Gonzaga's ten western states: who the NP tracks admit, and where you precept
Gonzaga's MSN FNP and PMHNP tracks, including the Second MSN, admit only students who live in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington or Wyoming. Your practicums then happen in the state where you are licensed, so those same ten states form the map for every clinical hour you log.
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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.
The rule in Gonzaga's words
Gonzaga states the rule in several places, and the wording lines up. Its State Authorization and Licensure Disclosures page says: "Although our MSN programs meet the requirements in many states, Gonzaga University only accepts students from the following 10 states for the MSN Nurse Practitioner programs: Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming."
The graduate catalog frames it as a residency condition for the FNP and PMHNP tracks: "Students may only be admitted if they reside in one of these ten western states." The MSN eligibility page has carried the same list, by state abbreviation, in every archived copy since 2023, and the Second MSN eligibility page applies it to both of its NP options. It is a condition of admission tied to where you live, not a preference or a priority list.
Why the admission map is also your clinical map
Gonzaga ties each practicum to your license. The PMHNP Preceptor Packet says practicum experiences are "arranged by the student or by clinical placement staff at approved sites in the state in which the student is licensed to practice." For most students that is the state they live in, which keeps every practicum inside the ten. If you hold licenses in more than one state, settle with Gonzaga which one a given practicum runs under.
The Department of Nursing describes its affiliation agreements as reaching facilities and providers throughout the West, which fits the same footprint. Your preceptor has to be licensed in the state where you are precepted, too, so looking across a state line rarely widens the pool. Each admitting state brings its own license question, which the license guide works through state by state.
Site visits and board steps, state by state
The ten states split into two groups for FNP faculty site visits, and each board takes its own position on nursing programs based in another state. Gonzaga's standing was checked on September 25, 2026. Each state also has its own guide here, from Washington to Wyoming.
| State | FNP faculty site visit | Board position on an out-of-state NP program |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | At your clinical site | Not applicable: Gonzaga is a Washington program, so the out-of-state rule does not reach it |
| Idaho | At your clinical site | No specific rule found; the board asks schools outside Idaho to email its licensing staff |
| Oregon | At your clinical site | OSBN expects no notice from advanced practice programs |
| Montana | At your clinical site | The board's FAQ exempts graduate programs from approval |
| California | Spokane, beside an immersion | Prior BRN approval; Gonzaga appears on the BRN's list |
| Arizona | Spokane, beside an immersion | AZBN approval before clinicals; Gonzaga's standing not verified |
| Nevada | Spokane, beside an immersion | Board approval for internet programs' clinical teaching; Gonzaga absent from a list that covers pre-licensure schools |
| Utah | Spokane, beside an immersion | Standards met in advance and a yearly report due August 1; no public list to check |
| Alaska | Spokane, beside an immersion | A preceptorship registration filed by each student |
| Wyoming | Spokane, beside an immersion | Written notice to the board for each student clinical, plus a contract with the facility |
If you live beyond that four-state core, the visit moves to Spokane instead: an extra campus day attached to one of the immersions, once per practicum course. The faculty site visits guide covers the PMHNP version, including telehealth visits.
Programs the ten-state rule leaves aside
The rule is written for the nurse practitioner tracks. The Post-Master's DNP pages list no residency restriction, and the disclosures page flags Kansas and Tennessee as open only to the Nursing Leadership MSN and the Post-Master's DNP. The DNP's practicum time goes into a project, logged as indirect hours under an agency liaison, rather than into NP patient care. The Post-Master's DNP guide explains that setup; confirm eligibility for your own state with Gonzaga before applying.
The MSN in Nursing Leadership in Healthcare once accepted students from beyond the ten because it does not lead to licensure, but Gonzaga has discontinued it for new students. The BSN and the new Accelerated BSN are campus programs in Spokane with clinicals the department arranges, so the ten-state question does not arise for them.
Moving during the program
Gonzaga's disclosures page is direct about relocation: moving to another state mid-program "could impact licensure eligibility," and students in that position "should contact their degree program." For an NP student, a move changes three things together: the license you practice under, the state where your practicums can happen, and whether your faculty site visits are local or in Spokane.
- Talk to Gonzaga firstBefore signing a lease, tell the Clinical Placement Team and your advisor where you are going and when.
- Check the destinationA move within the ten keeps you inside Gonzaga's admission map; a move beyond it is exactly the case the relocation warning is written for.
- Line up the licenseMoving into California, Nevada, Oregon or Alaska means a new state license or registration before any practicum there.
- Rebuild the placementPreceptors, sites and affiliation agreements belong to a state, so a move usually means a fresh search for the next practicum course.
Searching the ten states with us
This map is the frame for every search we run for Gonzaga students. We look for preceptors only inside the state that issued your license, among providers who fit your course, and if you live in one of the six outer states we plan the schedule around your extra Spokane day. When a state has its own step, such as Alaska's registration or California's license rule, we raise it at the start rather than at the end.
What reaches Gonzaga's Clinical Placement Team is a finished Practicum Site Placement Request: credentials for a preceptor licensed where you are, a site contact, an agreement contact, dates and a course match, all consistent with the state you practice in. Faculty sign off on every site, and they get a request built to pass that review. Find your state among the state guides and send it through the form below.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Can I apply to Gonzaga's FNP program from Colorado or Hawaii?
Not for the nurse practitioner tracks. Gonzaga's disclosures page shows Colorado and Hawaii as meeting licensure requirements, but the MSN FNP and PMHNP take residents of the ten western states and no others. The Post-Master's DNP lists no residency restriction, so ask Gonzaga directly if the DNP is the degree you want.
Can I do a practicum in a different western state from where I live?
Practicums follow your license, while admission follows your home address. If you hold a license in a second admitting state, or live near a border, ask the Clinical Placement Team before approaching preceptors on the other side of the line.
Which Gonzaga NP students get site visits at their own clinical site?
Those in the four closest states. An FNP student based in Washington, Idaho, Oregon or Montana is visited at the clinical site by clinical faculty at least once in every practicum course. Students in the other six states meet the same requirement with an added Spokane campus day tied to an immersion.
Does the ten-state rule apply to the Second MSN?
Yes. The Second MSN eligibility page carries the same ten-state list for its FNP and PMHNP options, so a nurse who already holds a master's and lives outside the ten is outside those tracks too. The specialty practicums are the same courses the MSN students take.
Why does Gonzaga limit its NP tracks to ten states?
Gonzaga's pages give the list without a stated reason. What they do show is that practicums happen where you are licensed, that affiliation agreements reach across the West, and that faculty travel to clinical sites in four of the states. The state authorization guide covers the disclosure table behind the 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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