UCCS's RN to BSN for nurses living in North Carolina
North Carolina made UCCS's 21-state list for the online RN to BSN, so nurses in Charlotte, Raleigh or Greensboro can apply from home and would log their NURS 4450 Public Health Nursing hours at a North Carolina community setting they choose. The state's nursing board has no jurisdiction over RN to BSN programs, which keeps the path simple. UCCS's NP programs are limited to 14 states that do not include North Carolina.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UCCS program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UCCS course.
Your UCCS options as a North Carolina resident
Admission decisions are UCCS's alone; the table only shows where each program's state list leaves a North Carolina nurse.
| Program | For North Carolina residents | Clinical hours |
|---|---|---|
| RN to BSN / Dual Enrollment (online) | Eligible to apply | NURS 4450 at a community site in North Carolina |
| NP programs: MSN, RN to MSN, Post-Graduate Certificate | Not open (14-state rule) | Inside a listed state where the student lives |
| Campus BSN (Traditional, Accelerated) | Colorado residents or movers | Colorado placements UCCS assigns |
Getting to NURS 4450 on time
Each required nursing course in the RN to BSN lasts 8 weeks and runs online. Near the end sits NURS 4450, the course that sends you into a community setting for contact hours, at a site you secure and faculty approve. Neither your employment unit nor an inpatient acute unit can host those hours.
Registration waits on a checklist with a fixed cutoff for each start term, so a spring start means finishing it by October 1, summer by March 1 and fall by May 1; missing it costs you that term's permission number. It takes in myClinicalExchange, CastleBranch screening and the site sheet naming your North Carolina site and mentor. Section 4 of that sheet asks who can legally sign the agreement, likely someone other than the mentor. More on the NURS 4450 page.
Where NCBON's jurisdiction stops
The approval rule North Carolina applies to programs from elsewhere, 21 NCAC 36 .0233, is built around unlicensed students: the host agency's chief nurse files a request at least 30 days before clinicals begin. RN to BSN study, post-licensure graduate study and doctoral programs all fall outside the Board's reach, in its own description, and it passes no judgment on them wherever they are based. For a licensed nurse in UCCS's RN to BSN, that filing never comes up.
North Carolina has used the compact since January 19, 2018; with North Carolina as your home state, your multistate license is the one UCCS looks for ahead of NURS 4450. The state entered SARA in June 2016, and per NCBON, enrollment at a SARA-approved college can open the door to clinical field placements in North Carolina while coursework continues from that college. UCCS participates in SARA through WICHE.
Health systems across the state
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, whose metro reaches into South Carolina, is the largest population center. Raleigh-Cary is second, and Greensboro-High Point and Winston-Salem round out the larger metros. Duke Health, Novant Health, UNC Health, ECU Health and Atrium Health, part of Advocate Health, are among the major systems, and the Division of Public Health within NC DHHS leads public health. They illustrate where care happens in the state; they are not presented as UCCS partners, and each setting you suggest still needs faculty approval.
If you are weighing a UCCS NP program
The NP programs take only people living in one of 14 states, since all their clinical and didactic work must happen there, and North Carolina is not on the list. UCCS treats residency as physical location, so applying would mean living in a listed state first; the approved states page names them. AANP puts North Carolina in its restricted group: an NP there never outgrows the need for a physician agreement, and NP licensing is handled jointly by a subcommittee drawn from both the nursing board and the medical board.
Why North Carolina RNs use us
We shape your NURS 4450 search in North Carolina around UCCS's rules: a community public health setting, a mentor ready to commit, and the correct legal signer for the clinical education agreement. Every detail the site sheet needs reaches you before the checklist closes, so the site piece is done early. UCCS decides; our part is getting a clean, complete site sheet in front of the college on the first try. The form below starts the process.
Questions UCCS students ask
Does NCBON have to approve UCCS before I do NURS 4450 in North Carolina?
No. RN to BSN programs lie beyond NCBON's jurisdiction, and the approval process it runs for programs from elsewhere concerns students without a license. UCCS still approves the site and contracts with it; contact hours start once that contract is fully executed.
Does SARA matter for an RN to BSN student in North Carolina?
SARA is the interstate agreement UCCS joins through WICHE, and North Carolina has belonged since June 2016. The Board's education FAQ links SARA approval to eligibility for clinical field placements in North Carolina. For a licensed nurse in a post-licensure program, the Board's own approval rule is not in play either way.
I moved to North Carolina recently on another state's compact license. What now?
UCCS checks for an RN license from your state of residence. Compact rules issue the multistate license through your primary home state, so check with NCBON about moving your license to North Carolina well before the checklist deadline. The RN license guide explains how UCCS applies its rule.
Is the RN to BSN part-time?
Yes. UCCS describes it as part-time, with classes starting every 8 weeks. Taking two 8-week courses a semester, students finish in about 1 to 1.5 years; taking one, 1.5 to 2.5 years. The degree totals 126 credits, including 38 articulation credits recognizing RN preparation.
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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