Minnesota nurses and UCCS: the border question

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

Minnesota is missing from both UCCS admission lists, the 14 states for online NP study and the 21 for the RN to BSN. Two neighbors are on them, though: South Dakota on both, Iowa on the RN to BSN list. UCCS checks where you live, not where you work, and your clinical hours would follow you to that new home state.

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2,080hours of collaborative practice before a Minnesota NP reaches full practice, per AANP

UCCS nursing programs for Minnesota residents. MSN FNP, AGNP, PMHNP: not on the np list; RN to BSN (NURS 4450): not on the rn-bsn list; APRN disclosure: meets; If you move: 14 np states listed. RN license: not in the compact. NP practice: full. — Minnesota and UCCS's programs: MSN FNP, AGNP, PMHNP: not on the np list; RN to BSN (NURS 4450): not on the rn-bsn list; APRN disclosure: meets; If you move: 14 np states listed. RN license not in the compact; NP practice full (AANP).

UCCS programs for someone living in Minnesota

Eligibility and clinical location, Minnesota residents
UCCS program	Minnesota resident?	Where hours would happen
MSN (family, adult-gerontology, psychiatric NP)	Not eligible; South Dakota is the nearest NP state	Near your home in the listed state, with a preceptor you recruit
RN to MSN; Post-Graduate NP Certificate	Not eligible; same 14 states	Same
DNP (post-BSN, post-master's)	Requires an RN license from a state UCCS approves	NP clinicals track your residence
RN to BSN	Not eligible; Iowa and South Dakota qualify	`NURS 4450` at a community site you secure

South Dakota and Iowa: close, but residence decides

South Dakota is the one Minnesota neighbor on UCCS's NP list, and it joins Iowa on the RN to BSN list. UCCS defines residency as physical location, so keeping a Minnesota home while commuting across either border leaves you a Minnesotan in UCCS's eyes; actually moving changes that. Your preceptor would then come from the new state, under its licensing rules. South Dakota's board, for instance, expects APRN programs to have a faculty member holding a South Dakota APRN license or privilege.

Read the South Dakota guide and the Iowa guide before choosing. In either, locating a preceptor falls to you while UCCS reviews and contracts the site; the self-search guide shows how that unfolds.

A job in South Dakota with a home in Minnesota does not meet UCCS's residency test.

Licensing and practice under Minnesota rules

Minnesota has no compact membership and no compact bill in the pipeline, and the APRN Compact has not passed there either. South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, all UCCS states, did pass the APRN Compact, but it sits idle until a seventh state joins. For NP scope, AANP lists Minnesota as full practice after a transition of 2,080 hours spent collaborating with an APRN or physician under a formal agreement.

Program approval by the Minnesota Board of Nursing extends to programs run within Minnesota, with nothing extra for schools elsewhere. By statute, a nurse holding another state's RN license is exempt while practicing in Minnesota as part of a structured course leading to a higher degree, and the Board's rule expects that student's supervising instructor to be Minnesota-licensed. UCCS hours stay in listed states, so these provisions sit outside a UCCS plan.

Minnesota's systems and training money

HealthPartners and Essentia Health, M Health Fairview and Allina Health, and Mayo Clinic carry much of the state's care, from Minneapolis-St. Paul out to Rochester, St. Cloud and Duluth. Minnesota's MERC program offsets part of what clinical training costs sites in the state, APRN training included, but it pays sites rather than individual preceptors and requires the teaching program itself to be based in Minnesota. Your Minnesota RN years remain an asset after the move.

Why Minnesota nurses who relocate choose us

Relocation resets your professional network, and we rebuild it around your UCCS course. Our search covers practices near your new home, checks each preceptor against UCCS's credential rules, and pins down exact hours and the site's signing authority so the Clinical Site Sheet reaches the college complete and early. Send your new state and target semester through the contact page.

Questions UCCS students ask

Can I apply to UCCS's online NP program from Minnesota?

No. UCCS accepts NP applicants living in 14 listed states and says anyone living elsewhere is ineligible for admission or clinical placement. Minnesota is not listed. Once you live in a listed state, neighboring South Dakota for example, you may apply as its resident, and the decision rests with UCCS.

If I move to South Dakota, where would my UCCS hours happen?

In South Dakota, near where you live. UCCS contracts with the sites its students find there, and preceptors must be licensed in the state that hosts the hours. Time at a Minnesota clinic would not count, because Minnesota is not a listed state.

Does UCCS's curriculum meet Minnesota's APRN education requirements?

UCCS's licensure disclosure lists Minnesota as a state where its curriculum meets APRN education requirements. The statement concerns coursework, not admission, and a license decision belongs to the Minnesota Board of Nursing, so check with the Board if you expect to practice there after graduating. Our disclosure guide explains more.

Could a UCCS student rotate at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota?

Not as a UCCS student, since UCCS hours stay in listed states and Minnesota is not one. Mayo's NP clinical program also sets its own bar: the school needs an affiliation agreement with Mayo, and the student needs a currently registered Minnesota nursing license plus a background study from Minnesota's DHS.

GuideUCCS programs by stateStudying with UCCS from your state? Fifty state guides: the 14-state rule for NP programs, the RN to BSN list, licenses, board rules and where hours happen.State guideSouth DakotaLive in South Dakota? UCCS's online NP tracks and RN to BSN accept you. What the SD Board expects, both compacts, and where Sioux Falls or Rapid City hours fit.RN to BSNIowaIowa is on UCCS's RN to BSN state list, so NURS 4450 happens at an Iowa community site you secure. Iowa licensing, program criteria and the NP limits.14 statesApproved statesWhich states UCCS nursing programs accept: 14 for the online NP programs, 21 for the RN to BSN, Colorado for the campus BSN, and what each state's board adds.DisclosureLicensure disclosure and SARAWhat UCCS's APRN licensure disclosure says, why Kansas is the exception, where SARA fits, and why the disclosure is not the list of states UCCS admits from.ResidencyMoving during the programHow UCCS treats a move mid-program: residency as physical location, the approved states, new preceptors and agreements, pauses, and NP licensure afterward.

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.

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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 for NURS 6915 and NURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers for NURS 6801 to NURS 6803
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