Gonzaga nursing options for Michigan residents
Michigan sits on a short list in Gonzaga's disclosures: rated "Meets" for the nurse practitioner MSN, and also named as a state Gonzaga is currently unable to accept MSN students from. That points a Michigan nurse with a master's degree toward Gonzaga's online Post-Master's DNP, a doctorate built around a project in a local organization, once Gonzaga confirms you are eligible.
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.
Start with the doctorate
Gonzaga shaped its FNP and PMHNP tracks around ten western states, and each NP clinical hour is logged in whichever state licenses the student. A Michigan nurse practitioner, CNS or nurse leader fits a different program: the Post-Master's DNP, delivered online, whose practicum hours are indirect care logged on a DNP project under an agency liaison.
| Program | Michigan residents | Practicum location |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP or PMHNP | Not accepted; the residency rule and the Michigan note both apply | Approved sites in one of the ten western states |
| Second MSN | Not accepted from a Michigan address | The NP practicum sequence, in the West |
| Post-Master's DNP | No residency rule on its pages; Gonzaga confirms | An organization you propose, often near home, with an agency liaison |
Doctoral applicants need an RN license, an APRN license and national certification where those apply, and a 3.3 master's GPA. The Post-Master's DNP page covers credits and the 1,000-hour total.
Licensing in Michigan, and how AANP rates practice
Specialty certification as an NP, CNM, CRNA or CNS comes from the Michigan Board of Nursing, which requires a current Michigan RN license together with national certification from a Board-recognized body. Keep that in mind when you check a Michigan NP's credentials for a liaison role. Anyone seeking a first Michigan RN license also completes a criminal background check, one-time human trafficking identification training and two implicit bias hours, all within the five years leading up to licensure.
Michigan stays outside the Nurse Licensure Compact for now, though the compact map records a pending bill, HB 4246. AANP rates the state restricted, because nurse practitioners need physician delegation to prescribe controlled substances.
Out-of-state schools and a finished preceptor pilot
Michigan's nursing rules, as published, set no approval or notice duty for a school from another state whose students train in Michigan. Program approval under Mich. Admin. Code R 338.10301 et seq. is written for schools inside the state, and accreditation by ACEN, CNEA or CCNE is how Michigan recognizes schools elsewhere for licensure. Silence in the rules is not a clearance, so let Gonzaga confirm before a Michigan project is locked in.
Michigan State University's College of Nursing once partnered with the state health department's Office of Nursing Programs on a clinical preceptor pilot for people precepting MSU's own FNP and PMHNP students. That pilot has ended and never reached beyond MSU, and official sources show no Michigan preceptor tax credit in law.
Detroit, Grand Rapids and other project settings
For a quality, informatics or population health project, a Michigan DNP student might look at systems such as Corewell Health or Henry Ford Health, at University of Michigan Health (Michigan Medicine), at Trinity Health Michigan, or at McLaren Health Care. MDHHS, the state health department, is the public-sector route. Metro Detroit is home to roughly 4.4 million people and Grand Rapids to nearly 1.2 million, while Lansing and Flint each fall between 400,000 and 480,000.
None appears here because of a tie to Gonzaga. Whatever setting you choose goes through faculty review in the DNP practicum courses, starting with the proposal.
A western address for the NP tracks
Planning to move before applying to the FNP or PMHNP track? Gonzaga admits by residence, so the move comes first. A Michigan license covers Michigan only, which means licensing in your new state, and six of the ten, Washington, Idaho and Montana among them, issue multistate compact licenses. The ten-state rule shows how residence, license and clinicals line up.
Our work for Michigan DNP students
The first DNP semester asks a lot: in NURS 700 you identify a practice gap and establish a practicum site. Our placement desk brings Gonzaga-specific expertise to that step, scouting Michigan organizations that match your project question, finding liaisons outside your chain of command and preparing the organization details your proposal needs. If a liaison changes roles, we line up the next one quickly. Start with the form below.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Why is Michigan on Gonzaga's list of states it cannot take MSN students from?
The disclosure page gives no reason. It rates the nurse practitioner MSN as meeting Michigan's educational requirements for licensure, then notes that Gonzaga is currently unable to accept MSN students from Michigan. Separately, the NP tracks admit only residents of ten western states, so for now a Michigan address rules out the MSN either way.
Can I base a Gonzaga DNP project at the Michigan hospital where I work?
Gonzaga permits DNP practicum hours at your current workplace within three limits: the project sits outside the area of the organization where you are employed, the hours fall outside paid time, and your liaison is not your direct supervisor. In a large system, a different department or service line may meet that test, and course faculty review the plan.
Does Michigan's compact status matter for a DNP project?
Less than it would for NP clinicals. A Michigan project happens in Michigan, where your Michigan license already applies. Compact status matters more if you later move west for an NP track: a single-state Michigan license stays behind, so you would license through your new state's board before any clinicals.
Is there support in Michigan for people who precept?
The state health department's clinical preceptor pilot, run with Michigan State University, is marked complete and was limited to MSU nurse practitioner students, and state law sources show no Michigan preceptor tax credit. Gonzaga offers its own preceptors adjunct faculty opportunities, a signed hours certificate, DynaMed Plus access and recognition awards.
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
Start your placement plan
Your program, city and next practicum term is all we need to begin.