Gonzaga on California's out-of-state NP program list

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

The California Board of Registered Nursing lists Gonzaga University among the out-of-state nurse practitioner programs approved for clinical placements in California, for both its Family and Psych/Mental Health tracks. That listing is the program's side of the rule. Your side is a California RN license, a preceptor who meets the Board's standards, and a Spokane day in each practicum course for the faculty site visit.

Get matched Chat now

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.

2Gonzaga NP tracks on the BRN list: Family and Psych/Mental Health

What a California preceptor needs: A valid, active California license in their own profession, ; Qualification in your NP category, family or psychiatric-men; A year or more of practice in the clinical area they will te; An orientation from the program, and a faculty evaluation of.

What the BRN list says about Gonzaga

The BRN's Out of State Nurse Practitioner Programs page includes an entry for Gonzaga University in Spokane with two tracks: Family, and Psych/Mental Health. Beside each track the Board prints an estimated annual California enrollment, 7 for Family and 9 for Psych/Mental Health. The page itself carries no date; it was checked on September 25, 2026, and it is the page to recheck before you commit to a California site.

The two tracks match Gonzaga's MSN FNP and PMHNP, which the Second MSN shares. Being on the list means the Board has cleared Gonzaga as a program to place NP students in California clinicals. It does not place anyone by itself: the preceptor and site still come through Gonzaga's own process, beginning with the local providers you identify and ending with faculty approval of the Practicum Site Placement Request.

Why California asks for prior approval

Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations, section 1486, says an NP program headquartered in another state must win the Board's approval before any of its students begin clinicals in California. The same section asks such programs to rely on preceptors who satisfy Board requirements, to follow national NONPF and AACN standards, and to cover California NP law in the curriculum, from sections 2835.7 and 2836.1 of California's Business and Professions Code to its standardized procedure rules.

A program starts that route by submitting the Board's Verification of Clinical Practice Experience form, which the Board then takes up and decides at one of its meetings. After approval, a record called the NP Program Preceptor form stays in the program's files for every California preceptor. Gonzaga handles that filing, but it explains why the Clinical Placement Team asks for complete preceptor details before a California site moves forward.

Your California RN license

Under section 1486(d), you personally need a current California RN license, active and valid, before you see patients there as a student of a program based elsewhere. California never signed on to the Nurse Licensure Compact, so the multistate license issued in Washington, Idaho or Arizona gives you no practice privilege in the state. Most Gonzaga students living in California already hold one; for anyone relocating there mid-program, it becomes the first task, ahead of the preceptor search itself.

The same license keeps paying off after graduation. California's advanced practice certification requires a California RN license first, so the license you carry for clinicals is also the base for NP certification in California once you finish. The license guide sets California beside the other nine admitting states.

What a California preceptor needs

California adds its own layer on top of Gonzaga's preceptor rules. Between 16 CCR 1486(b) and (c) and Gonzaga's Preceptor Portal, a California preceptor for a Gonzaga student should expect the following.

A valid, active California license in their own profession, which also meets Gonzaga's rule of an unencumbered license in the state where you are precepted
Qualification in your NP category, family or psychiatric-mental health
A year or more of practice in the clinical area they will teach, with licensure and national board certification documented for Gonzaga
An orientation from the program, and a faculty evaluation of their precepting at least once every two years
A signed, written agreement between the clinical agency, the program and the preceptor that spells out the preceptor's role

For FNP students, Gonzaga also expects at least half of all hours with a nurse practitioner, and its catalog allows physicians and PAs unless a state requires an MD or NP preceptor. Ask course faculty how that clause reads in California; the FNP hours rule page covers planning the mix.

Practice setting and California's health systems

The AANP classifies California as a restricted practice state: in select settings and procedures, NPs work under a standardized protocol agreement, and exemptions may apply. For a student, that means a preceptor's day can include protocol-based care that looks different from full practice Washington or Oregon, which is valuable preparation for anyone planning to practice in California after graduating.

