Washington State residents and UCCS nursing
Neither of UCCS's admission lists includes Washington, so residents are shut out of its online NP programs and RN to BSN. Washington also runs one of the stricter approval systems for outside programs. Here is how it works, and what opens up after relocating to a listed state like neighboring Idaho.
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.
Which UCCS programs a Washington resident can use
UCCS looks at where you actually live; license state and employer location are beside the point.
| Program | From a Washington address | Where hours would be done |
|---|---|---|
| MSN in FNP, AGNP or PMHNP | Closed | Your listed home state, with a preceptor you line up |
| RN to MSN; Post-Graduate NP Certificate | Closed | Your listed home state |
| BSN to DNP; Post-Master's DNP | Tied to an RN license from a UCCS-approved state; verify | Near home |
| RN to BSN | Closed | NURS 4450 at a community site in your listed state |
| Campus BSN | Open to those living in or moving to Colorado | Colorado, placed by UCCS |
On its APRN licensure disclosure, UCCS says the curriculum meets Washington's educational requirements. That line addresses coursework alone (what the disclosure covers).
WABON's gate for out-of-state programs
Washington's rule, WAC 246-840-571, is a gate that opens before placement. A distance program based elsewhere applies to the Washington State Board of Nursing (WABON), proves its standards match Washington's, supervises and grades its students on Washington soil, stays nationally accredited and reports each year. Even then, approved placements are limited to Washington residents, with exceptions judged individually.
The rule reaches teachers and preceptors. Faculty from an outside program who teach ARNP practice there need Washington's own ARNP credential, and an ARNP student's preceptor must hold a clear ARNP, MD or DO license, from Washington or an equivalent elsewhere, and must not be family or a friend. WABON began revising these rules through a December 2025 CR-101 notice aimed partly at clinical placement barriers.
Look closely at WABON's September 2026 roster of approved outside programs: the Colorado entry is the University of Colorado at Aurora, meaning CU Anschutz. UCCS, the Colorado Springs university, is a separate institution with no entry there.
Practice, licensing and the preceptorship grant
Washington switched on the compact at the end of January 2024, so its RNs can now hold multistate licenses, and AANP gives its NPs full practice authority.
State lawmakers fund a preceptorship grant that WABON runs. ARNPs, RNs and LPNs with at least a year in practice can claim it after teaching one student for 80 hours or longer. Two groups are shut out: RN-BSN programs and every out-of-state program, even one whose student logs the hours in Washington.
Greater Seattle, above four million residents, overshadows Spokane, Kennewick-Richland and the Washington slice of the Portland-Vancouver metro. Systems employing Washington nurses include Providence, headquartered in Renton and now including Providence Swedish, along with PeaceHealth, UW Medicine, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and MultiCare; they are named for context, not as UCCS sites.
The Idaho option and other listed states
For many Washington nurses the nearest listed state is next door: Idaho is on UCCS's NP list and in the compact, while Oregon is on neither UCCS list. UCCS goes by where you physically live, so crossing into Idaho for work while keeping a Washington home would not qualify; living there would. Later moves need care, as moving during the program explains.
After you settle in a listed state, you arrange a preceptor near home, the college reviews your Clinical Site Sheet and signs an Affiliation Agreement, and your first hour counts only after its go-ahead email. The Idaho guide and the clinical license page cover the specifics.
Why UCCS students choose our placement desk
UCCS's clinical process is our specialty in every listed state. For a nurse newly settled in Idaho or farther afield, we pair each course with a local preceptor who satisfies the primary care or psychiatric rules that apply, prepare the full set of Clinical Site Sheet details, and act fast on a replacement if a preceptor steps back. Send your plans through the contact form.
Questions UCCS students ask
Is UCCS on Washington's approved out-of-state program list?
No. The WABON list dated September 21, 2026 names the University of Colorado in Aurora, the Anschutz campus, a different institution from UCCS in Colorado Springs. UCCS students train in their own listed states instead.
Could I live in Washington, enroll in UCCS's FNP and do my hours in Idaho?
No. UCCS admits NP students only when they live in one of its fourteen listed states, judged by physical location, and clinical hours across a state line require sign-off from the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator. A nurse who truly moves to Idaho could apply as an Idaho resident; confirm the details with UCCS.
Would a Washington preceptor receive the state grant for teaching a UCCS student?
WABON's grant rules exclude learners from out-of-state programs, even for hours worked in Washington. Add UCCS's rule that students train only in states on its list, and the grant has no path to a UCCS placement.
Can Washington nurses enroll in UCCS's RN to BSN?
Not with a Washington address, since the RN to BSN's roster of 21 states skips Washington. Idaho sits on both UCCS lists, so an RN living there could take the online degree and do NURS 4450 at a faculty-approved community site. Confirm eligibility with UCCS before relocating.
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
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next clinical semester is all we need to begin.