Texas nurses and Gonzaga University: a doctorate from home, NP training after a move
Texas is not among the ten western states eligible for Gonzaga's online FNP and PMHNP tracks. For Texas nurses with a nursing master's already in hand, the Post-Master's DNP deserves a look, since its practicum happens as project work at a Texas organization you choose, supported by a liaison there. Ask Gonzaga to confirm you qualify before you apply.
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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.
Program by program, from a Texas address
| Program | Open from Texas? | Where practicum work happens |
|---|---|---|
| Family or psychiatric NP (MSN) | No: admission is for residents of ten western states | The licensing state, among the ten |
| Second MSN, FNP or PMHNP | No: identical residency list | The same NP practicum sequence |
| Post-Master's DNP | No residency rule posted; verify with Gonzaga | A Texas organization you propose, as indirect project hours |
On the disclosure table, Texas carries a "Meets" rating for the NP MSN. That is a judgment about the curriculum and Texas licensure; it leaves the residency rule for admission unchanged. The state authorization page separates the two ideas.
Doctoral work built around a Texas practice gap
The Post-Master's DNP targets working nurses who have finished a master's in nursing and hold advanced practice or nurse leadership roles. Everything runs online; immersions are virtual and campus trips are not required. Gonzaga's sources disagree on its size, from 28 to 34 credits, and on its length: one page gives about two years, another seven to eight semesters.
The practicum is indirect care, meaning hours spent designing, carrying out and evaluating your DNP project. In NURS 700 you define the practice gap your project will tackle and set up where the practicum happens, and NURS 701 through NURS 703 each begin from an individualized proposal. Course-by-course details are on the DNP practicum courses page.
What the Texas Board of Nursing regulates for outside programs
Texas does make out-of-state programs seek BON approval before clinical learning starts in the state, but Education Guideline 3.1.3, together with rule 214.3(e) and its twin 215.3(e), points that process at pre-licensure vocational and professional RN programs, whether or not the school belongs to NC-SARA. Graduate APRN and post-licensure programs sit outside those out-of-state rules. Chapter 219 governs APRN programs asking for Texas approval, and nationally accredited programs are outside BON approval; Gonzaga's accreditation is covered on the accreditation page.
Texas took part in the compact's 2018 launch and has not passed the APRN Compact. AANP classes it as restricted: physicians delegate to and supervise NPs, who hold written protocols with a physician for as long as they practice and face limits on the settings where Schedule II drugs can be prescribed.
Dallas to San Antonio: organizations a project might approach
Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston are the two giant metros, with San Antonio and Austin behind them. Baylor Scott & White Health is one of the big names. Houston Methodist is another, as are Texas Health Resources and UT Southwestern Medical Center, and San Antonio has University Health, while the Texas Department of State Health Services offers a public health angle. Hosting is each organization's decision, and a mention here implies no tie to Gonzaga.
No Texas preceptor incentive fits a DNP liaison. The tuition exemption under Education Code 54.356 serves Texas-resident RNs who precept pre-licensure students at public schools, and the Nursing Shortage Reduction Program funds Texas nursing programs as institutions rather than individual preceptors.
Moving west before an NP application
Nurses who want Gonzaga's FNP or PMHNP credential have to relocate first. Arizona, across New Mexico from El Paso, is the closest, and it shares the Texas compact membership. Arizona students add a day in Spokane at an immersion in each practicum course for their faculty site visit, and Arizona's board keeps its own rule for out-of-state programs. The Arizona guide covers it; anyone already enrolled should check with Gonzaga before relocating.
Why Texas nurses work with us
Gonzaga's clinical steps are what we know best, and distance is no obstacle. A Texas DNP student gets an organization and a liaison screened against Gonzaga's checklist, with the site facts for each proposal ready before the term starts. Once you settle in one of the ten states, we visit practices in person to recruit NP preceptors, then assemble a Practicum Site Placement Request that arrives complete. Get in touch.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Is Gonzaga's online PMHNP track open to Texans?
Not while Texas is home. Gonzaga's catalog ties FNP and PMHNP admission to residence in the western ten, and the Second MSN mirrors it. Texas holds a "Meets" rating in Gonzaga's licensure table, which concerns curriculum, not enrollment. The workable route is to relocate first and apply from the new state.
Is Texas BON approval required before a Gonzaga DNP project in Houston?
The BON's out-of-state approval process is written for pre-licensure RN and vocational programs, and its rules leave graduate and post-licensure programs out. Nationally accredited APRN programs also sit outside Chapter 219 approval. Gonzaga still reviews your setting, and the host organization runs its own onboarding.
Could my Texas hospital job double as the DNP practicum?
Gonzaga's DNP FAQ permits it with conditions: you work on the project away from the department that employs you, off the clock, and under a liaison who does not supervise you. A big system with many service lines can make that separation straightforward to arrange.
Will my Texas liaison get the state's preceptor tuition exemption?
No. The exemption under Education Code 54.356 is for Texas-resident registered nurses who precept undergraduate pre-licensure students at public Texas programs, averaging at least one day a week under a written agreement. Preceptors for graduate or post-licensure students fall outside it, whatever the school.
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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