through pediatrics in NRSG 638C; NEL students get an educator or nurse leader for NRSG 620.

RN-BSN students get the same care for the hospice and population health hours, and those heading on to the MSN can plan early, since 6 RN-BSN credits carry into it. Olivet has the final say on each preceptor, and what it receives from you is complete. Begin with the contact form.

Questions Olivet students ask

Is there a regional Olivet nursing site in Chicago?

Olivet's fast facts mention Graduate and Continuing Studies learning locations in the Chicago area and the Midwest without naming them, and the nursing pages list no regional nursing site. Graduate nursing and the RN-BSN are delivered online, and the Traditional BSN is taught in Wisner Hall on the Bourbonnais campus.

Can an online Olivet student do clinicals at health systems near campus?

Yes, when the site is in an approved state, Olivet approves the preceptor and the health system accepts the request. Illinois is approved, but each system sets its own student rules. Northwestern Medicine's north and northwest region, for example, reviews APRN requests monthly and advises students to line up a backup site.

Is there an online BSN for students who are not yet nurses?

The Traditional BSN, taught on the Bourbonnais campus, is Olivet's only nursing program for students who are not yet licensed. The online RN-BSN is for registered nurses; students without a license may start general education courses, but must pass the NCLEX and provide the license by the end of NRSG 302.

Does Olivet offer a DNP?

No DNP appears in the School of Nursing's program list. Olivet's graduate nursing is two online MSN tracks, Family Nurse Practitioner and Nursing Education & Leadership, plus two online certificates, the Post-Graduate APRN for FNP and the Post-Bachelor's NEL. The doctoral program Olivet features is the Doctor of Education in Ethical Leadership.

Can online students use Olivet's library without visiting campus?

Yes. Benner Library's online services work with your regular Olivet sign-in, and they include borrowing through interlibrary loan and meetings with a librarian over the phone or on Teams, all from home. The nursing databases and other tools you will lean on during clinicals are listed on our student systems page.

Traditional BSNTraditional BSN clinicalsHow Olivet Nazarene University assigns Traditional BSN clinicals from Bourbonnais: levels, hours, the capstone, compliance, and where we help after graduation.RN-BSNRN-BSN onlineOlivet Nazarene University's online RN-BSN: a 16-month core, the NRSG 364 hospice and NRSG 471 population health practicums, and preceptors found for you.Local searchKankakee and ChicagolandWhere Olivet FNP and NEL students look for preceptors around Bourbonnais, Kankakee County, the south suburbs and Chicago: shortage areas, systems and travel.FNPFNP Immersion (NRSG 688 / 685)What Olivet publishes about the FNP Immersion (NRSG 688 new, NRSG 685 current), the lab fee on its fee sheet, and how to plan your last clinicals around it.CanvasStudent systemsWhere each part of your Olivet clinicals lives: Canvas, Self-Service, Olivet email, Project Concert, your compliance vendor, Benner Library and IT Help Desk.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against Olivet's own handbooks, program pages, fee sheet and licensure disclosures. Your handbook version, your Canvas clinical requirements course, your faculty and the SON Clinical Coordinator have the final word.

Olivet asks you to start with your own network. We make the search the easy part of your program.

Tell us your Olivet track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, inside Olivet's approved states, and prepare everything Olivet's approval and the site's onboarding need.

Preceptors matched to the course: adults and older adults for NRSG 636C, women's health for NRSG 637C, children for NRSG 638C, education and leadership for NRSG 620
Credentials, license and site details ready before your clinical course opens, with the drug screen timing on your calendar
In your own community, in Illinois or any state Olivet approves for your clinicals

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