State authorization and Gonzaga's licensure disclosures
Gonzaga is a participating member of NC-SARA and publishes, state by state, whether its nurse practitioner MSN meets each state's educational requirements for licensure. A "Meets" is not an admission: the NP tracks still take students from ten western states only, and a separate group of states is marked as places Gonzaga is currently unable to accept MSN students from.
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Tell us your Gonzaga program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Gonzaga course.
Four questions that get mixed up
State rules for an online nursing program ask four separate questions, and Gonzaga answers each in a different place. Keeping them apart makes the disclosures page far easier to read.
- Authorization: may Gonzaga enroll students who live in your state? NC-SARA membership is Gonzaga's answer for member states.
- Licensure disclosure: does the program meet your state's educational requirements for an NP license? Gonzaga's disclosure table answers this state by state.
- Admission: will Gonzaga accept you into an NP track? Only if you live in one of the ten western states.
- Clinical approval: may Gonzaga place students in clinicals in your state? Each board of nursing decides, as the California BRN's program list shows.
A yes to one question says nothing about the other three. The ten-state rule covers admission, and the California BRN guide shows a clinical approval in action.
NC-SARA membership
Gonzaga's disclosures page states that the university participates in NC-SARA, the reciprocity agreement for state authorization of distance education. Two of the ten admitting states point to that kind of membership directly. Before a school enrolls Oregon residents, OSBN expects it to satisfy either the state's own higher education commission or NC-SARA. Wyoming's board gives programs based elsewhere two ways in, registration with its state education department or NC-SARA approval, and Gonzaga's participation fits the second.
What NC-SARA leaves to the boards of nursing is the clinical side. Wyoming, for instance, still expects a program to notify the board in writing for each student clinical and to sign a contract with the facility, and California still requires prior BRN approval of out-of-state NP programs. Authorization lets Gonzaga enroll you; it does not by itself clear a practicum.
The nurse practitioner disclosure table
Gonzaga's disclosures page carries a table for the Master of Science Nursing - Nurse Practitioner program. The wording matches across the May 2025 and April 2026 copies. Its entries fall into four groups.
| Status on Gonzaga's page | States and territories | What it means for an NP applicant |
|---|---|---|
| Meets, and on the admission list | Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming | The ten states the NP tracks admit from |
| Does not meet | Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Kansas, New York, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Wisconsin | The curriculum falls short of that state's educational requirements for an NP license |
| Meets, but Gonzaga is currently unable to accept MSN students | District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Rhode Island, South Carolina, U.S. Virgin Islands | The education would qualify, yet Gonzaga is not enrolling MSN students from there |
| Meets, off the admission list | Hawaii, Colorado, New Mexico and the remaining states | The curriculum qualifies, but the NP tracks admit from the ten states only |
On the same page, Gonzaga's BSN and its Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice show "Meets" in every state listed. Disclosures can change, so check the live page before you rely on a status.
Kansas, Tennessee and the Post-Master's DNP
Two rows carry a note of their own. For Kansas and Tennessee, Gonzaga writes: "MSN - Nursing Leadership in Healthcare and Post-Master's DNP admittance only. Does not lead to licensure." The Nursing Leadership MSN has since closed to new students, so from those two states the Post-Master's DNP is the program the note still points to, subject to Gonzaga's admission review.
The DNP pages show no residency restriction, and the degree builds on an existing master's rather than preparing you for a new NP license. Its practicum hours are indirect project hours with an agency liaison. Several states beyond the ten, including New York, Wisconsin, Delaware and Alabama, require approval before out-of-state APRN programs place students in clinicals. Those rules are written for APRN clinical placements, so a DNP student in such a state should ask Gonzaga how a project site there is handled. The Post-Master's DNP guide covers the program.
Relocating after you enroll
Gonzaga asks enrolled students to contact their program before moving, because a new state can change licensure eligibility. The table shows why: a move from Oregon to Colorado keeps a "Meets" status but leaves the NP admission list, and a move to New York or Wisconsin lands in a "Does not meet" state.
- Find the destination on the tableNote whether it reads Meets, Does not meet, or unable to accept MSN students.
- Compare it with the ten statesFor the FNP and PMHNP, the ten admitting states are the ones Gonzaga's residency rule covers.
- Ask Gonzaga before you moveThe disclosures page names the Chief Nurse Administrator as its contact; your faculty advisor and the Clinical Placement Team handle the practical side.
- Plan the licenseA new state means its board's student rules apply; the license guide compares the ten.
How we work inside Gonzaga's map
Our searches start from the rules on this page. Before we approach a single preceptor, we confirm that your state is one Gonzaga admits from and places in, and we note any board step that state applies, so the request Gonzaga receives is one its faculty can say yes to.
Our placement desk then carries the heavy part: finding a qualified preceptor near you, confirming their license and board certification in your state, and preparing the site and agreement details for the Practicum Site Placement Request. Faculty hold the final approval, and the request they open is already whole. If a preceptor steps away partway through, we start the replacement search inside the same state rules. That is why Gonzaga students choose us; see how it works.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Is Gonzaga a member of NC-SARA?
Yes. Gonzaga's State Authorization and Licensure Disclosures page says the university is a participating member of NC-SARA. Membership concerns institutional authorization; it does not replace a board of nursing's rules for clinical placements or licensure, such as California's prior approval of out-of-state NP programs.
My state shows Meets on Gonzaga's disclosure page. Can I join the FNP track?
Only if your state is one of the ten admitting states. Meets means the curriculum satisfies that state's educational requirements for licensure, but Gonzaga's MSN nurse practitioner tracks admit only residents of Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
Why does Gonzaga list states it is unable to accept MSN students from?
The disclosures page gives the list without a reason. Those states show Meets for licensure, so the limit concerns enrollment rather than curriculum. Residents of those states should put the question to Gonzaga's graduate admissions team, which can say which programs, if any, are open to them.
Does a Does not meet status rule out Gonzaga's DNP?
Not necessarily. The Post-Master's DNP builds on a master's you already hold rather than leading to a new license, and its pages list no residency restriction. Kansas and Tennessee, both marked Does not meet for the NP MSN, carry a note naming the Post-Master's DNP as open to their residents. Confirm your own state with Gonzaga before applying.
Is state authorization the same as clinical approval from a board of nursing?
No. Authorization, which NC-SARA covers for Gonzaga, is about enrolling students who live in another state. Clinical approval is each board of nursing's decision about programs placing students in its state. California, for example, approves out-of-state NP programs through the BRN, and Gonzaga's two NP tracks are on that list.
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
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