Utah residents in Gonzaga's NP tracks: R156-31b-609 and the Wasatch Front systems
Utah is on Gonzaga's ten-state list, so a Utah nurse can study in the online FNP or PMHNP track and precept at home. Utah's rule R156-31b-609 sets standards an out-of-state program must meet before placing students, and the state's largest academic health system serves private out-of-state schools last, which makes Intermountain and community practices central to most Utah searches.
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.
Gonzaga programs open to Utah nurses
Gonzaga admits nurse practitioner students from ten western states, Utah among them, and practicums take place where the student is licensed to practice. For most Utah residents that puts the clinical work somewhere between Ogden and St. George.
| Program | Open to Utah residents? | Where the practicum happens |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | Yes, Utah is an admitting state | Utah primary care sites, NURS 601 first |
| MSN Psychiatric-Mental Health NP | Yes | Utah psychiatric and behavioral health settings |
| Second MSN (FNP or PMHNP) | Yes | The MSN specialty practicum courses |
| Post-Master's DNP | No residency restriction listed; ask Gonzaga | Indirect project hours with an agency liaison |
| BSN and Accelerated BSN | Campus-based | Spokane |
What R156-31b-609 asks of a program from another state
One Utah rule, R156-31b-609, governs every nursing school from outside Utah that places students in Utah facilities, whatever the level of study. The Division of Professional Licensing enforces it together with the state's nursing board, and a school has to clear it before its first student arrives.
The standards, in short
- Standing at home: approval from the program's own state board, and accreditation from a nursing accreditor with federal recognition
- Its faculty: employees of the program, tied to a college or university, qualified under the accreditor's and home state's standards, with anyone supervising students face to face holding a Utah or compact-state license
- A written plan for how faculty, preceptors and sites are chosen and overseen
- An annual filing due each August 1 that counts the students placed in Utah, attests to the licensure of on-site faculty and preceptors, and confirms accreditation is current
Because Utah posts no roster of outside programs that have met the rule, Gonzaga's standing could not be checked. Gonzaga holds WABON approval and CCNE accreditation, as the accreditation guide describes; confirm the Utah filing with the Clinical Placement Team.
Compact licenses on both sides of the preceptorship
Multistate licenses have been live in Utah since January 19, 2018, when it began operating under the Nurse Licensure Compact, so a Utah-issued RN license normally works across compact states. Utah was also an early adopter of the APRN Compact, signing it into law on March 24, 2022. By 2026 only five states had enacted that compact, which needs seven to operate, so NP licenses stay state by state for now. AANP rates Utah a full practice state.
The same rule reaches preceptors: anyone precepting for an outside program in Utah carries a license, without discipline, from Utah or from another compact party state. Gonzaga separately wants your preceptor's license valid where you are precepted, a year in the clinical area and documented board certification, and FNP students log at least half their hours with a nurse practitioner. See who can precept for the whole list.
Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front
The Wasatch Front's three metros held 2,754,587 people in 2025: Salt Lake City-Murray 1,308,377, Provo-Orem-Lehi 773,426 and Ogden 672,784, with St. George adding 213,670 in the south. Shortage designations are fewer here than in other western states, 61 primary care and 61 mental health statewide, with six of each touching Salt Lake County. These systems are examples of Utah settings and their published rules.
- University of Utah HealthA 2024 article sets the order for placements: University of Utah students, then U of U Health employees studying elsewhere, then students from other public Utah schools, and private institutions only after those groups are served. A private school based in Washington, such as Gonzaga, falls in that final group. The system places about 2,000 nursing and 400 advanced practice clinician students a year.
- Intermountain HealthIts student pages, as indexed, send APP students needing precepted hours to an APP Student Placement Request Form. A Student Programs team connects affiliated schools, and for schools without an affiliation, student coordinators will help with an individual student agreement. A background check, drug screen and CDC immunizations are expected.
- MountainStar Healthcare and CommonSpirit Holy CrossMountainStar (HCA) runs eight Utah hospitals, and CommonSpirit's Holy Cross hospitals serve Salt Lake, Layton, West Jordan and West Valley. Neither publishes an NP student process on the pages reviewed.
The Spokane day for Utah FNP students
Utah is outside the four-state region where Gonzaga's clinical faculty travel to students' sites. In each practicum course, an FNP student from Utah books an extra on-campus day in Spokane next to one of the immersions, and the faculty visit happens there. That adds a day to trips you already make: six immersions for FNP and five for PMHNP, whose packet also permits a telehealth site visit. Warn your preceptor about those absences when you agree the schedule, and see faculty site visits for the details.
Why Utah students choose us
We match Utah students with preceptors who clear three bars together: Gonzaga's course fit, Utah's license rule for preceptors and a site able to sign an agreement in time. We gather the credentials, site and agreement contacts and schedule for the Practicum Site Placement Request, and we look beyond the systems that rank out-of-state students last. The go-ahead for every site comes from Gonzaga's faculty, and the request we prepare hands them everything at once. Begin your Utah search.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Does University of Utah Health take students from private out-of-state schools?
It accepts applications, but its October 2024 article says students from private institutions are considered only after University of Utah students, its own employees studying elsewhere and students of other public Utah schools are served. For a Gonzaga student that makes U of U Health a long shot and other Wasatch Front settings the likelier route.
Will Intermountain Health work with a school it has no affiliation with?
Intermountain's indexed student pages say its coordinators will assist with an individual student agreement when the school is not an affiliate, and APP students start with the APP Student Placement Request Form. Confirm the current process with Intermountain and Gonzaga's Clinical Placement Team before counting on it.
Will Utah's APRN Compact let me work as an NP in other states?
Eventually, perhaps. Utah passed the APRN Compact in 2022, yet the compact needs seven member states before it starts operating and counted five by 2026. Until it launches, each state issues its own NP license, while your RN license already crosses Nurse Licensure Compact borders.
Can my Utah preceptor be licensed through another compact state?
Utah's rule is satisfied by a preceptor licensed in Utah or any compact party state. Gonzaga's own standard looks for an unencumbered license for the state where you are precepted, so raise a preceptor whose license came from outside Utah with the Clinical Placement Team before you settle on them.
Is Gonzaga on a list of programs approved for Utah clinicals?
There is no roster to check. Utah expects outside programs to meet its standards before placing students and to file every August 1, so the real question is whether Gonzaga has done that for Utah. Ask the Clinical Placement Team, and read the state authorization guide for Gonzaga's disclosures.
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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