West Virginia nurses and the UCCS route

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the UCCS Preceptor placement team

UCCS admits online nursing students only from the states it lists, and West Virginia is on none of them, so the NP programs and RN to BSN are off the table while you live here. Ohio and Virginia next door do make the RN to BSN list. First West Virginia's rules, then the UCCS path after a move.

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10students at one site: the point where West Virginia reviews an outside graduate program

UCCS nursing programs for West Virginia residents. MSN FNP, AGNP, PMHNP: not on the np list; RN to BSN (NURS 4450): not on the rn-bsn list; APRN disclosure: meets; If you move: 14 np states listed. RN license: in the compact. NP practice: reduced. — West Virginia and UCCS's programs: MSN FNP, AGNP, PMHNP: not on the np list; RN to BSN (NURS 4450): not on the rn-bsn list; APRN disclosure: meets; If you move: 14 np states listed. RN license in the compact; NP practice reduced (AANP).

Your UCCS options with a West Virginia address

At UCCS, eligibility follows your physical address rather than your license.

UCCS programs for West Virginia residents
Program	West Virginia resident eligible?	Clinical hours take place
FNP, AGNP or PMHNP (MSN)	No	Near your future home in a listed state
RN to MSN, Post-Graduate NP Certificate	No	Same local model after a move
BSN to DNP, Post-Master's DNP	Depends on an RN license from a UCCS-approved state; check with UCCS	Close to home
RN to BSN	No, though Ohio and Virginia residents can apply	`NURS 4450` in the community where you live
Traditional or Accelerated BSN	Only with a plan to live in Colorado	Colorado sites UCCS assigns

UCCS's APRN licensure disclosure rates its curriculum as satisfying West Virginia's educational requirements; the disclosure page explains why that is separate from admission.

Who oversees clinicals for outside programs in West Virginia

West Virginia divides the job among several bodies:

Pre-licensure education is all the Board of Registered Nurses regulates; an outside pre-licensure school needs its approval before rotating students through any facility in the state.
For graduate and advanced-degree programs, that Board defers to the Higher Education Policy Commission and the program's national accreditor.
The Commission's nursing education office sets a narrow trigger for outside APRN programs: approval is needed if the school sits outside NC-SARA, or if ten or more of its students cluster at one site.
Practical nurses have their own licensing board, apart from the RN board.

UCCS's registrar says the university participates in NC-SARA via WICHE. Because UCCS students may log hours only in states the college lists, none of this touches them unless West Virginia is added.

Licensing and NP practice in the Mountain State

Compact licensure has applied there since January 2018. The state's clinical rotation guide says a graduate student rotating there needs a West Virginia RN license when the state is home, and a multistate license when home is another compact state.

AANP places West Virginia in the reduced-practice group. An NP prescribes under a physician collaborative agreement for three years, and prescriptions for Schedule II narcotics are capped at three days. Official sources list no state preceptor incentive.

Population centers include Huntington-Ashland (partly in Kentucky and Ohio), Charleston, the Martinsburg end of the Hagerstown metro, and Morgantown. The major systems are WVU Medicine, Marshall Health Network and Vandalia Health, the group formed from CAMC, Mon Health and Davis Health, named for context, not as UCCS sites.

What changes when you relocate to a listed state

UCCS treats the state you physically lived in at application as your home for the program, so the move comes first (moving during the program). For NP study the listed states lie south and west, from Florida and Texas to Colorado and Utah; for the RN to BSN, Ohio and Virginia sit right across the border.

Once admitted, you log hours where you live. You find the preceptor, send UCCS a Clinical Site Sheet per site and preceptor pairing, and wait for the Affiliation Agreement and the college's clearance before any hour counts. Compact states take a multistate license; Alaska, California and Nevada require their own (license rules).

How we help UCCS students who relocate

Our placement desk turns a new address into a workable clinical plan. We look for preceptors close to where you have settled, confirm each one suits your UCCS course, compile the license, certification and exact schedule that each site sheet asks for, and restart the search at once if a preceptor withdraws. Share your timeline through the contact page.

Questions UCCS students ask

Can I earn a UCCS nurse practitioner degree while living in West Virginia?

Only after moving. UCCS admits NP students from fourteen listed states and measures residency by physical location on the day you apply. Once you truly live in one of those states you could apply as its resident, and UCCS alone decides admission.

Does UCCS need West Virginia approval for graduate clinicals?

The need would arise only if UCCS students trained in West Virginia, and the college's own rule keeps them in listed states. The state's trigger for outside APRN programs is being outside NC-SARA or clustering ten or more students at one site, and UCCS participates in NC-SARA via WICHE.

Could I take UCCS's RN to BSN after moving to Ohio or Virginia?

Both are among the 21 states the RN to BSN accepts, so an RN living in either could apply for the online program and handle NURS 4450 through a community site in that state. West Virginia itself is not listed; the RN to BSN page goes further.

What does UCCS offer the preceptors its students recruit?

UCCS gives preceptors a record of the hours they precepted, UCCS library access and networking, and points them to Colorado's tax credit for rural and frontier preceptors, a Colorado state program. Official West Virginia sources show no comparable incentive, a moot point while UCCS students train in listed states.

GuideUCCS programs by stateStudying with UCCS from your state? Fifty state guides: the 14-state rule for NP programs, the RN to BSN list, licenses, board rules and where hours happen.14 statesApproved statesWhich states UCCS nursing programs accept: 14 for the online NP programs, 21 for the RN to BSN, Colorado for the campus BSN, and what each state's board adds.RN to BSNRN to BSN and Dual EnrollmentUCCS's online RN to BSN and Dual Enrollment: 126 credits in 8-week courses, the 21 approved states, and the NURS 4450 community site you secure yourself.ResidencyMoving during the programHow UCCS treats a move mid-program: residency as physical location, the approved states, new preceptors and agreements, pauses, and NP licensure afterward.RN to BSNOhioOhio sits on UCCS's RN to BSN list: how NURS 4450 works at an Ohio community site, what Ohio law says about outside programs, and the NP picture.RN to BSNVirginiaVirginia is on UCCS's RN to BSN list. How NURS 4450 works at a Virginia site, what the board leaves unregulated, the preceptor incentive and NP limits.

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.

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Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for NURS 6900, acute and chronic care for NURS 6915 and NURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers for NURS 6801 to NURS 6803
Credentials, license, certification and the site's signer ready for the Clinical Site Sheet
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