Georgia and Gonzaga: where an Atlanta or Savannah nurse fits
Gonzaga reserves its online MSN nurse practitioner tracks for residents of ten western states, so Georgia nurses hoping to study with Gonzaga from home look at the Post-Master's DNP. Its practicum is a doctoral project guided by an agency liaison, in a setting you propose that can sit close to where you live. Check eligibility for Georgia with Gonzaga first.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Gonzaga program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Gonzaga course.
What Georgia residents can apply for
| Program | Open to Georgia residents? | Where the practicum happens |
|---|---|---|
| Family NP (MSN) | Residents of the ten only; moving comes first | Your licensed state, inside the ten |
| Psychiatric-mental health NP (MSN) | Residents of the ten only; moving comes first | Your licensed state, inside the ten |
| Second MSN, FNP or PMHNP | Residents of the ten only | The same NP practicum courses |
| Post-Master's DNP | No residency rule on its pages; confirm with Gonzaga | A Georgia setting and agency liaison you propose |
Gonzaga's disclosure grid scores Georgia as "Meets" for its NP master's. Admission to the NP tracks still stops at the ten western states, so that entry matters mostly to a nurse who trains in the West and later heads back to Georgia to practice.
How the DNP practicum would run in Georgia
In Gonzaga's Post-Master's DNP, practicum time is indirect care that builds your DNP project. NURS 700, in the first semester, is where you identify the local practice problem your project will address and secure a site for it, and each later practicum course needs an individualized proposal with objectives. On Gonzaga's checklist, your agency liaison attests to being neither relative, friend nor manager to you, and fills out an evaluation when the course closes.
You need 1,000 practicum hours overall, MSN hours included, with at least 340 earned in the DNP; NURS 704 adds practicum time if you fall short. The DNP practicum courses guide shows the full sequence.
What Georgia's board asks of out-of-state students
Georgia's Board of Nursing, which sits under the Secretary of State, stays out of post-licensure program approval altogether, APRN programs included. An out-of-state MSN or DNP program therefore places Georgia students without seeking board approval. The weight falls on licenses: a Georgia resident logging clinical hours in-state for an out-of-state program holds a Georgia license or a compact multistate license issued elsewhere, and faculty and preceptors working in Georgia, whether on site or electronically, meet that same test.
For APRN programs, the board adds that clinical instruction comes from a nurse holding Georgia APRN authorization. Georgia's RN compact membership dates from 2018, and the state has not taken up the APRN Compact. Ask Gonzaga how these license rules map onto an indirect-care DNP project.
Practice climate and possible project settings
AANP rates Georgia as restricted practice, with physician delegation or supervision required and limits on NP Schedule II prescribing. Georgia's PTIP tax credit thanks unpaid community preceptors, but only when their students come from Georgia's own medical, dental, NP or PA programs, and from 2026 preceptors register every year. A Gonzaga liaison sits outside it.
Metro Atlanta, home to nearly 6.5 million people, dwarfs the Savannah, Augusta and Columbus areas. Emory Healthcare and Grady Health System are two systems a project could approach; Wellstar Health System, Piedmont Healthcare and Northside Hospital are others, and the Georgia Department of Public Health works statewide. Each weighs a hosting request on its own terms, and Gonzaga reviews the proposal.
Planning a move to the West
Georgia nurses who want Gonzaga's FNP or PMHNP need a western home first, then a license where the practicums will happen; any preceptor there must be licensed in that state too. The ten-state rule page explains Gonzaga's residency language. California deserves a look, since its Board of Registered Nursing lists Gonzaga's Family and Psych/Mental Health programs among approved out-of-state NP programs.
Why Georgia nurses choose us
We specialize in Gonzaga's clinical process and pair it with each state's license rules. Here, that means a DNP setting, a liaison who passes Gonzaga's checklist, and license details checked against what Georgia's board expects. For nurses who relocate west, it means NP preceptors recruited face to face and a request that lands with Gonzaga's faculty ready to review. Start a conversation.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Can I live in Atlanta and join Gonzaga's online PMHNP program?
No. Gonzaga admits PMHNP and FNP students only when they reside in one of its ten western states, a rule the Second MSN shares. Georgia residents with a nursing master's can ask about the online Post-Master's DNP, which shows no residency restriction; Gonzaga confirms eligibility state by state.
Does Georgia's board have to approve an out-of-state DNP program?
No. Georgia's Board of Nursing leaves post-licensure programs, APRN programs among them, outside its approval process, so an out-of-state MSN or DNP program needs no board sign-off. The conditions sit with licenses instead: Georgia or multistate licenses for students logging clinical hours in Georgia, and the same for faculty and preceptors working there.
Would my DNP liaison in Georgia qualify for the preceptor tax credit?
No. The Preceptor Tax Incentive Program covers preceptors of students in Georgia medical, dental, NP or PA programs, and Gonzaga is a Washington school. HB 144 revised and extended the program, and yearly registration applies from 2026, but those changes do not open it to out-of-state programs.
Is Georgia a full practice state for NPs?
No. AANP classifies Georgia as restricted, with physician delegation or supervision required and limits on Schedule II prescribing by NPs. For a DNP student, that framework can shape a project on access to care, prescribing workflow or team-based models inside a Georgia organization.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Gonzaga's catalog, FAQs, preceptor packets and Department of Nursing pages. Your course, the Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and Gonzaga's Clinical Placement Team have the final word.
Gonzaga asks you to find local preceptors first. Let us run that search.
Tell us your Gonzaga program, your practicum course and where you live and can travel. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the license, certification and site details your Practicum Site Placement Request needs, early in the semester before.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care across the lifespan for
NURS 661PtoNURS 664P, psychiatric care forNURS 661MtoNURS 663M, an agency liaison for the DNP - Credentials, license, board certification and site contact ready for your site request
- In Spokane, across Washington or wherever in the ten western states you are licensed
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next practicum term is all we need to begin.