Virginia nurses and Gonzaga: a doctorate you can pursue from home, and the NP route west
Gonzaga admits family and psychiatric NP students only from ten western states, so a Virginia address rules out the MSN tracks for now. Gonzaga's online Post-Master's DNP, where practicum hours go into a project at an organization you propose, is the program to check from Northern Virginia, Richmond or Norfolk. Ask Gonzaga to confirm your eligibility first.
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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.
Gonzaga programs, sorted for Virginia residents
| Program | Virginia residents | Practicum setting |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP and PMHNP | Closed to Virginia residents; western applicants only | Your licensing state, inside the ten |
| Second MSN (FNP or PMHNP) | Closed; the residency list is the same | The NP practicum sequence out west |
| Post-Master's DNP | No residency limit on its pages; confirm with Gonzaga | A Virginia organization, through indirect project hours |
Gonzaga's disclosure table lists Virginia as "Meets" for the NP MSN. That determination describes how the program lines up with Virginia's licensure requirements and leaves the residency rule untouched. The state authorization page sets out the categories.
Inside the Post-Master's DNP
Admission calls for an RN license, APRN licensure and national certification where they apply, a 3.3 master's GPA, and graduate inferential statistics or biostatistics from the last five years. Credit totals vary by source, from 28 to 34. The catalog also previews a System Management concentration, with business courses, set to open in Fall 2027.
Rather than patient encounters, the practicum is indirect project time. The 1,000-hour total includes your MSN hours, and 340 or more of them must be earned in the DNP. NURS 700 opens the first semester by having you identify a community practice gap and set up a site, and NURS 704 extends practicum time if you need more. The DNP program page covers the rest.
Virginia's board leaves out-of-state graduate programs alone
By the board's own account, the Virginia Board of Nursing has no role in regulating or approving post-licensure programs or programs based in other states, so it runs no approval process for a Gonzaga DNP setting. Its rule that 80 percent of clinical time happen in Virginia, and its site approvals under 18VAC90-27, bind Virginia pre-licensure programs only.
Virginia Code 54.1-3001 adds a narrow licensure exemption: an RN with an unrestricted license from elsewhere may complete the clinical practice an advanced nursing curriculum requires while enrolled. A nurse living in Virginia normally holds a Virginia license already, and Virginia has issued multistate compact licenses since January 2018.
AANP rates Virginia restricted. An NP who cannot attest to three years of full-time clinical experience, or its equivalent, needs a practice agreement with a patient care team physician. The APRN Compact has not been enacted.
Sentara to Carilion: possible homes for a project
Virginia's population clusters in its share of the Washington, D.C. region, then around Virginia Beach-Norfolk, Richmond and Roanoke. Sentara Health and Inova are two of the large systems; UVA Health, Carilion Clinic and VCU Health are others, and the Virginia Department of Health covers public health statewide. Hosting is up to each of them, and Gonzaga looks over the plan before any hours count.
In 2026, SB 405 shifted Virginia's Nurse Preceptor Incentive Program out of VDH and into the Virginia Nursing Workforce Center. Only preceptors whose students attend Virginia public or private nonprofit nursing schools can apply.
Taking the NP question west
A move into one of Gonzaga's ten western states makes you eligible to apply to the NP tracks, with practicums in whichever of them licenses you. Where you land shapes the site-visit plan: in-person faculty visits in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana, and an extra campus day in Spokane for students in the remaining six. The site visit guide explains it. Enrolled students should contact their program before moving.
Virginia nurses and our placement desk
Whatever state you start from, our work tracks Gonzaga's process step by step. Virginia DNP students get an organization and liaison vetted against Gonzaga's checklist, plus the details their practicum proposal asks for, assembled early. Nurses who relocate into the ten states get an in-person NP preceptor search and a fully prepared Practicum Site Placement Request. Contact us to begin.
Questions Gonzaga students ask
Can I do Gonzaga's FNP online from Virginia?
No, not as a Virginia resident. Gonzaga's catalog restricts FNP and PMHNP admission to people living in ten western states, and the Second MSN is no different. Virginia's "Meets" rating in the disclosure table concerns licensure fit, not admission. A move to one of the ten states comes first.
Do I need Virginia Board approval for a Gonzaga DNP project in Richmond?
The Virginia Board says out-of-state and post-licensure nursing programs fall outside what it regulates or approves, so there is no board process to go through. Your host organization will have its own onboarding, and Gonzaga reviews your setting and liaison before practicum hours begin.
Would my liaison qualify for Virginia's Nurse Preceptor Incentive Program?
No. The program covers Virginia-licensed preceptors of students enrolled at Virginia public or private nonprofit schools of nursing. Since SB 405, the Virginia Nursing Workforce Center has run it for hours completed from July 1, 2026. A Gonzaga student's liaison falls outside the school condition.
Can my Inova or Sentara job double as my DNP site?
It can, on Gonzaga's terms: project hours belong in a different part of the organization from your job, on unpaid time, and your liaison cannot be your boss. A large system usually has a separate department that fits. Naming a system here implies no link to Gonzaga.
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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Your program, city and next practicum term is all we need to begin.