Wisconsin and UCCS's online nursing programs
UCCS limits online nursing admission to residents of listed states, and Wisconsin sits outside both of its lists. For a Wisconsin RN, the UCCS route therefore starts with a change of address. This guide sets out Wisconsin's own framework, freshly changed for APRNs, and how UCCS clinicals work in a listed state.
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.
UCCS programs through a Wisconsin lens
Your physical home, not your license, is what UCCS checks.
| UCCS program | Can a Wisconsin resident enroll? | Where hours would be done |
|---|---|---|
| MSN (FNP, AGNP, PMHNP) | Not from Wisconsin | The listed state you move to, with a preceptor you recruit |
| RN to MSN; NP certificate | Not from Wisconsin | Your new listed home state |
| BSN to DNP; Post-Master's DNP | Linked to an RN license from a UCCS-approved state; confirm | Near your home |
| RN to BSN | Not from Wisconsin; Iowa is on its list | NURS 4450 at a local community site |
| Traditional or Accelerated BSN | Open to people living in or planning to live in Colorado | Colorado, at UCCS-assigned sites |
Wisconsin carries a meets-requirements mark on UCCS's APRN licensure disclosure. The mark concerns curriculum and says nothing about enrollment (disclosure explained).
Wisconsin's approval rule reaches graduate programs
Many boards leave graduate programs alone; Wisconsin's does not. Administrative Code N 1.06, applied through the state licensing department's Form 3067-OEE, requires Board of Nursing approval for outside nursing schools, whether they train practical nurses, RNs, post-licensure bachelor's students or graduate students. Approved schools then file a self-evaluation to keep that status.
Clinical faculty and preceptors working in Wisconsin must be licensed there or hold a practice privilege for the state. UCCS's standing under N 1.06 is a question for UCCS itself; with Wisconsin off its lists, the college's students would not be training there in any case.
APRN practice after Act 17
Since September 1, 2026, when 2025 Act 17 kicked in, the state has issued APRN licenses by role, and former APNP holders have been moved onto the new credential. Independent practice, meaning no collaborating physician, is its own application that the Board must approve.
AANP still rates Wisconsin reduced practice because of its physician collaboration requirement, while flagging when the new law began. Wisconsin RNs have held multistate licenses since January 2018, and official sources show no state-run preceptor incentive.
Milwaukee-Waukesha is the biggest metro, ahead of Madison, Green Bay and Appleton. Froedtert ThedaCare Health is one of the big names, alongside Aspirus Health, UW Health, Ascension Wisconsin and Aurora Health Care, which belongs to Advocate Health; they appear for context rather than as UCCS sites.
Planning a move to a listed state
UCCS registers you as a resident of the state you physically occupied when applying, and your hours stay there unless the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator approves another listed state. Every NP-eligible state lies west or south of Wisconsin, South Dakota being the nearest; for the RN to BSN, Iowa shares Wisconsin's border.
From there the steps are familiar: you secure a preceptor who meets UCCS's rules for your track, the college processes a Clinical Site Sheet and an Affiliation Agreement, and hours begin after its go-ahead. Allow months for the search (lead-time guide), and check which license your new state requires (license guide).
What our placement desk does for relocating students
Moving states resets your professional network, and rebuilding it is our placement desk's daily work for UCCS students. We start from your new ZIP code and work outward, qualify each preceptor against UCCS's criteria for your course, and prepare the credentials and exact hours the Clinical Site Sheet needs so the paperwork goes in early. Lose a preceptor mid-plan and the hunt for the next one begins without delay. Reach us here.
Questions UCCS students ask
Can I study UCCS's online AGNP from Wisconsin?
No. The AGNP and UCCS's other NP programs accept only residents of fourteen listed states, judged by where you physically live at application. An RN who relocates to one of those states could apply from the new address, and UCCS makes the admission decision.
Is UCCS approved by the Wisconsin Board of Nursing?
UCCS's status under Wisconsin's N 1.06 approval rule is a question to put to UCCS directly. It has little practical effect today, because UCCS students may do clinical hours only in states the college lists, and Wisconsin is not one of them.
Does Act 17 matter for a Wisconsin nurse planning to study at UCCS?
Act 17 governs APRN licensing inside Wisconsin, so it matters if you plan to come back and practice there after graduating. It leaves UCCS's admission list unchanged. Licensing questions about your future practice state belong with that state's board.
Can Wisconsin RNs take UCCS's RN to BSN?
Not while living in Wisconsin. The RN to BSN takes residents of 21 states; Iowa, just across the Mississippi, is one of them, while Minnesota and Illinois are not. A student in a listed state completes NURS 4450 at a local community site, as the RN to BSN page explains.
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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