UCCS approved states: which list applies to you
UCCS keeps three state lists. The online NP programs take residents of 14 states, the RN to BSN admits residents of 21, and the campus BSN takes people who live in Colorado or plan to. The list tied to your program decides where you may apply from and where your clinical hours can happen.
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.
Three lists, side by side
Each UCCS list belongs to particular programs, and none of them stands in for another. Start by finding your program in the table, then read the section for that list.
| Program | Who may apply | What UCCS says about place |
|---|---|---|
| MSN (FNP, AGNP, PMHNP), RN to MSN, Post-Graduate NP Certificate | Residents of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah or Wyoming | Clinical hours and didactic work must be completed within these 14 states |
| BSN to DNP and Post-Master's DNP | Nurses with a current unrestricted RN license from an approved state | The DNP pages refer to the approved states listed on UCCS's website |
| RN to BSN and Dual Enrollment | Residents of the 14 states above plus Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia | UCCS says these states apply only to the RN to BSN programs |
| Traditional and Accelerated BSN | People living in Colorado or intending to live there | An in-person program in Colorado |
A state that appears on one list does nothing for another. Ohio, for example, opens the RN to BSN but not the NP programs, and the campus BSN answers only to its Colorado rule.
The 14 states for the NP programs
The MSN page, the RN to MSN page and the certificate page carry one shared statement, and every graduate NP student starts from it: "We accept applications only from students who reside in the following states, as all clinical hours and didactic work must be completed within these states." The pages go on to say that anyone not living in a listed state is "not eligible for admission to our program or for clinical placement."
The list has held steady through 2026; a February capture of the MSN page shows the same 14 names. It was longer in 2023, when Kansas was on it as a fifteenth state.
Residency here means physical presence: UCCS counts you as belonging to whichever listed state was home on the day you applied. What a later move does to that is covered in moving during the program. Clinical time in a second listed state is possible with sign-off from the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator plus a license that works in that state, as the RN license guide explains. PMHNP students carry one more limit: even a telehealth preceptor has to practice in one of the approved states.
What each NP state's board adds
UCCS's list is not the only gate. Several of the 14 states have rules of their own for out-of-state programs whose students do clinicals there. Most of these bind the program rather than the student, and the table sums up what the research found for each.
| State | What the state's rules say | UCCS's standing |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Each APRN student registers a preceptorship with the Alaska Board of Nursing; a student step, not a program approval | Registration per student |
| Arizona | The Arizona State Board of Nursing approves out-of-state APRN programs before their students do clinicals in Arizona | UCCS appears on the Board's approved APRN program list; confirm current status with UCCS and the Board |
| California | Prior approval from the Board of Registered Nursing for NP programs based outside California | Listed on the BRN's out-of-state NP program list |
| Colorado | The Board's program-approval rule covers pre-licensure programs | Home state |
| Florida | No approval step found for out-of-state APRN programs | No list applies |
| Idaho | No specific rule; the Board asks out-of-state programs to contact it | No list found |
| Montana | No Board approval for graduate programs; the student's license must be valid in Montana | No list applies |
| Nevada | Board approval before an internet or nontraditional program gives clinical instruction; unclear whether this reaches APRN programs | Not on the Board's clinical-portion list, which names pre-licensure schools |
| New Mexico | Programs with New Mexico clinicals longer than one semester apply for Board approval; APRN coverage unclear | No public APRN list found |
| Oklahoma | No permission step, but conditions on the student's license, the overseeing faculty's license and APRN education rules | Conditions rather than a list |
| South Dakota | No approval of out-of-state programs; one faculty member with a South Dakota APRN license or privilege is expected | No list applies |
| Texas | The Board's out-of-state approval covers pre-licensure programs only | No list applies to APRN programs |
| Utah | Out-of-state programs must satisfy the Division and the Board before placements, with an annual report due August 1 | No public list located |
| Wyoming | No Board approval for graduate programs, but written notice to the Board before each student's clinicals and a facility contract | Notice per student |
Where a status is unclear, as in Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, ask UCCS before you build a plan around that state. The California guide shows how one state's rules play out in practice.
