Texas and UCCS's online nurse practitioner programs
Texans can enroll in UCCS's online NP programs or finish a BSN through its RN to BSN route, and the clinical hours stay in Texas with preceptors you arrange. The Texas Board of Nursing approves some out-of-state schools before they place students, yet that process targets pre-licensure education, which leaves a graduate NP program like UCCS's outside it.
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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.
The Texas answer, program by program
UCCS decides eligibility by where you live, and Texas is on the graduate NP list alongside Colorado and the other western and southern states UCCS names. Coursework is online and every rotation happens at home, so a Texas address means Texas clinicals. UCCS's approved-states page has the complete lists.
| Program | Available to Texans? | Clinical hours |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Family, Adult-Gerontology or Psychiatric-Mental Health NP | Yes | Texas practices, with a preceptor you line up |
| RN to MSN | Yes | Bridge first (no clinical component), then Texas NP rotations |
| Post-Graduate NP Certificate | Yes | Texas, in the courses your GAP analysis requires |
| BSN to DNP, Post-Master's DNP | Yes, if your RN license is from a state on UCCS's list | Texas sites for NP rotations and project work |
| RN to BSN | Yes | NURS 4450 at a Texas community agency |
| Campus BSN | Colorado residents or those moving there | Colorado |
Why the Texas BON's approval process skips UCCS
Texas does make out-of-state schools obtain Board approval before any clinical learning happens in the state. Board rules 214.3 and 215.3, together with Guideline 3.1.3, point that requirement at pre-licensure education: vocational nursing and professional RN programs, entry-level master's degrees included, even for schools in NC-SARA. RN to BSN completion study and graduate APRN programs fall outside it.
So the roster the Board publishes of approved schools from other states is pre-licensure only, and whether UCCS appears there says nothing about NP study. Chapter 219, the Board's APRN education standards, governs programs that want Texas approval; nationally accredited programs sit outside Board approval. For UCCS's own statement, read the licensure disclosure: it names Texas as a state where the curriculum meets APRN educational requirements, though its Texas entry adds a note that reads like a pre-licensure NCLEX remark, so ask UCCS if it leaves you unsure.
Licenses and restricted practice in Texas
Texas belongs to the updated Nurse Licensure Compact, operating since January 2018, and issues multistate RN licenses, though it has not adopted the APRN Compact. How UCCS pairs license type with where you do hours is on licenses for clinical hours.
AANP classifies Texas as restricted: an NP needs physician delegation and supervision, keeps written physician protocols for a whole career, and faces Schedule II limits tied to practice setting. So every Texas NP preceptor practices inside a physician relationship, and physicians are eligible too: for FNP and AGNP, UCCS takes Texas-licensed NPs, MDs, DOs and PAs with two years of experience. Because UCCS wants NP preceptors to hold full prescriptive authority, ask the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator how that applies to a delegated Texas NP.
Preceptor incentives: what Texas has and what it covers
Texas has a preceptor benefit, but it is aimed elsewhere. Its tuition exemption for clinical preceptors and their children at public Texas colleges serves Texas-resident RNs who precept in undergraduate programs leading to initial RN licensure; precepting graduate NP students does not qualify. Research for this guide found no Texas tax credit or grant built for NP preceptors.
The Nursing Shortage Reduction Program run by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board lets eligible Texas nursing programs spend grant money on preceptors, but those funds go to institutions, not individual clinicians. What you offer a Texas preceptor, then, is the teaching itself plus what UCCS provides, such as documentation of precepted hours.
Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin
Four Texas metros top 2.6 million residents each: Dallas-Fort Worth with close to 8.5 million, Houston with about 7.9 million, and San Antonio and Austin behind them. Big employers of clinicians include Texas Health Resources, Houston Methodist, Baylor Scott & White Health, UT Southwestern Medical Center and University Health, based in San Antonio. They illustrate where Texas providers practice and imply nothing about hosting UCCS students.
Whatever the city size, start early: UCCS's handbooks advise beginning three to six months before the course (lead time). FNP and AGNP hours must be outpatient primary care; for NURS 4450, the Texas Department of State Health Services is one lead.
Why Texas students at UCCS work with us
In a state this big, scattered cold calls can eat a semester. Your placement advisor works your metro or county directly, screens preceptors against UCCS's credential rules, and delivers Clinical Site Sheet details that are complete the first time, exact hours and the site's authorized signer included. If a preceptor backs out, the replacement search is already under way. Start with the form below.
Questions UCCS students ask
Is UCCS's online FNP program open to people who live in Texas?
Yes. Texas sits among the 14 states UCCS takes applicants from for its online master's NP tracks, the RN to MSN route and the certificate, with clinical hours done in Texas. Residency opens the door; admission still turns on UCCS's review of your application.
Should UCCS appear on the Texas Board's out-of-state list?
There is no reason to expect it. That list covers pre-licensure programs from other states, which need Board approval before Texas clinicals, and the Board's out-of-state approval rules leave graduate APRN programs aside. If a Texas clinic asks, point it to UCCS's Affiliation Agreement process.
Can a Texas physician be my UCCS preceptor?
For FNP and AGNP rotations, yes: MDs and DOs licensed in Texas with two years of experience qualify, alongside NPs and PAs, and UCCS recommends that 200 or more of your hours be with an NP. PMHNP students need a psychiatrist, PMH nurse practitioner or PMH clinical nurse specialist with full prescriptive authority.
Does UCCS offer the RN to BSN to Texas nurses?
Yes: Texas appears among the 21 states the RN to BSN serves. Its one clinical course, NURS 4450, takes place with a Texas community agency you secure and faculty approve; your own work unit and inpatient acute units are excluded. See the RN to BSN page.
I live near El Paso. Could I do a rotation in New Mexico?
New Mexico is a UCCS-listed state, but hours outside your state of residence need the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator's approval, and New Mexico has its own clinical-approval rule to ask UCCS about. Read the New Mexico guide first; Oklahoma has separate conditions, covered in the Oklahoma guide.
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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