Gonzaga from Maryland: the MSN pause, the doctorate and a preceptor tax credit
Two separate limits keep Maryland residents out of Gonzaga's online FNP and PMHNP tracks: the ten-state residency rule, and a disclosure note saying MSN students from Maryland cannot be accepted at present. The Post-Master's DNP is not an MSN and its pages set no residency limit, so it is the Gonzaga program to confirm from Baltimore or the Capital region.
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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.
Two separate limits on the MSN
Gonzaga's licensure table for the NP master's shows Maryland as "Meets," then adds that Gonzaga cannot currently accept MSN students from the state, a note that also covers Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts in New England, Michigan and Minnesota, Mississippi and South Carolina, plus DC and the Virgin Islands. Separately, the FNP and PMHNP tracks are reserved for residents of ten western states. The state authorization page explains the table.
| Program | Maryland applicants | Practicum |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP or PMHNP | MSN students not currently accepted from Maryland; ten-state residency required | Western state of licensure |
| Second MSN | The same MSN restrictions | Western state of licensure |
| Post-Master's DNP | A doctorate, not an MSN; no residency limit listed; confirm with Gonzaga | Project hours with an agency liaison, possibly at a Maryland organization |
The Post-Master's DNP from a Maryland base
Gonzaga's doctorate is online, aimed at master's-prepared nurses in advanced practice roles or leadership, and its immersions are virtual. The practicum centers on your DNP project: indirect care hours, at least 340 of them inside the DNP, with your MSN hours counting toward 1,000 in total. An extension course, NURS 704, adds time if you need it, and the final defense can be in person or by video.
Each practicum course asks for a proposal and objectives, supervised on site by an agency liaison with no personal or reporting tie to you. The DNP practicum courses page walks through the sequence.
What Maryland's rules say about outside programs
No MBON rule requiring outside programs to clear Maryland clinical placements in advance turned up in research. The Board deals with out-of-state schools mainly when their graduates seek a Maryland license, offering a tool for judging substantial equivalency and keeping lists of outside prelicensure schools it has and has not approved. A separate clause, §8-301(d)(2) of the Health Occupations article, waives licensure for anyone doing advanced practice nursing as part of enrollment in an accredited APRN program at the graduate level.
MBON reviews an NP program before certifying its graduates, and for a school missing from the approved list, it is the school, not the applicant, that files the Program Approval Form. Online enrollment falls to the Higher Education Commission, whose registration requirement for out-of-state schools exempts SARA-approved institutions; Gonzaga takes part in NC-SARA. Multistate RN privileges hold in Maryland under COMAR 10.27.01.03(B).
Baltimore, the Capital region and a preceptor tax credit
Beyond Baltimore, 2,524,432 Marylanders live in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro, with Lexington Park at 211,176 and the Maryland share of Hagerstown-Martinsburg at 157,731. Large systems range from Johns Hopkins Medicine and LifeBridge Health to Luminis Health, MedStar Health and the University of Maryland Medical System, while the Maryland Department of Health leads public health. They are examples of project settings, not Gonzaga partners.
Maryland's tax code (Tax-General §10-739) grants an income tax credit to NP and physician preceptors who take no pay for teaching NP students in a Board-approved preceptorship. Qualifying takes three rotations, each 90 hours or longer, of community clinical training in an area the Department of Health lists as short of workers; the provision is set to expire June 30, 2030. AANP rates Maryland full practice, with NPs declaring an 18-month mentorship.
If you relocate to the West
A Maryland nurse bound for the NP tracks would move before applying, and the destination shapes the program. Choose Oregon, Washington, Idaho or Montana and clinical faculty see you at your practicum site; choose Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah or Wyoming and each practicum course adds a Spokane day for that visit. Licensing differs too, since California, Oregon, Nevada and Alaska stand outside the compact; see the RN license for clinicals guide. Students already enrolled should consult Gonzaga before relocating.
Why Maryland nurses choose us
We match your DNP project to a Maryland organization with a genuine practice need, secure an agency liaison who fits each line of Gonzaga's checklist and assemble the contacts and role details your proposal requires. Nurses who later settle in the West get an in-person preceptor search there, matched to every Gonzaga practicum course. The how-it-works walkthrough explains the service; the form below begins a search.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Can Maryland residents enroll in Gonzaga's online MSN?
Not at present. Gonzaga's disclosures rule out MSN admission from Maryland for now, and the FNP and PMHNP tracks are limited to western residents in any case. Both limits stand between a Maryland resident and an NP application. The DNP is a separate question to take to Gonzaga.
Does the Maryland note apply to Gonzaga's Post-Master's DNP?
Gonzaga's Maryland note speaks of MSN students only, and nothing on the DNP pages restricts where applicants live. That makes the doctorate the Gonzaga program worth asking about from Maryland, but Gonzaga's Graduate Admissions is the only source that can confirm eligibility.
Can a Gonzaga DNP preceptor claim Maryland's NP preceptor tax credit?
Maryland wrote the credit around NP students in Board-approved preceptorships, with three community rotations of at least 90 hours each in a shortage area. An agency liaison overseeing indirect DNP project work sits outside that picture. Anyone curious about eligibility should read Tax-General §10-739 and ask the Maryland Department of Health.
Does Maryland require out-of-state schools to register before enrolling students online?
Out-of-state schools enrolling Marylanders online generally register with the Maryland Higher Education Commission first, but the rule carves out institutions approved for SARA. Gonzaga participates in NC-SARA, which places it inside that carve-out. Nurse licensing questions go to the Maryland Board of Nursing.
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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