The RN to BSN list and the campus BSN
The RN to BSN and Dual Enrollment options reach further: the 14 NP states plus seven more farther east, namely Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, New York, Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa. UCCS marks those 21 as valid for the RN to BSN programs alone, so a nurse in Virginia can earn a BSN from home but would need to live in one of the 14 before applying to an NP program.
The clinical piece, NURS 4450 Public Health Nursing, happens at a community site the student secures in their own state, and anyone living outside Colorado must already be licensed as an RN in their home state. The RN to BSN page has the full picture.
Kansas is the unusual one. It sits on the RN to BSN list, it left the NP list after 2023, and it is the only state where UCCS's APRN licensure disclosure says the curriculum does not meet educational requirements.
Campus students in the Traditional or Accelerated BSN attend in person, and UCCS accepts applicants who live in Colorado now or intend to. UCCS assigns those clinical placements itself, so for campus students the state question is simply whether they will be living in Colorado while they study.
The licensure disclosure is not a fourth list
UCCS also publishes an APRN licensure disclosure whose rows show the curriculum satisfying APRN education rules everywhere but Kansas. That page answers a licensing question, not an admission one, and it does not widen the 14-state rule. The licensure disclosure guide shows how to read it.
Three questions keep the documents straight. Can I apply from where I live? The program's list answers that. Can I do hours in this state? The list, the Coordinator's approval and the right license answer that together. Will my degree count toward an APRN license there after graduation? The disclosure and that state's board of nursing answer that one.
Why students across the approved states choose us
UCCS's model puts your hours where you live, and the 14 states run from large metro areas to small rural towns. We search wherever you are: a primary care or psychiatric preceptor licensed in your state, a site that fits your UCCS course and its setting rules, and someone at the site empowered to sign the Affiliation Agreement.
We know each state's wrinkles, from California's in-state license rule to Alaska's preceptorship registration, and we build them into the match before anything reaches the college. UCCS approves every site; we deliver the Clinical Site Sheet details complete, the first time. Send your state, program and start term through the contact form.
Questions UCCS students ask
Can I apply to the UCCS FNP program if I live in Washington?
Not while you live there, because Washington is outside UCCS's 14-state NP list. Washington's nursing board does keep a roster of out-of-state schools, but the Colorado entry on it is the Aurora campus, CU Anschutz, not UCCS. You would need to live in a listed state before applying, and UCCS makes every admission decision.
Why is Kansas no longer on the UCCS NP state list?
UCCS's pages give no reason. The record shows that Kansas appeared on the 2023 NP list, is missing from the current one, and is the single state marked as not meeting requirements on UCCS's APRN licensure disclosure. Kansas remains on the RN to BSN list, so Kansas nurses can still pursue that degree from home.
Do the UCCS DNP programs have their own state list?
No separate list appears on the DNP pages. Both DNP pages simply require an unrestricted RN license issued by an approved state, pointing readers back to the lists on UCCS's site. BSN to DNP students take the same NP clinical courses as MSN students, so confirm with the college which list governs your DNP option before you apply.
Can a PMHNP student use a telehealth preceptor in another state?
Only if that provider is in one of UCCS's approved states. The PMHNP handbook limits providers to the approved list even for telehealth, expects you physically present with the provider, and requires Option Coordinator approval for remote telehealth. Separately, any hours outside the state you applied from require sign-off from the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator.
Is UCCS approved for NP clinicals in California?
Yes, as far as the state's own list goes: the Board of Registered Nursing names UCCS among the out-of-state NP programs it has approved, which California requires before such students train there. Because California is outside the Nurse Licensure Compact, students doing hours there need a California RN license, and their preceptors must hold California licenses too.
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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