The state's large systems include Kaiser Permanente in its Northern and Southern California regions, Sutter Health, the University of California health systems, Stanford Health Care and Cedars-Sinai. Whichever one your preceptor works in, Gonzaga's rule stays the same: an active affiliation agreement between Gonzaga and the site must be in place before any practicum hour. The California guide covers the state more broadly.

Site visits and immersions from California

California is one of the six admitting states outside Gonzaga's four-state site-visit region. Instead of a faculty visit at your clinical site, you arrange an extra on-campus day in Spokane, the day before or after an immersion, in each practicum course. FNP students attend six Spokane immersions across the program and PMHNP students five, so fold the extra day into those trips rather than planning separate travel.

Budget for the travel as well. Gonzaga's FAQ says students cover their own transportation to clinical sites, and the Spokane trips come on top of that. The immersions guide lists them course by course, so you can see which semesters carry a trip and plan practicum days around them. Tell your preceptor early which weeks you will be away, so the missing clinic days are made up inside the term.

California placements with our placement desk

A California practicum has more moving parts than most, and that is where Gonzaga students lean on us. We search for preceptors in your part of California who fit your Gonzaga course, confirm their California license, their NP category and their national board certification, and gather the details Gonzaga needs for its California preceptor record and for the affiliation agreement.

What you receive is a request with every piece in place by the time the Clinical Placement Team opens it, a practicum schedule with room for the Spokane site-visit day, and a fresh search on your behalf should a preceptor withdraw. The final yes on every site is Gonzaga's; ours is the work of making each request match both Gonzaga's rules and California's. Start with your region through the form.

Questions Gonzaga students ask

Is Gonzaga's online FNP approved for clinicals in California?

Yes. The California BRN's list of out-of-state nurse practitioner programs includes Gonzaga University for the Family and Psych/Mental Health tracks. That approval lets Gonzaga place students in California under 16 CCR 1486, and each placement still needs a qualified preceptor, an affiliation agreement and faculty approval.

Can I use a Washington multistate RN license for California clinicals?

No. California has stayed out of the compact, and section 1486(d) of its nursing regulations asks every student of a program based elsewhere to hold a California RN license, current and valid, before clinicals there. If you do not already hold one, apply to the BRN well ahead of your first California practicum.

Does the BRN approve each preceptor individually?

The Board approves the program rather than each person. For every California preceptor, Gonzaga files the Board's preceptor form, gives the preceptor an orientation and has faculty review their precepting at least once every two years. Gonzaga's own faculty approve each preceptor and site through the Practicum Site Placement Request.

Do California students travel to Spokane for site visits?

Yes. Because California sits outside Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana, you add an on-campus day in Spokane next to an immersion in each practicum course, and the faculty site visit happens then. The immersions are already on your plan, so the extra day usually extends a trip you were taking anyway.

Can a physician or PA precept me in California?

Gonzaga's catalog allows a nurse practitioner, physician or physician assistant for FNP practicums unless a state requires an MD or NP, and at least half of FNP hours must be with an NP. California also asks that preceptors be qualified in your NP category. Confirm a physician or PA preceptor with course faculty first.

LicensureRN license for clinicalsWhich RN license a Gonzaga NP student needs where they precept: compact states among the ten, plus the Oregon, Alaska, California and Nevada rules.Ten statesThe ten-state ruleGonzaga admits MSN FNP and PMHNP students from ten western states only. The rule in Gonzaga's words, where clinicals happen, and what a move means.FNPFNP 50% NP hours ruleGonzaga FNP students must log at least half their hours with a nurse practitioner. How the rule works, where states want an MD or NP, and how to plan the mix.ImmersionsSpokane immersionsGonzaga's on-campus nursing immersions in Spokane: six for FNP, five for PMHNP, OSCEs, when they start, and how to plan travel around your practicums.PreceptorsPreceptor requirementsWho can precept a Gonzaga nursing student: ARNP, MD, DO or PA, a year in the clinical area, a license in your state, plus the FNP, PMHNP and DNP rules.NC-SARAState authorization and disclosuresGonzaga's NC-SARA membership and nurse practitioner licensure disclosures: states marked Meets or Does not meet, and states Gonzaga cannot accept from.

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 661P to NURS 664P, psychiatric care for NURS 661M to NURS 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.