Hawaii nurses and Gonzaga: outside the ten, with a doctoral route
Gonzaga's admission list for its MSN nurse practitioner tracks includes Alaska and California but not Hawaii, so an Oahu, Maui or Big Island address keeps the FNP and PMHNP tracks out of reach. From the islands, the Gonzaga program to check is the online Post-Master's DNP, with virtual immersions and project hours you can plan at home. Confirm eligibility with Gonzaga before applying.
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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 Pacific exception
Hawaii is part of the American West, which makes Gonzaga's rule easy to misread. The list is specific: Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, then California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and Alaska. Hawaii does get a "Meets" in Gonzaga's NP licensure table, yet that finding is about licensing, and enrollment still hinges on a home inside the ten.
| Program | Open to Hawaii residents? | Where the practicum happens |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP and PMHNP | Not from Hawaii | Approved sites where you are licensed, inside the ten |
| Second MSN | Not from Hawaii | The same practicum courses, inside the ten |
| Post-Master's DNP | No residency limit listed; Gonzaga confirms | A Hawaii organization you propose, with an agency liaison |
A DNP you can complete without flying to Spokane
Nothing in the Post-Master's DNP requires a flight: its FAQ rules out mandatory campus visits, and the newer catalog text has the two immersions meeting virtually, although an older passage puts them on campus. Your practicum is indirect-care time spent on the DNP project, and the project defense at the end can run on video.
Pick an island organization, write the objectives, and recruit a liaison there who accepts Gonzaga's terms: a minimum of three contacts per semester and a written evaluation at term's end. Hours from your MSN carry forward into the 1,000 Gonzaga requires. The agency liaison guide explains who can serve, and the Post-Master's DNP guide covers admission.
Licensing in Hawaii: no compact
Nursing on the islands runs on Hawaii's own license. Hawaii has not signed on to the multistate RN compact, and nothing is pending in the legislature, so mainland multistate licenses stop at the shoreline.
| Question | Hawaii's position |
|---|---|
| Who licenses nurses | Hawaii Board of Nursing, in the DCCA Professional and Vocational Licensing Division |
| Nurse Licensure Compact | Not a member; no legislation pending |
| APRN Compact | Not enacted |
| Online post-licensure programs from other states | No board approval when there is no Hawaii campus, and no notice required (FAQ examples: LPN-to-RN, RN-BSN) |
| Faculty with a Hawaii license | Needed only when physically teaching or precepting in Hawaii |
| Graduate or APRN programs | No Hawaii source addresses them directly |
| Pre-licensure students from other states | Education committee, 2016: may not be placed for clinicals |
The board's FAQ was written with RN-level programs in mind, so ask Gonzaga how it reads Hawaii for a DNP project before you settle on a setting.
Full practice, island systems and a preceptor credit
AANP lists Hawaii as full practice. With roughly 989,000 residents, the Urban Honolulu area is several times the size of Hilo-Kailua or Kahului-Wailuku. Candidate settings for a DNP project start with The Queen's Health Systems and Hawaii Pacific Health, parent of Kapiolani, Straub, Pali Momi and Wilcox; Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation and the state Department of Health widen the field. Hosting is up to each organization, and Gonzaga reviews the plan.
Hawaii's preceptor income tax credit goes to unpaid preceptors who live on the islands and keep a primary care practice there, for rotations the Department of Health certifies. For APRN students, the program itself has to be accredited or located in Hawaii and draw most of its students locally, which leaves a Gonzaga liaison outside it.
Moving to the mainland
Nurses bound for Gonzaga's NP tracks must first make a mainland state on the list their home and get licensed there, because a Hawaii license covers Hawaii alone. Alaska and California face the Pacific: California's BRN includes Gonzaga, for Family and Psych/Mental Health, on its roster of out-of-state NP programs, and Alaska has each APRN student register for a preceptorship. The California and Alaska guides go further, and each sends you to Spokane for the faculty visit during practicum courses.
Why Hawaii nurses choose us
Island nurses get the same Gonzaga-specific care as anyone in Spokane. On the DNP side, we locate a Hawaii host and a liaison who clears Gonzaga's checklist, then brief you on the organization for your proposal. On the NP side, after your move, our preceptor search happens in person in your new state, and the request that reaches Gonzaga's faculty is complete. Tell us where you are headed.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Hawaii is a western state. Why is Gonzaga's online FNP closed to me?
Gonzaga names its ten admission states, and Hawaii is not among them. Living in one of those ten is what the catalog requires of FNP and PMHNP applicants, including Second MSN applicants. Hawaii does show "Meets" in Gonzaga's licensure table, which concerns licensure requirements rather than who may enroll.
Will Hawaii's board need to clear Gonzaga before a DNP project there?
The board's FAQ points toward no: online and distance post-licensure programs with no Hawaii campus are neither approved by the board nor asked to notify it. Its examples are RN-level programs, though, and no Hawaii source takes up graduate programs, so let Gonzaga confirm before you choose a setting.
Does a mainland compact license let me do project work in Hawaii?
No. Hawaii stands outside the Nurse Licensure Compact, so a license from a compact state elsewhere carries no weight there. Work on the islands requires a Hawaii-issued license, and if you already practice there, that is the license your project would rely on.
Would the Hawaii preceptor tax credit cover my Gonzaga liaison?
No. Only preceptors whose APRN students attend a Hawaii-accredited or Hawaii-based program, one enrolling mainly island residents, earn the credit. Gonzaga's Spokane base puts its students outside it wherever on the islands the project happens.
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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