Virginia nurses and UCCS's online RN to BSN
Of the 21 states UCCS accepts for its online RN to BSN, Virginia is one. That makes a Virginia RN eligible to apply, with NURS 4450 Public Health Nursing, the degree's only clinical course, completed at a community site in Virginia that the student secures. Because the Virginia Board of Nursing leaves post-licensure and out-of-state education outside its oversight, no state approval sits between you and that site. UCCS's NP programs draw from 14 states, none of them Virginia.
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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.
What UCCS offers a Virginia nurse
UCCS makes every admission decision, so read this as what the state lists allow, then confirm with the college.
| UCCS program | Virginia residents | Where the hours are done |
|---|---|---|
| Online RN to BSN (and Dual Enrollment) | Virginia is on the list | NURS 4450 at a Virginia community site |
| MSN FNP, AGNP or PMHNP; RN to MSN; NP certificate | Not on the 14-state list | In a listed state, where the student resides |
| Traditional or Accelerated BSN | Requires living in Colorado | Colorado sites chosen by UCCS |
Public health hours at a Virginia site
The RN to BSN's nursing courses are online and 8 weeks long; NURS 4450 is the lone course with clinical contact hours, placed late in the program. You secure the site, UCCS faculty decide if it fits public health nursing, and neither your workplace unit nor an inpatient acute unit is allowed. UCCS has not published the hour count, so ask course faculty before you approach a mentor.
Deadlines deserve the closest watch: spring entry needs the enrollment checklist by October 1, summer by March 1 and fall by May 1, and the site sheet with your Virginia site, mentor and legal signer is one of its items. See the NURS 4450 guide and the myClinicalExchange page for the rest.
What Virginia's board leaves unregulated
Virginia's Board of Nursing keeps its hands off two kinds of schooling: programs from beyond the state and anything after initial licensure. The clinical rules it does enforce, including its 80-percent-in-Virginia rule for clinicals and the site-approval chapter at 18VAC90-27, govern only the pre-licensure schools it approves. An RN already licensed and enrolled in UCCS's RN to BSN answers to neither.
Multistate licenses have been honored in Virginia from January 19, 2018 onward. A license issued with Virginia as your home state is exactly the home-state license UCCS wants on file before NURS 4450.
Virginia's preceptor incentive, and who it covers
Virginia's Nurse Preceptor Incentive Program rewards five kinds of Virginia-licensed preceptors (physicians, PAs, APRNs, RNs, LPNs), provided the student comes from a Virginia nursing school, public or private nonprofit. Administration changed in 2026: under SB 405, signed into law on March 31, the Virginia Nursing Workforce Center, part of the Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority, now runs it and accepts hours from July 1, 2026 onward, after VDH closed its intake at the end of April. A mentor precepting for UCCS, a Colorado school, falls outside it, which is worth knowing before the subject comes up.
Care systems and metros across Virginia
More Virginians live in the state's portion of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro than anywhere else; the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk region comes next, then Richmond, with Roanoke well behind. Care runs through systems like Inova, Sentara Health, Carilion Clinic, UVA Health and VCU Health, with public health under the Virginia Department of Health. Think of them as context rather than placements: none is described as having a UCCS arrangement, and faculty sign off on each community setting.
An NP later? The Virginia view
UCCS's NP programs admit residents of 14 states only, since all clinical and classroom work has to happen there, and Virginia is not on that list. UCCS goes by physical location, so relocating to one of the listed states would come before any application; the approved states page has the list. AANP classes Virginia as restricted: a patient care team physician is part of every Virginia NP's practice agreement until the NP can attest to three years of full-time clinical work or its equivalent.
Why Virginia nurses choose us
Our focus is UCCS's clinical process, so a Virginia NURS 4450 search is targeted from day one: a community public health setting near you, a mentor who says yes, and the right legal signer for UCCS's agreement. You receive every detail the site sheet needs before your checklist date, and UCCS gets a complete, accurate submission the first time. Share your start term through the form below, and your placement advisor takes it from there.
Questions UCCS students ask
Will my NURS 4450 mentor qualify for Virginia's preceptor incentive?
No. The incentive counts only precepting done for Virginia nursing schools, and UCCS is in Colorado. Ask the course faculty what UCCS itself offers mentors who take RN to BSN students, so you can describe it accurately when you make the request.
Is my UCCS placement bound by Virginia's in-state clinical percentage rule?
No. Both that rule and the Board's site-approval chapter target pre-licensure schools Virginia approves. Programs from other states and post-licensure study sit outside the Board's education oversight, and a UCCS RN to BSN student, already an RN, fits both descriptions.
Do I need a Virginia license for NURS 4450?
UCCS's rule is simple: be actively licensed where you live before the course starts. For a Virginia resident that means a Virginia license, which can be multistate when Virginia is your primary residence. If you relocated recently holding another compact state's license, confirm your status with the Virginia Board before your checklist deadline.
How early should a Virginia nurse start looking for a site?
Work back from your term's checklist date (October 1, March 1 or May 1 for spring, summer or fall). The site sheet is part of that checklist, and the agreement needs a signature from someone with legal authority at the site, so beginning your search a few months before the deadline leaves room for both.
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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