Registered Nurse (RN) License Renewal in Arkansas
Arkansas RNs renew every 2 years and meet competency one of three ways, including 15 contact hours. Arkansas is a Nurse Licensure Compact state.
| Renewal cycle | Every 2 years |
|---|---|
| CE hours required | 15 hours One of three options each 2-year renewal: 15 practice-focused contact hours, a current national certification or re-certification, or at least one college credit hour of nursing coursework (grade C or better). Fifteen hours is one of the lowest CE totals in the country. |
| Renewal fee | $100.00 |
| Mandatory CE topics | None prescribed |
| Licensing board | Arkansas State Board of Nursing (ASBN) |
Sourced from Arkansas State Board of Nursing (ASBN), verified July 25, 2026. Requirements change. Confirm with your board before relying on this.
Arkansas asks less continuing education of its nurses than nearly any state on this site, just fifteen contact hours every two years, and even those you can skip if you hold a national certification. It’s a light requirement, and the Board gives working nurses two ways around the CE hours entirely.
Three ways to meet the requirement
Before each biennial renewal, an active Arkansas RN satisfies continued competency any one of these ways:
- 15 practice-focused contact hours from a continuing-education approval body the ASBN recognizes. That’s half what many states require, and it can be earned by home study, nursing journals, online courses, or workshops.
- A current national certification or re-certification by a body the ASBN recognizes. Hold one during the renewal period and you’re covered, with no contact hours.
- At least one college credit hour of nursing coursework, grade C or better, during the licensure period.
For a certified nurse, the certification path means zero CE to renew. For everyone else, 15 hours over two years is a gentle pace. Your first renewal is exempt from CE entirely if it comes less than 24 months after your license was issued.
The cycle
Arkansas renews RN licenses biennially, by the last day of your birth month. Renew before that date, the Board’s system opens ahead of it, and you attest to which competency option you met. Keep your documentation in case of audit.
The fee
Renewal is $100 for an active RN, straight from the Board’s published fee schedule. Let the license lapse and the same schedule charges another $100 to reinstate it, so missing your birth-month deadline doubles the cost of staying licensed.
Arkansas is a compact state
Arkansas implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact on January 19, 2018. If Arkansas is your primary state of residence, your RN license can be a multistate license, letting you practice in the other compact states without applying separately in each. That reaches into compact neighbors like Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The privilege follows your legal residence, so it holds as long as Arkansas stays home. Use the compact checker below to see exactly which states an Arkansas license reaches.
Add your renewal deadline to your calendar
Enter your expiration date and download a calendar file. Your own calendar will remind you at 90, 60, 30, and 7 days out. We don't ask for your email, we store nothing, and the date never leaves your device.
Works with Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, and Outlook. This is a convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact deadline with the Arkansas State Board of Nursing (ASBN).
How many CE hours do you have left?
Arkansas requires 15 CE hours this cycle. Enter what you've completed and see what's left. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
A convenience, not a compliance service. Confirm your exact requirement with the Arkansas State Board of Nursing (ASBN). This is not legal advice.
Continuing education hours per renewal cycle
Arkansas asks for 15 hours. That is below the median of 30 across the 37 states that set a flat hour count, which run from 8 to 40. Ranked lowest to highest, Arkansas is 6 of 37.
Renewal fee
Arkansas charges $100. The median across the 49 states that publish a figure is $100, running from $50 to $245. Ranked cheapest to dearest, Arkansas is 21 of 49.
Each mark is one state. The taller line is the median, the filled dot is Arkansas. States that set no flat hour count, or publish no fee, are left out of that comparison rather than counted as zero.
Where can you practice with your license?
The Nurse Licensure Compact lets a nurse who lives in a compact state hold one multistate license and practice in every other compact state. Pick where you live to see whether that's you, and where it reaches.
Member data from the NCSBN Nurse Licensure Compact map, verified July 2026. A multistate license requires the compact state to be your primary residence. This is a convenience, not legal advice. Confirm your status with your board or at nursecompact.com.
What will this renewal cost?
Arkansas's renewal fee is filled in from the board below. Add what you expect to spend on CE courses, plus a late fee if you're past due, for a running total. Nothing you type is stored.
The renewal fee is from the Arkansas State Board of Nursing (ASBN) and dated on this page; the CE and late-fee figures are your own estimates. A convenience, not a compliance service, and not legal advice. Confirm fees with your board.