Hawaii nurses and UCCS's online programs
UCCS accepts online NP and RN to BSN students only from the states on its lists, and Hawaii is not one of them. For an island nurse drawn to UCCS, the realistic path is a move to a listed state such as California or Alaska, then UCCS's usual model of arranging your own preceptor where you live.
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Tell us your UCCS program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UCCS course.
Hawaii and UCCS's admission lists
UCCS measures residence by where you physically live. Its NP tracks draw from 14 states and its RN to BSN from 21, and Hawaii appears on neither. Practicum hours must also fall in a listed state, which rules out Oahu or Maui sites for any UCCS student. See UCCS's approved states for the lists.
| UCCS program | Open from Hawaii? | Where hours are logged |
|---|---|---|
| MSN tracks (FNP, AGNP, PMHNP), RN to MSN, Post-Graduate NP Certificate | No | In the student's listed home state |
| BSN to DNP, Post-Master's DNP | Needs an RN license from an approved state; confirm with UCCS | NP courses near home; DNP project hours at the project site |
RN to BSN with NURS 4450 | No | A community site in a listed state |
| Campus BSN | For Colorado residents or those moving there | Colorado placements UCCS assigns |
Licensing without the compact
Hawaii's Board of Nursing, attached to the DCCA licensing division, handles nurse licenses. The state has stayed out of the Nurse Licensure Compact, and no legislation to join is pending, so a multistate license earned elsewhere gives no right to practice here; nurses working in Hawaii need a license Hawaii issued. The APRN Compact has not been adopted either.
AANP rates Hawaii full practice.
What Hawaii's board says about online programs
Post-licensure study gets a light touch. According to the Board's FAQ, an online or distance school with no Hawaii campus, offering something like an RN-BSN, files no application and sends no notice, and its instructors need Hawaii licensure only if they are present in person on the islands to teach or precept. Graduate and APRN programs are not addressed in any Hawaii source research located.
Pre-licensure students face a firmer wall. Hawaii's statute excuses from licensure only students in Board-accredited programs, and at a 2016 meeting the Board's education committee ruled out Hawaii clinicals for a pre-license student from a North Dakota BSN program.
Honolulu, Maui and the Big Island
Oahu's Urban Honolulu metro holds close to a million people, far more than Maui's Kahului-Wailuku metro or the Big Island's Hilo-Kailua area. Four main systems stand out: Queen's, Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific Health and HHSC, the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.
On the incentive side, Hawaii offers a nonrefundable income tax credit to preceptors who live in the state and practice primary care there as physicians, APRNs or pharmacists, for volunteer rotations the Department of Health certifies, with yearly caps per preceptor and statewide. Qualifying students must attend a program located in, or accredited in, Hawaii with a majority of Hawaii residents enrolled.
The Pacific-side choices: California and Alaska
Both are on UCCS's NP list, and both sit outside the compact, so each expects its own RN license; UCCS's handbooks ask for exactly that when hours happen in a non-compact state. California's Board of Registered Nursing includes UCCS on its out-of-state nurse practitioner program list, while Alaska wants a preceptorship registered with its board for every APRN student. The California and Alaska guides cover each.
After the move, you apply as that state's resident, arrange a preceptor near home, and begin hours once UCCS's agreement and preceptor letter are signed.
Why UCCS students choose us
On the mainland or in Alaska, your placement advisor handles the legwork: a preceptor who fits your UCCS course and license state, near where you now live. We assemble every Clinical Site Sheet detail, from certification to the exact hours and the person who signs for the site, and keep searching if a preceptor bows out.
Questions UCCS students ask
Can I take UCCS's online FNP program from Honolulu?
No. UCCS admits NP students only from its 14 listed states, and Hawaii is not one. A nurse who has already moved to California, Alaska or another listed state applies as that state's resident, and UCCS decides each application. Confirm the current list with UCCS first, since it has changed over time.
Could a Hawaii psychiatrist precept me by telehealth after I move to California?
No. UCCS tells PMHNP students they may use providers only in the approved states on its list, even when the visits happen by telehealth. Hawaii is not on that list, so a Honolulu psychiatrist could not serve as your UCCS preceptor, however the sessions are delivered.
Does my Hawaii license work for clinicals in a listed state?
A Hawaii license is single-state, so it does not carry over. UCCS's handbooks require a multistate license for hours in compact states and that state's own RN license in non-compact states such as California and Alaska. The license guide walks through both.
Would UCCS's NP curriculum count toward Hawaii licensure later?
On UCCS's APRN licensure disclosure, Hawaii carries a "meets" mark for the educational requirements behind an APRN license. That helps a graduate who returns to the islands, but it is a curriculum statement, not an admission list. Confirm current rules with the Hawaii Board of Nursing before applying.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UCCS's catalog, practicum handbooks and college pages. Your degree plan, the handbook for your cohort and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
UCCS asks you to find your clinical hours where you live. Let us run that search.
Tell us your UCCS track, your next clinical course and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the details your Clinical Site Sheet needs, early enough for the agreement to be signed before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 6900, acute and chronic care forNURS 6915andNURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers forNURS 6801toNURS 6803 - Credentials, license, certification and the site's signer ready for the Clinical Site Sheet
- In Colorado Springs, along the Front Range, or in any of UCCS's approved states
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